For three years (1789, 1792 and 1793), he was elected town auditor for Middleton, where he had led a fairly comfortable life.”[2] For some reason that is unclear, perhaps partly in search of religious freedom and partly the promise of thousands of acres of land grants if he could bring settlers with him, Austin sold his holdings in New Hampshire and brought his family to the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
He and 53 followers, the majority of whom were American Quakers, “subscribed the Declaration for the Township of Bolton Missisqui Bay 11th day of April 1796.”[3] Though Austin worked hard to clear land, lay roads, and build mills for the new community, things did not work out as planned.
They expected that Austin could profit by skimming fealty dues from his followers, but the American settlers did not cooperate.
A descendant, Martin Duckworth, has created a movie about his life and its impact: Peaceable Kingdom: A View of Nicholas Austin.
[4][5] Nothing remains of the Quaker settlements in the Eastern Townships of Quebec today except “a few small Quaker cemeteries; that, and the legacy of a free-thinking, independent faith, embodied by a cupboard full of books”[6] displayed in the Lac-Brome Museum owned by the Brome County Historical Society in Knowlton, Quebec.