Chapter XXV: Audubon's Letterpress and Its Rivals (2)

[78] Audubon said that he was at the time fourteen years
old, which could not have been the case, but when writing in
1835 he placed this experience at shortly before his return
to America, which would have been in the winter of 1805-6;
"I underwent," to quote this later account, "a mockery of an
examination, and was received as a midshipman in the navy,
went to Rochefort, was placed on board a man-of-war, and ran a
short cruise. On my return, my father had in some way obtained
passports for Rozier and me, and we sailed for New York."

[79] Audubon, writing in 1820, described himself at this time
as "a young man of seventeen, sent to America to make money
(for such was my father's wish), brought up in France in
easy circumstances;" but in the same journal he said that he
did not reach Philadelphia until three months after landing,
and that "shortly after" his arrival at "Mill Grove" the
Bakewell family moved to "Fatland Ford." Mr. G. W. Bakewell,
the historian of his family, states that in the spring of
1804, William Bakewell, Audubon's future father-in-law, with
his son, Thomas, traveled through Pennsylvania, Virginia and
Maryland in search of a farm; they purchased "Fatland Ford,"
which was then the property of James Vaux. Audubon's account
of the Pewee (_Ornithological Biography_, vol. ii, p. 124)
shows that he was at "Mill Grove" before April 10, when "the
ground was still partially covered with snow, and the air
retained the piercing chill of winter." If these various
statements are correct, they would indicate that Audubon left
Nantes about the middle of November, 1803, and that he finally
reached "Mill Grove" not far from the end of March, 1804.
On the other hand, Mr. W. H. Wetherill, the present owner of
"Mill Grove," informs me that his records indicate that the
Bakewells occupied "Fatland Ford" in January, 1804. If this
were the case, young Audubon could not have left France later
than August, 1803. Too much weight, however, should not be
attached to such references of a biographical character in
Audubon's own writings; for in the account referred to above
Audubon said that after his first visit to the United States
he remained two years in France and returned to America "early
in August;" while we know that his sojourn in France lasted
but little more than a year and that he landed in New York on
the 28th of May.

[80] A plague of genuine yellow fever had visited New York in
1795, but in 1804 and 1805 the city suffered from a malignant
fever of another type, and to such an extent that 27,000
persons, or one-third of the entire population, are said to
have fled to escape the pestilence. This was possibly the
malady which seized young Audubon not far from the beginning
of the former year.

[81] The rough draft of a letter in English, evidently written
by Lieutenant Audubon to be delivered by his son to the ship's
captain, and probably in duplicate to his agent, Miers Fisher,
but bearing no name or date, (Lavigne MSS.)

[82] See Note, Vol. I, p. 98.

[83] The yearly rent of "Mill Grove" in 1804, according to
the accounts of Francis Dacosta, who had then acquired a half
interest in it, amounted to $353.34.

[84] "Mill Grove" farm is in Montgomery County, twenty-four
miles northwest of Philadelphia, in the town known, after
1823, as Shannonville, but in 1899 rechristened "Audubon;"
Norristown is five miles to the east.

[85] Mr. William H. Wetherill of Philadelphia, whose
hospitality I have enjoyed and to whom I am indebted for many
interesting facts and records pertaining to "Mill Grove."
Samuel Wetherill, Mr. W. H. Wetherill's grandfather, was one
of the first to bring "black rock," or coal, from Reading to
Philadelphia. Samuel Wetherill, Junior, who is said to have
started the first woolen mill in the country and to have
produced the first white lead made in the United States,
purchased "Mill Grove" for the sake of its minerals in 1813,
the war having put a stop to all importations from England at
that time. He actually succeeded in extracting several hundred
tons of lead from the "Mill Grove" mines, doing better, it
is thought, than any who preceded or followed him. Samuel
Wetherill, Junior, died in 1829, and was succeeded in the
lead and drugs industry by his four sons, of whom Samuel Price
Wetherill became the owner of "Mill Grove" in 1833. The farm
remained in the hands of the Wetherill family until 1876,
and returned to them again, when the present owner came into
possession, in 1892.

[86] In 1761 James Morgan, the first miller and builder,
conveyed one-half of the mill site of five acres to Roland
Evans, who came into possession of the other half, with the
adjoining farm, in 1771; the property was sold to Governor
John Penn in 1776; it passed to Samuel C. Morris in 1784, and
to the Prevosts in 1786.

