Benjamin Fish Austin - Life in America

Life in America

In 1903 Dr. Austin moved to the United States to become the principal of William Smith College for Women in Geneva, New York. Though the College's founder, William Smith, was a well-known Spiritualist the college was officially non-sectarian. That said the school's mission included a wish to raise young women of 'a noble spirituality'. Dr. Austin also commented at the school's founding that he hoped that,

"opportunities for psychological research shall be afforded along the lines of the Psychical Research Society of England, namely experiments for the illustration of psychic phenomena and the collection of facts and experience in regard to the powers and possibilities of man's spiritual nature, with a view to finding a rational explanation thereof and of demonstrating, if possible the continuity of life after death and of communion with the spirit realm. Such research, however, must not be compulsory."

The school, it seems, had a not entirely subtle Spiritualist inclination .

Dr. Austin was the pastor of the Plymouth Spiritualist Church in Rochester, New York from 1906 to 191. Dr. Austin also became a trustee of the New York State Spiritual Assembly. During his time in New York Dr. Austin became the editor of a Spiritualist magazine called Reason. The magazine became a very widely known and respected voice in Spiritualist circles. Dr. Austin's daughter Beatrice Evelyn was the associate editor of the magazine. She was a strong follower of the Spiritualist movement, and was a well-regarded 'healer'. Dr. Austin's only son, Albert Edward was also involved in the magazine. The publication was organised by Dr. Austin's own printing company, The Austin Publishing Company Limited, which was a reincarnation of an organisation which Dr. Austin had used to publish his sermons in Toronto.

In 1911 Alma H. Austin, Dr. Austin's eldest daughter, graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in Philosophy. She later became a teacher, working at one point at the Western New York Institute for Deaf Mutes.

In 1913 Dr. Austin took up a leading position at the Central Spiritual Church of Los Angeles. The entire family moved with him to California and lived in several cities in the Southern part of the state. In California the family continued to publish Reason and also began to put out a sister publication called The Austin Pulpit. This publication, whose subtitle was Jesus' quotation "The Truth Shall Make You Free", carried other Spiritualist works that did not fit in to Reason. Both papers were printed by the Austin Publishing Company of Los Angeles. In the June 1928 edition the paper that survives there is story of how the widow of the contortionist Houdini had received through a Spiritualist medium a code-word that she had agreed upon with her husband moments before his death, and a notice from the 'American Committee for the Outlawry of War' calling for all Spiritualists to unite together and help the League of Nations end war as a method for solving international disputes.

On November 19, 1918 Albert Edward Austin, Dr. Austin's only son, died of the 'Spanish Flu' influenza-pneumonia epidemic while in San Bernardino, California. Albert Edward had been involved in the Californian newspaper market.

On October 10, 1927 Dr. Austin's daughter Beatrice Evelyn died after an illness of three years caused by a 'severe fever'. Beatrice spent her last summer with her mother in Alaska's salubrious summer climate. Upon her return to the continental United States she seemed much improved, but did not live out the year. She had been associate editor of Reason for 10 years at the time of her death

In 1928 Dr. Austin was a travelling lecturer across much of the continental United States. An edition of The Austin Pulpit advertised that he was making speeches in Phoenix, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

It is known that Amanda Austin was buried in August 1928 in St. Thomas, Ontario, but unclear whether she or any of the rest of the family had been living in the town at the time. Dr. Austin had remarked that he greatly liked St. Thomas and would consider moving back there, but as of June 1928 The Austin Pulpit continued to be published from Los Angeles.