John Woodhouse Audubon, son of the great Audubon, was born at
Henderson, Kentucky, November 30, 1812. At the time of his birth his
father was ekeing out an existence in Henderson, with saw-mills and
lumber ventures of various kinds, all of which finally failed. The
nomadic life of the ornithologist was early forced upon his son. Their
wanderings were chiefly confined to the country south of the Ohio
river, and Louisiana. John Woodhouse Audubon was instructed by his
mother in the useful field of learning; but from his father he learned
to delineate birds and mammals, though it was the family's desire that
he should become a portrait painter. He and his brother, Victor, who
was three years his elder, were sent to school together, but, in 1826,
they were separated, Victor becoming a clerk at Louisville, Kentucky,
and John remaining in Louisiana with his mother, who was then
conducting a school, while the father went to Europe to solicit
subscriptions for his forthcoming _Birds of America_. John W. Audubon
was at this time engaged in drawing from Nature, and in playing the
violin, to which he was devoted throughout life. He was a clerk for a
short time on a Mississippi river steamboat, but any kind of routine
was distasteful to him, his whole life being absorbed in the study of
birds and mammals. He accompanied his father on one of his European
trips, and in England and Scotland he copied many of the masterpieces
of the great painters. In 1863 the collection of new species demanded
that father and son should go as far South as the Gulf of Mexico; and
while passing through Charleston, South Carolina, the son met Maria
Bachman, whom he married the following year. In 1840 the Audubon house
near New York City was built, and there John W. Audubon spent the
remaining years of his life. In 1849 he joined a California company to
go to the gold fields, but he went not for gold but for new birds and
mammals. He returned in the following year, and in 1851, his famous
father died. The brothers were then occupied with the publication of
_The Quadrupeds_, and the octavo edition of _The Birds of America_. In
the summer of 1860 Victor Audubon died; and on February 21, 1862, his
brother followed him into the silent country. John Woodhouse Audubon's
forty-nine years were spent in collaborating with his father and
brother, but his independent fame is founded upon the manuscript
record of his 1849 journey from New York to California. This most
interesting manuscript was edited by his daughter, Miss Maria R.
Audubon, of Salem, New York, and published as _Audubon's Western
Journal: 1849-1850_ (Cleveland, Ohio, 1906). A more charming book of
travels, of Nature in many forms, would be difficult to name.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The several lives of the great Audubon contain much
material for a study of his son. His daughter made an excellent
sketch of him for her edition of his _Western Journal: 1849-1850_
(Cleveland, 1906).