John James Audubon, the celebrated ornithologist, was born at
Mandeville, Louisiana, May 5, 1780. He was educated in France under
private tutors, but his consuming love of Nature and especially of
bird-life, was too strong to keep him in a beaten path of study, so
most of his time was spent in the woods and fields. When seventeen
years old Audubon returned to the United States to settle upon his
father's estate, "Mill Grove," near Philadelphia. There he devoted his
entire time to hunting, fishing, drawing, and music. Some months later
he met and fell in love with his nearest neighbor, Lucy Bakewell, a
young English girl. "Too young and too useless to be married," as he
himself afterwards wrote, his about-to-be father-in-law, William
Bakewell, advised Audubon to become a New York business man. With his
friend, Ferdinand Rozier, whom he had met in France, and who was then
connected with a French firm in Philadelphia, he visited Kentucky,
late in 1806, "thought well of it, and liked it exceedingly." But his
great love of Nature was not to be denied, and his business suffered
accordingly. On April 8, 1808, Audubon was married to Miss Bakewell,
and the next morning left for Pittsburgh, where he and his bride,
accompanied by Rozier, floated down the Ohio river in a flatboat,
which was their bridal tour, with Louisville, Kentucky, as their
destination. Upon reaching Louisville Audubon and Rozier opened a
large store which prospered when Audubon attended to it; "but birds
were birds then as now, and my thoughts were ever and anon turning
toward them as the objects of my greatest delight." His first child,
Victor, was born at Louisville, in 1809. Rozier conducted the store,
and Audubon spent his days in "the darling forests." In 1810 Alexander
Wilson, the Scotch ornithologist and poet, called upon Audubon at his
store in Louisville hoping to obtain his subscription to his work
upon American birds, but Audubon showed him birds he had never seen
before, which seemingly angered the Scot as he afterwards wrote
slightingly of the Kentucky naturalist. Late in 1810 Audubon and
Rozier removed their stock of goods to Henderson, Kentucky, where
their trade was so poor that Rozier was left behind the counter, while
Audubon was compelled to fish and hunt for food. A short time after
their arrival in Henderson, the two partners decided to move to St.
Genevieve on the Mississippi river, but Audubon disliked the
community, sold out to Rozier, and returned to his home in Henderson.
His second son, John Woodhouse, was born at Henderson, in 1812. Two
daughters were also born at Henderson, the first of whom, Lucy, died
in infancy and was buried in her father's garden. His pecuniary
affairs were now greatly reduced, but he continued to draw birds and
quadrupeds. He disposed of Mill Grove and opened a small store in
Henderson, which prospered and put him on his feet again. Audubon was
doing so finely in business now that he purchased a small farm and was
adding to it from time to time. His brother-in-law, Thomas Bakewell,
arrived at Henderson about 1816, and finally persuaded Audubon to
erect a steam-mill on his property at a great expense. For a time this
mill did all the sawing for the country, but in the end it ruined
Audubon and his partners. He left Henderson in 1819, after having
resided in the town for nearly ten years, and set up as a portrait
painter in Louisville, where he was very successful. From Louisville
Audubon went to Cincinnati and from there to New Orleans. In October,
1823, he again settled at Louisville as a painter of "birds,
landscapes, portraits, and even signs." His wife was the only person
in the world who had any faith in his ultimate "arrival" as a famous
naturalist, and the outlook was indeed dark. Audubon quitted
Louisville in March, 1824, and two years later he went to England,
where the first public exhibition of his drawings was held. His first
and most famous work, _Birds of America_, was published at London from
1827 to 1838, issued in numbers, each containing five plates, without
text, the complete work consisting of four folio volumes. Audubon
returned to America in 1829, and he was with his sons at Louisville
for a short time, both of whom were engaged in business there. He went
to New Orleans to see his wife, and together they came to Louisville,
in 1830, to bid the "Kentucky lads," as he called them, goodbye,
before sailing for England. At "the fair Edinburgh," in the fall of
1830, Audubon began the _Ornithological Biographies_ (Edinburgh,
1831-39, 5 vols.), the text to the plates of the _Birds_. In 1840-44
the work was republished in seven volumes, text and plates together,
as _Birds of America_. In 1831 Audubon and his wife returned to
America, and they were again in Louisville with the boys for some
time. In 1833 his famous trip to Labrador was taken, and the following
year found the family in England. The next ten years were passed in
wandering from country to country in search of birds, but, in 1842,
Audubon purchased "Minniesland," now Audubon Park, New York. With his
sons and the Rev. John Bachman he planned the _Quadrupeds of America_,
the last volume of which was issued after his death, which occurred at
"Minniesland" on January 27, 1851. His wife, who wrote his life,
survived him many years, dying at Shelbyville, Kentucky, June 19,
1874, but she is buried by his side on the banks of the Hudson.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _Life of John James Audubon_, edited by his Widow
(New York, 1869); _Audubon and His Journals_, edited by Maria R.
Audubon (New York, 1900); _John James Audubon_, by John Burroughs
(Boston, 1902).