[87] The lease, which was drawn up in English, April 10,
1789, reads in part as follows: "This indenture, made on the
tenth Day of April in the Year of our Lord, One thousand Seven
hundred & Eighty nine, Between John Audubon, of the Island of
St. Domingo, Gentleman, now being in the City of Philadelphia,
of the one party, and Augustine Prevost...." The lease
included the messuages, grist mills, saw mills, plantation and
tract of land, which is described, tools, implements, stock,
and furniture of the mills and farm, and was drawn for one
year; it was signed in the presence of Miers Fisher, agent
and attorney for Jean Audubon.

In the inventory were included one windmill, one pair of
scales, with weights of 56, 28 and 7 pounds, "skreen," four
bolting cloths, two hoisting tubs, and one large screw and
circle for raising the millstones. This lease was renewed
in October, 1790, when Jean Audubon, who was then living at
Nantes, agreed to keep the house in good repair from that time
onward. It was the Prevost mortgage that Miers Fisher paid but
forgot to cancel (see Vol. I, p. 122); it was finally cleared
up by Dacosta in October, 1806.

Miers Fisher's Philadelphia residence, called "Ury," which
Audubon often visited, was near Fox Chase, now in the
Twenty-third Ward. See Witmer Stone, _Cassinia_, No. xvii
(Philadelphia, 1913).

[88] For a photograph of this portrait of Lieutenant Audubon
here reproduced, I am indebted to Miss Maria R. Audubon; the
originals of both portraits are now in possession of Audubon's
granddaughter, Mrs. Morris F. Tyler.

[89] See Note, Vol. I, p. 99.

[90] For this and the preceding quotation, see Maria R.
Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i,
pp. 18 and 27.

[91] In Dacosta's final statement of his account, which
was disputed, carried into court, and eventually settled by
arbitration at Philadelphia, on August 1, 1807, these items
occur: "Omitted, $300.00, paid by Francis Dacosta to Miers
Fisher, on May 24, 1803;" and "Ditto $176.67, the proportion
of Francis Dacosta in the rent of the first year, which has
not been paid to him." (See Appendix I, Document 11a; MSS. in
possession of Mr. Welton A. Rosier.)

It seems probable that Dacosta was sent to this country by
Lieutenant Audubon to act as his agent for the disposition of
"Mill Grove," and to succeed Miers Fisher in the conduct of
his business affairs. Interest in the neglected and forgotten
mine may have diverted them from their original plans.

[92] The following notice, copied from _Relf's Gazette_,
appeared in the _New York Herald_ for Saturday, November 17,
1804:

"The lead mine discovered on Perkiomen creek, in Montgomery
county, Pennsylvania, the property of Francis Dacosta, has
been lately opened, and attended with great success. The
vein proves to be a regular one, and of long continuance. Its
course is N.N.E.; its direction is nearly perpendicular, and
its thickness from one foot to 15 inches. Two tons of that
beautiful ore were raised in a few hours, and one ton more
at least was left in the bottom on the pit, which is yet but
nine feet deep. From the situation of this mine, its nearness
to navigation and market, its very commanding height, its
richness in metal, and the large scale it forms on; it is
thought by judges to be one of the first discoveries yet made
in the U. S.

"From the analysis made of 100 parts, it contains:

Oxyd of lead 85
Oxyd of iron 1
Sulphuric acid 13
Water 1
——
100

"The lead being coupelled, has proved to contain 2½ oz. fine
silver to 100, which is nearly 3 dollars worth of that metal."

[93] For the sum of 31,000 francs, or $6,200, a slight advance
on the cost to Jean Audubon, when he had taken over the farm
fifteen years before (see Vol. I, p. 105).

[94] The following item appears in Dacosta's final account:
"To compensation claimed by Francis Dacosta for making up
half of his expenses, in managing the mining works, the
mill-repairs, and taking up the formation of a company during
two years of constant cares, troubles, and loss of time,
at 300 dollars a year—$600.00." (From statement of disputed
claim; see Note, Vol. I, p. 168.)

[95] For copies of a part of the Audubon-Dacosta
correspondence, which is perhaps half of what exists but all
that it was possible to obtain, I am indebted to Monsieur
Lavigne. The first letter, the present copy of which is
incomplete, was evidently written in the winter of 1804-5.
Lieutenant Audubon, who at this time was sixty-one years
old, was living at Couëron, but came to Nantes to conduct his
correspondence. All the letters were carefully transcribed in
a separate copybook, and are here translated as literally as
possible from the French.

