Austin

Nicholas Austin
Austin is named for its founder, Nicholas Austin, the first person to settle on Lake Memphremagog. He was born in England in 1736, a member of the Society of Friends (also known as Quakers). He was a Loyalist, and left New Hampshire during the American Revolution to come to Canada. Some sources suggest that in 1783 he crossed the northern part of Vermont, which was still uninhabited, to reach the future site of Newport. There he purchased a canoe from the Amerindians to continue his explorations. He was attracted to the western shore of the lake, and began to explore systematically. He was particularly impressed by the beauty and potential offered by the promontory which he named Gibraltar Point. He applied to the colonial authorities for land, built a cabin near an Indian portage and began to clear the land. With 54 associates, he obtained letters patent for lots in Bolton Township. In the winter of 1793, he returned to New Hampshire for his wife and children. He brought them back, along with furnishings and provisions, in three ox-drawn sleighs. He and his family, and the other 54 colonists, were thus the first to settle in the township in the years 1794, 1795 and 1796.

• Peasley's Corners, on the site of the present intersection in the village.
• Head of the Bay on what is now called Sargent's Bay, where commercial activities (flour mills, a wool carding mill, saw mills and a general store) flourished.
• Thompson's Hill, which later came to be called Millington, where Alexander Thompson, an associate of Nicholas Austin, built the first watermill in Township of Bolton, and
• Bolton Forest, near Orford Lake.

For a more complete history, consult the brochure entitled "A History of Bolton Township and the Municipality of Austin", published by the Cultural Committee of Austin in June 2001. It is available in French or English at the town hall, or by clicking here, in .pdf format.

Fessenden

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden has often been called the unsung hero of telecommunications. He was born in Austin (formerly part of the territory of the former municipality of East Bolton) on October 6, 1866. He was interested in science from his early days, and at the age of 15, asked his uncle, a physics professor, why the rumble of thunder could be heard when it was not connected to any wire. He spent his life in a quest to transmit the human voice.

Over the years, he was a professor of mathematics at Bishop's University, director of the Whitney Institute in Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, and plant foreman at the Edison Machine Works, a job that led to the position of assistant in the laboratory of Thomas Edison, a long-time dream, and to working with George Westinghouse. He was quickly recognized as both a brilliant researcher and inventor, becoming a professor of electrical engineering at Purdue University in Pittsburgh) in 1893-1900. Like others at the time, he was fascinated by the theories of Heinrich Hertz. This was the beginning of a race against the clock in the field of wireless telephony.

For more information on Fessenden's life, see the brochure on the life of "Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, an abridgement of the biography by Françoise Hamel-Beaudoin", which was published by the Cultural Committee of Austin in September 2004. It is available at the town hall, or by clicking here for the version in .pdf format.

Lily Esther Butters

Lily Esther Butters was at the heart of an extraordinary adventure that played out in Austin in the Eastern Townships. She was born on March 5, 1894 in Newcastle, England, and there was no indication that her life would be in any way different from that of her brothers and sisters

As a young woman from Yorkshire, she married John William Butters at Southbank, on August 1, 1914. When the First World War loomed, he enrolled in the Northumberland Fusiliers regiment. Upon his return, in 1918, the couple already had a son, christened James Atkins. They wondered what would become of their family given that Great Britain was having such a hard time getting back on its feet in the post-war years. Also there was famine. They began to entertain the idea of expatriating themselves.

Canada was considered an ideal place to rebuild a life and raise a large family. Fortunately, the Butters were in the «chosen» category, a status reserved for citizens of Great Britain and the United States. Furthermore, John was eligible for a federal government program administered by the Soldier Settlement Board.

The Butters, who came to Canada to flee poverty, witnessed the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange on October 29, 1929. America and the entire world were in a state of crisis: it was the Great Depression. To earn their living, Lily and John offered their services to the families in the vicinity and to people in Magog. Norman, John’s brother who had emigrated with them, worked for farmers in the village. The years passed, and the Butters saw their children grow. Lily and John eked out a living, but they nevertheless enjoyed a genuine peace until war broke out again, in 1939. The following year was a memorable one for the family. James, the oldest son, married Janet Paton, a Scot from Magog. Their marriage took place on September 11. The youngest son, John H., known as Jack, enlisted in the navy on January 28, 1941 while Cecil, the second son, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on July 28 the same year. And Norman married Alice Nobel, they went to live in Oshawa, Ontario.

