Flower, Amanda Cameron (1863-1940)

Amanda Cameron Flower was a medium and the founder of the Independent Spiritualist Association of the United States of America. She was born October 15, 1863, at Owen Sound, Ontario, and at the age of 27 moved to the United States. She was attracted to Spiritualism as a young woman and became a medium with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC), the oldest of several Spiritualist churches in the United States. Her first pastorate was located in Owosso, Michigan. Around the turn of the century, with money given her by her husband, she built the Church of Truth in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was incorporated in 1908 as the Spiritual-ist Temple Society (Church of Truth) in Grand Rapids.

Flower proved a popular medium and contributed greatly to the growth of the movement in Michigan and throughout the Midwest. However, in the 1920s she began to bristle under some of the NSAC rules, especially those that prevented her from speaking or doing mediumship work in congregations not associated with the NSAC. She had also absorbed some elements of Theosophy into her thinking, including a belief in reincarnation, an idea actively opposed by the NSAC. In 1924 she had a vision of a new association of churches bound together in a loose fellowship. She withdrew from the NSAC and founded the Independent Spiritualist Association of the United States of America. The association grew rapidly through several states of the Midwest. She founded and edited the association's newsletter. In 1931 she was elected president for life. She died November 20, 1940.

Sources:

Corey, Kathleen. Rev. Amanda C. Flower. Holly, Mich.: The Author, n.d.

Judah, J. Stillson. The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movement in America. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1967.