[96] That is, after having become a part owner of the "Mill
Grove" property.

[97] That is, at Couëron.

[98] This name appears as "Rost" in all the letters.

[99] Member of the firm of Audubon, Lacroix, Formon & Jacques,
engaged in the Santo Domingo trade (see Chapter II, p. 33).
In these letters the name usually appears as "Formont."

[100] Vessels in which Jean Audubon was personally interested,
and upon which he endeavored in vain to collect the money
and interest due him (see Vol. I, p. 34). In a document in
English, dated [Les Cayes] April 9, 1782, concerning the
_Annette_, of which Jean Audubon was captain and part owner,
and signed by him and David Ross & Company, it is stated this
vessel was bound for Nantes with a cargo of tobacco, in the
purchase and sale of which Captain Audubon was under orders
of Mr. Ezekiel Edwards of Nantes.

[101] This was probably the mortgage which Jean Audubon gave
to Prevost when "Mill Grove" was purchased in 1789, for in
Dacosta's final account for 1806-1807 this item occurs under
October 15, 1806: "To the recorder in Norristown for entering
satisfaction of John Audubon mortgage to John Augustin Prevost
... $2.83."

[102] The principal house at "Mill Grove," which Dacosta was
preparing to occupy.

[103] Owing to the delay in receiving his legal papers from
France, Dacosta had threatened to carry his case to the
courts, and had stopped work at the mine.

[104] In the light of the preceding letters, Dacosta would
appear in these respects to have been only attempting to carry
out his instructions.

[105] Probably Sarah White Palmer, Benjamin Bakewell's
sister-in-law, and widow of the Rev. John Palmer, who at one
time was associated with Joseph Priestley in editing the
_Theological Repository_, an organ of the Unitarians. Her
son-in-law, Thomas W. Pears, was later a partner in Audubon's
business ventures at Henderson, Kentucky. Her grave is in the
Bakewell burying plot at "Fatland Ford."

[106] See Appendix I, Document No. 7.

[107] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol. i, p. 39.

[108] Dr. d'Orbigny had three sons, all of whom were born in
Couëron: Alcide Charles Victor in 1802, Gaston Edouard in
1805, and Charles in 1806; the youngest and eldest became
distinguished naturalists. So far as known, Audubon was
godfather only to the second, Gaston Edouard, who according
to the records of the Catholic church at Couëron, "was
born on the 3d day of the present [month], the issue of the
legitimate marriage of Mr. Charles Marie d'Orbigny, doctor of
medicine, and of Anna Pepart," was christened on August 20,
1805, in the presence of the godfather, John James Audubon,
the godmother, Rosa Audubon, the father and mother, together
with the "undersigned" (Extracted by Monsieur Lavigne).
D'Orbigny appears as a witness to the powers of attorney which
Jean Audubon and his wife issued jointly to their son and to
Ferdinand Rozier at Couëron in 1805 (see Appendix I, Document
No. 8) and on November 20, 1806 (see Vol. I, p. 153).

[109] For copies of this and the following letters, which are
here translated from the French, I am indebted to Monsieur
Lavigne.

[110] A daughter of Catharine Bouffard, regarding whom see
Vol. I, p. 56.

[111] See Appendix I, Document No. 8.

[112] The civil ceremony of Rosa Audubon's marriage was
performed at the mayor's office in Couëron, on December 16,
1805 (_le 26 frimaire, an 14_), when the bride was in her
eighteenth year; the contract had been drawn on the 12th
day of that month (_le 22 frimaire, an 14_) by notary Martin
Daviais, who was mayor of Couëron in the following year, and
the religious ceremony was conducted by the Bishop of Nantes.
"The following have assisted," so reads in translation the
Couëron record, "at the marriage, aforesaid, on the side of
the groom, M. André Loyen du Puigaudeau, his brother, and
M. Honoré François Guiraud, his brother-in-law; by the side
of the bride, her father, and M. Jean Audubon, her brother,
[and these have] undersigned, together with the bridegroom."
Audubon's signature reads "J. L. J. Audubon."