For more information on Lily Esther Butters' life, see the brochure "Born to love - Lily Esther Butters - an abridgement of the biography by Françoise Hamel-Beaudoin", which was published by the Cultural Committee of Austin in May 2005. It is available at the town hall, or by clicking here for the version in .pdf format.

Austin's churches

The history of the churches of Austin is also the story of those who settled in the area during the 19th and 20th centuries and reflects the religious currents that swirled around their communities. In addition to the Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, the municipality of Austin has been home to four houses of worship: Wesleyan Methodist Church (1825-1936), at Thompson’s Mills on Millington Road; St-Luc-de-Millington Catholic Church (1897-1920), at the intersection of North Road and the 10th Range (Galvin Road); New Connexion Methodist Church (1865-1968), at Peasley’s Corners, on Fisher Road near Nicholas Austin Road (moved in 1974); and The Anglican Church of the Atonement (1865-1927), which later became the Roman Catholic church, Saint-Augustin de Cantorbéry, (1865-1968), at Peasley’s Corners, on Fisher Road near Nicholas Austin Road.

For more information on Austin's churches, see the brochure "From 1825 to the present - A historical tour of Austin's churches" based on a text by Françoise Hamel-Beaudoin. It is available at the town hall, or by clicking here for the version in .pdf format.

Abbaye Saint-Benoit-du-Lac

The site of Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-Lac is set like a jewel between Mount Orford and Owl’s Head, which stands in the distance. It is a beautiful promontory (named Gibraltar Point) on the west side of Lake Memphremagog.

This exceptionally beautiful area was chosen and cleared in the 18th century by Loyalists led by the pioneer settler in Bolton Township, a Quaker, Nicholas Austin. In the 20th century, the site would be preserved by the Benedictine monks who built the Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac there, an architectural masterpiece and the icon of Austin and the Eastern Townships.

For more information on Abbaye Saint-Benoit-du-Lac, see the brochure "Dom Vannier a founder - Abbaye Saint-Benoit-du-Lac" adaptation of a presentation by Dom René Salvas, o.s.b., in the church of Austin, September 29, 2002. It is available at the town hall, or by clicking here for the version in .pdf format.

Thompson's mills

The municipality of Austin was created from the successive dismemberments of pieces of land within the Township of Bolton. At one time, the heart of the village lay, not at the crossroads of Nicholas Austin and Millington Fisher Roads, as it does today, but at the intersection of North and Patch Roads. This centre was first called Thompson’s Mills, then renamed Millington in 1877 when a post office was opened there. Millington is one of the oldest areas of Loyalist settlement in the Eastern Townships. As mills were essential for colonization, Nicholas Austin and Alexander Thompson built the first mills in the Township of Bolton, but we still don’t know which of the two built the first.

For more information on Thompson's mills, see the brochure "A place lost in time - Millingtona forgotten village - Thompson’s Mills" Based on a text by Serge Gaudreau, historian. It is available at the town hall, or by clicking here for the version in .pdf format.

Cemeteries of Austin

Cemeteries in our municipality represent the most extensive and best-preserved artefacts and recordings of our history. They are both museum and history book, and they tell the story of the settlement of Austin, the changing habits of those who came to live here and their attitudes toward death (and life). They also teach us about the transformation in funeral practices, changes in taste affecting the arrangement of graveyards, and monuments to the dead.

The most remarkable aspect of cemeteries in Austin is without doubt the large number of them: we have found more than fifteen in a relatively small area.

For more information on cemeteries of Austin, see the brochure "The Promised land... at las Possessed - Cemeteries of Austin" Based on an abridged version of research by Serge Wagner and Maurice Langlois. It is available at the town hall, or by clicking here for the version in .pdf format.