[113] For the full text of these two documents, which are so
interesting for our story, see Appendix I, Documents Nos.
9 and 10; and for translations, Documents Nos. 9a and 10a.
For the privilege of examining and reproducing the first of
these papers I am indebted to Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of St.
Louis, and for the second, as well as the power of attorney
of 1805 (see Document No. 8), referred to earlier, to Mr. Tom
J. Rozier, of Sainte Geneviève, Missouri. In the case of this
second warrant it will be noticed that the grantors signed
only the minute which was filed with the notaries, who, with
the judge of the Court of the First Instance, affixed their
names to the document itself. No better illustration could be
given of the dignity which the French attach to the office
of notary, to the honored incumbents of which their private
affairs are unreservedly entrusted, than this elaborate
judicial document.

[114] In the register of the Central Committee of Nantes
it is noted, under date of October 4, 1793, that "owing
to the friendly relations then existing between France and
the citizens of the United States, and to the good feeling
evinced by them in sending to us for food, four American ships
are accordingly permitted to leave the port of Nantes, with
cargoes of wine, sugar, and coffee, and also to take enough
biscuit for the voyage."

[115] The receipt which the captain handed the young men,
and which the methodical Rozier preserved, remains as a
souvenir of this voyage (in the Tom J. Rozier MSS); it reads
as follows:

Recvd. from Mr. John Audubon &
ferdinand Rozier the sum of five Hundred
and twenty five Livers being in full for their
passage from Nantes to New York in the Ship
Polly........................... S. Sammis

[In Rozier's (?) handwriting] New York May 28, 1806

[Indorsed by Rozier on back] Payé le 11 avril 1806

[116] The total population of Couëron, as given in the
official directory for 1913, was 2,035, but the total working
population is probably three times as great.

[117] There is also the _grand calvaire_, which stands on
an eminence in the village. This was erected in 1825 on the
foundations of the chateau of the dukes of Brittany, the last
of whom, Francis II, died at Couëron in 1488. His tomb is
in the nave of the cathedral at Nantes; the _grand calvaire_
was restored by two Couëron families in 1873, and is a very
elaborate structure.

[118] Mr. William Beer, who paid a visit to "La Gerbetière"
with Dr. Louis Bureau in 1910, writes me that the woodwork
was poor in quality, and that all the rooms had been altered
in size and appearance.

[119] But not related to M. L. Lavigne, to whom I am indebted
for extracts from the deed, a translation of which is given
below, as well as for many other references.

[120] That is, the landlord to receive one-half the produce.

[121] A "journal" of land being as much as a man could
cultivate in a day's labor.

[122] See Chapter XVII.

[123] For the privilege of examining Ferdinand Rozier's
copy of their "Articles of Association" I am indebted to the
kindness of Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. This is
written on three sides of hand-made, hand-ruled Government
linen, small letter size, with printed revenue stamp (50
centimes) of the French Republic at top, and stamped with
the seal of the Department of Registration and Stamps ("ADM.
DES DOM. DE L'ENREG. ET DU TIMBRE REP. FRA.—_Administration
des domaines de l'enregistrement et du timbre, République
Française_"). The signature of "Jean Audubon" bears a close
resemblance to that of the father, Lieutenant Jean Audubon,
who was undoubtedly the author of the document. For the
"Articles" in full, in French and English, see Appendix I,
Documents Nos. 9 and 9a.

[124] Among the elder Rozier's papers was part of an old
letterbook belonging to his son; it is written in French,
and labeled "Correspondence of Ferdinand Rozier." On one
of the four sheets preserved this item occurs: "4 July,
1806, Philadelphia; record of an agreement with Mr. Dacosta
proprietor of one half of the Mill Grove farm,—at least of the
value of sale." The first entry is dated "19 février—1806, New
York," which, if correct, would imply that Rozier spent two
years instead of one in the United States when he visited this
country in 1804 (or came a second time), and that he returned,
with young Audubon, almost immediately after reaching France
(see Vol. I, p. 245); the last record is "August, 1807, New
York." (MS. in possession of Dr. Louis Bureau, Nantes.)

[125] According to the records of Montgomery County, as
collated for Mr. W. H. Wetherill, the remaining half interest
in "Mill Grove" was sold by J. J. Audubon (and Ferdinand
Rozier) to Francis Dacosta & Company, for a consideration of
$9,640.33. The business was conducted mainly by Rozier, acting
under the advice of their friend, Miers Fisher.

[126] Translated from the French of Ferdinand's copy, in
possession of Mr. Welton A. Rozier, to whom I am indebted for
the privilege of reproducing it.

[127] "_Gourdes_," that is, piasters or Spanish dollars.

[128] Claude François Rozier, at this time an aged man,
died at Nantes on September 7, 1807; he had two sons and
six daughters, of whom Ferdinand was the second son and the
fifth child; his wife, Renée Angelique Colas, died at Nantes,
February 9, 1824.

[129] This was issued, so the letter reads, to "their son,
John Audubon, and Ferdinand Rozier, both of the said city of
Philadelphia, Gentlemen," by "John Audubon, late of the city
of Philadelphia, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, now
residing in the commune of Couëron, near the city of Nantes
in France, Gentleman, and Anne Moynette, his wife," to apply
to all lands and other property belonging to them in the
United States, with the power to "raise or borrow money on
the whole or any part or parts of the said lands, tenements,
or hereditaments, to secure the repayment of said monies
by bond, warrant of attorney, to contest judgment of the
mortgage of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or
any part or parts thereof...." Written in French and English;
signed by Jean Audubon, Anne Moynet, his wife, by Doctors
Chapelain and C. d'Orbigny as witnesses, by the mayor of
Couëron, the prefect of the arrondissement and the prefect of
the department; countersigned on December 4, 1806, by W. D.
Patterson, of the "Commercial Agency of the United States at
Nantes." For the favor of examining this paper, I am indebted
to the kindness of Miss Maria R. Audubon.

[130] For the privilege of examining these letters I am
indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Louis Bureau, Director of
the Museum of Natural History and Professor in the School of
Medicine at Nantes, maternal great-grandson of François, and
grandnephew of Ferdinand Rozier. The letters were found in
an old trunk that once belonged to his grandfather, François
Denis Rozier. Five were written in French (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6
and 7), and addressed from New York to François Rozier at
Nantes; one (No. 3) in English and another (No. 5) in French
were sent in care of Rozier, to his father, John Audubon,
Esq., Nantes, with the direction to be delivered as soon as
possible; all are on unruled foolscap, wafer-sealed, and each
also bears an outside seal in wax, stamped with Bakewell's
initial (B). It is not possible to say whether Lieutenant
Audubon ever received these letters of his son; if received,
it is not very obvious why they should have been left in the
old merchant's hands, unless his ill health at the time, and
subsequent death were the cause (see Note, Vol. I, p. 152).
I am further indebted to Mr. William Beer, for the perusal of
his copies, which have been followed to a large extent.

Since all of these early letters throw an interesting light
upon the times as well as upon Audubon's personal history, we
shall give them in full, rendering the French into English as
literally as practicable.

[131] This Philadelphia merchant was evidently in France and
intending to visit Nantes at this time.

[132] "Of the St. Domingo packet."

[133] "Mr. L. Huron did, a few days ago, receive some wines
on a/c of M. Rozier, and hopes they prove good," etc.

[134] Miers Fisher, for many years Jean Audubon's trusted
agent and attorney in America. See Vol. I, p. 100.

[135] Gabriel Loyen du Puigaudeau, his brother-in-law.

[136] That is a miniature or an old portrait of his father
in the uniform of a lieutenant-commander, which with its
companion, representing Mme. Jean Audubon, his stepmother,
then hung in the house of "La Gerbetière" at Couëron. The
original portraits, which are reproduced facing page 78,
measure 23½ by 18½ inches, and were painted probably between
1801 and 1806; they were inventoried in documents bearing
date of November 14, 15 and 17, 1821, shortly after Mme.
Jean Audubon's death. They were restored in Paris about ten
years ago for Monsieur Lavigne, to whom I am indebted for the
photographs and this information.

[137] Audubon's intimate friend, see Vol. I, p. 128.

[138] "_Serinettes_," the old time music boxes, or
bird-organs, of Swiss origin, that were very popular in
America down to the time of the Civil War, or even later. They
were manufactured at St. Croix as late as 1880; instruments
of similar type, with dancing figures, have been adapted to
the penny-in-the-slot machines common in Switzerland to-day.

[139] _Marchand_, or retail merchant.

[140] Initials of the head of his firm, Benjamin Bakewell.

[141] The reference was to Mme. Stephanie-Felicité de Genlis
(1746-1830), teacher of the children of the Duke of Orleans,
Philippe-Egalité, and authoress of many works on education,
once popular, but now known only to the antiquary and the
ragman.

[142] Meaning possibly his prospective brother-in-law, Thomas
W. Bakewell, a fellow clerk in the office.

[143] One Louis was equal to twenty francs, or four dollars.

[144] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol. i, p. 32.

[145] Especially his account current, from June 1, 1806, to
July 25, 1807, with the "Mill Grove" farm, and "John Audubon
of Nantz," drawn up and signed at Philadelphia on the latter
date. Dacosta then claimed a balance due him of $950.64 above
the returns from farm and mine, of which he was entitled to
one-half; this sum included his salary and numerous minor
expenditures. When his account was contested and taken out of
court for settlement, it was cut by the arbitrators to $530.
See Appendix I, Document 11a.

The following is a "copy of the Award given by John Laval &
Laurence Huron appointed referees by Francis Dacosta and John
Audubon the elder by a rule of reference in the Common Pleas
of this county to have their differences in accounts settled:"

"We the within named referees, having heard the
parties and examined their respective accounts
& vouchers, do award that there is due by the
defendant, John Audubon the elder, to the plaintiff,
Francis Dacosta, the sum of five hundred and thirty
dollars, which we find to be the full balance of all
current accounts between them, and we award that the
said ballance be paid by the said John Audubon the
elder to the said Francis Dacosta by defalking the
same from the account of the condition of the Bond
of Eight Hundred Dollars—mentioned in the within
rule of reference conformably to the agreement
endorsed on the said Bond."

"Witness our hands Philadelphia 1st August, 1807."

"Signed—JOHN LAVAL."

"LAURENCE HURON."

(Copy of original MS., in possession of Mr. Welton H. Rozier.)

[146] In 1811 "Mill Grove" was conveyed by Francis Dacosta &
Company, to Frederick Beates, who in 1813 sold it to Samuel
Wetherill, Jr., for $7,000, the property having shrunk to
less than one-half the value placed upon it in 1806. For the
enterprises of the Wetherills, see Note, Vol. I, p. 102.

[147] Since we have been obliged to enter rather minutely
into the history of "Mill Grove," in order to trace the
relations of the Audubons to it in an important period of
the naturalist's career, the reader may be interested in the
anticlimax which its famous mines reached at a later day. The
Ecton Consolidated Mining Company had been in operation at
"Mill Grove" for a considerable period, when, in 1848, the
Perkioming Association was formed and ten thousand dollars was
at once invested in machinery. In 1851 these two companies
were combined under the name of the Perkioming Consolidated
Mining Company, which issued 50,000 shares of stock, at six
dollars each, thus representing a capital of $300,000. A
mining settlement quickly sprang up on Audubon's old farm,
where numerous buildings of stone, a general store, and
miners' houses were to be seen. In the first annual statement
issued by this company, the buildings were said to represent
an outlay of $15,000, while $140,000 had been expended on
machinery, both above and below ground. A Cornish expert,
who was summoned from England, was paid $1,414 for a verbose
report, the substance of which, it was said, was expressed in
conveying the information, already known, that the "mineral
mined is copper ore" (copper pyrite occurring in association
with lead). This company closed its business in 1851, by
assessing its stockholders one dollar a share, thus bringing
the total loss in this final effort to $350,000, nearly
one-third of which had been drawn from Philadelphia. After
one, or two, further unsuccessful attempts had been made,
all the substantial buildings of the mining works became a
quarry, from which stone was sold by the perch, the ruins of
the old engine house alone remaining to this day as a witness
of the follies of the generations that are gone. (This account
is based upon reports which have appeared in the press of
Philadelphia or in other Pennsylvania newspapers.)

[148] Samuel Latham Mitchell (1764-1831), physician,
naturalist, politician and voluminous writer on many subjects.
In 1797 he founded, in association with Dr. Edward Miller
and Dr. Elihu H. Smith, the _New York Medical Repository_,
and was its chief editor. He began also, at the University
of New York, one of the earliest collections in natural
history, and in 1817 appealed to the Historical Society of
his city for the foundation of a Zoölogical Museum; in the
same year he organized the Lyceum of Natural History, and was
its first president, Joseph Le Conte serving as corresponding
secretary, and John Torrey as one of its curators. On April
9, the following subjects were assigned to different members
for investigation, "Ichthyology or fishes, Plaxology or
crustaceous animals, Apalology or mollusca, and Geology or the
earth" being reserved for the president; Samuel Constantine
Rafinesque (see Chapter XIX) took charge of "Helmintology
or worms, Polypoligy or polyps, Atmology or Meteorology,
Hydrology or waters, and Taxodomy or classification;"
John Torrey, who became a distinguished botanist, was more
modest, and assumed charge only of "Entomology or insects;"
while to John Le Conte were given "Mastodology or mammalia,
Erpetology or reptiles, and Glossology or nomenclature." See
the _American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review_ (New York)
for August, 1817, p. 272.

[149] See Vol. I, p. 185.

[150] Cuvier stated in his report on Audubon's _Birds_,
delivered at the Academy of Sciences, Paris, September 22,
1828, that the author had been twenty-five years before a
pupil in the school of David. This would place the date in
1803, but earlier than the autumn of that year, when Audubon
started for America. See Note, Vol. I, p. 99.

[151] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
viii.

[152] F. T. Verger, _Archives curieuses de la ville de Nantes
et des départements de l'ouest_ (Nantes, 1837-41); for further
references to David in this chapter I am mainly indebted to
Georges Cain, _Le Long des Rues_ (Paris, 1812), and Charles
Saunier, _Louis David_ (Paris, no date).

[153] The implication as to time, which is repeated above,
contradicts an earlier statement, which is probably more
nearly correct, for when Audubon returned to America in 1806
he was twenty-one.

[154] See R. W. Shufeldt, in _The Auk_ and the _Audubonian
Magazine_ (Bibliography, Nos. 184 and 190).

[155] Referring to the fire of 1835, in New York.

[156] See Chapter XXI.

[157] When it passed into the equally worthy hands of Mr.
Joseph Y. Jeanes, of Philadelphia. Mr. Jeanes purchased from
the estate of Mr. Edward Harris, 2d, directly or indirectly,
and at different times, about 110 of these early originals;
others were dispersed, four of early date being in the Museum
of Harvard University. Mr. Jeanes also possesses a large
section of the Audubon-Harris correspondence, which extended
over nearly a quarter of a century, and of which little
has been published; to his kindness I am indebted for the
privilege of reproducing some of the drawings, as well as
numerous extracts from the letters, in the present work.

[158] Audubon said that some of the originals of _The Birds of
America_ were "made as long ago as 1805," which may well have
been the case, but the earliest date which has been preserved
on the drawings is that of July 1, 1808, for "Rathbone's
Warbler," later recognized as an immature form of the Summer
Warbler. The Carbonated Warbler was drawn May 7, 1811.
Seven bear the date of 1812, namely: Yellow-rumped Warbler,
April 22; Le petit Caporal, April 23; Wood Pewee, April 28;
Blackburnian and Bay-breasted Warblers, May 12; Chestnut-sided
Warbler, May 17; and Cuvier's Wren, June 8.

[159] For a list of Audubon's early dated drawings see
Appendix II. Through the courtesy of Mr. Jeanes, I am able
to reproduce a fuller series of Audubon's early drawings of
French and American birds than has hitherto been published,
and have chosen the subjects to illustrate the development of
his style.

[160] See Vol. I, p. 125.

[161] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
354.

[162] See Appendix II.

[163] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.

[164] This diary was first brought to my attention by Mr.
Ruthven Deane, and for permission to reproduce it I am
indebted to the kindness of a great-grandson of Ferdinand, Mr.
Welton A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. Mr. Rozier writes that the
original French notes have been mislaid or lost, but that they
were closely followed in this translation, whenever complete.
Though numerous verbal changes have been made in the present
draft, these have not altered the meaning in any respect.
Ferdinand Rozier's narrative begins as follows:

"I left Nantes, France, in company with John James Audubon,
on Saturday, the 12th day of April, 1806, bound for the
city of New York, U. S. A., on an American ship named the
_Polly_, commanded by Captain Sammis, and arrived at New York
on Tuesday, the 27th day of May. While on the voyage across
the ocean our vessel was stopped, overhauled, searched, and
robbed by an English privateer, named the _Rattlesnake_, which
detained us a day and a night.

"We remained in New York City for a few days, and then
removed to Mill Grove, on Pickering [Perkioming] Creek, in
Pennsylvania, a tract of land owned by our fathers, and at
that time thought to contain valuable minerals."

[165] In the rich bottom-lands of the Ohio River basin the
hackberry or sugarberry (_Celtis occidentals_) sometimes
exceeds one hundred feet in height, and has a diameter of from
four to five feet.

[166] The population of the second city of Pennsylvania
in 1800 was 1,565; in 1840, 4,768; and in 1910, after the
annexation of Allegheny, 533,905.

[167] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol. i, p. 28.

[168] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.

[169] See Chapter XI, page 158.

[170] When Audubon was returning with his wife and infant son
from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in the autumn of 1810; see "The
Ohio," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
29.

[171] In 1800 the population of Louisville was 600, and in
1810 it had risen to 1,350; see Charles Cist, _Cincinnati in
1841_ (Cincinnati, 1841).

[172] For this and the letter of Thomas Bakewell's uncle,
William Bakewell, which follows later, I am indebted to Mr.
Tom J. Rozier; see Note, Vol. I, p. 133, and for accompanying
"Account Current" of Audubon & Rozier, Appendix I, Document
No. 11.

[173] See Note, Vol. I, p. 196.

[174] The lead mine at "Mill Grove," which with the remaining
Audubon and Rozier interests in the farm had been taken
over by Dacosta's company in September, 1806. The failure
of Dacosta followed in about a year after the date of this
letter.

[175] Victor Gifford Audubon, who was then nine months old.

[176] See Vol. I, p. 153.

[177] William Bakewell died at Philadelphia on March 6, of the
same year, after suffering from the effects of a sunstroke,
and was, eventually, buried at "Fatland Ford;" in 1822 his
farm, originally of 800 acres, passed into the hands of
Dr. William Wetherill. See Note, Vol. I, p. 99, and W. G.
Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl. No. 200).

[178] In a letter to Alexander Lawson, written from
Pittsburgh, on February 22, 1810; see Elliott Coues, "Private
Letters of Wilson, Ord, and Bonaparte," _Penn Monthly_, vol.
x, pp. 443-455 (Philadelphia, 1879).

[179] See Elliott Coues, _loc. cit._

[180] Letter to Alexander Lawson, dated at Lexington, April
4, 1810; see Grosart, _Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander
Wilson_, vol. i, p. 189.

[181] See Grosart, _Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander
Wilson_, vol. i, p. xxiv.

[182] For "The Shark, or Lang Mills Detected," a satire
directed against William Sharp, a manufacturer of Paisley;
Wilson was fined £12 13s. 6d.

[183] See Bibliography, No. 43.

[184] At Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on October 3, 1799,
Alexander Wilson sent George Simpson, Esq., a State
Treasurer's check in favor of Joseph Brown for $475, to be
entered to the credit of Mr. Brown as one installment on 38
shares of scrip in the new loan at eight per cent, in the
names of Thomas Eyes, 14 shares; Alexander Wilson, 14 shares;
and Kenneth Sewell, 10 shares.

[185] This was the American edition of Abraham Rees' revision
of Ephraim Chambers' _Cyclopædia_, which had appeared in
London in 1728; it was published at Philadelphia, in forty-one
quarto volumes of text and six volumes of plates, by Samuel F.
Bradford and the Messrs. Murray, Fairman & Company, 1810-1824.

[186] "The types," said Charles Robert Leslie, "which were
very beautiful, were cast in America, and though at that time
paper was largely imported, he [Mr. Bradford] determined that
the paper should be of American manufacture; and I remember
that Ames, the paper maker, carried his patriotism so far that
he declared that he would use only American rags in making
it." (_Autobiographical Recollections_, Boston, 1860.)

[187] The _American Ornithology: or, the Natural History
of the Birds of the United States_: Illustrated with Plates
Engraved and Colored from Original Drawings taken from Nature,
by Alexander Wilson, was published in nine imperial quarto
volumes by Messrs. Bradford and Inskeep, at Philadelphia,
1808-1814. Each volume contained nine plates and from 100 to
167 pages of text, exclusive of prefatory and other matter.
The eighth volume, which was nearly ready for press at the
time of the author's death, was edited by George Ord, Wilson's
friend and executor; the final volume, which was wholly
by Ord, and which was issued in the same year, contained a
life of Wilson. After the appearance of the initial volume,
the edition was extended to 500 copies and the first volume
was entirely reset. Ord's life of Wilson was expanded for a
three-volume edition of the _Ornithology_, and from oversheets
of this work was produced as a separate volume in 1828 (see
Note, Vol. I, p. 223).

Wilson's published lists of subscribers show 449 names,
calling for 458 copies, more than half of which were taken by
residents of Pennsylvania, New York and Louisiana; 70 were
subscribed for in Philadelphia, chiefly by business men,
artists, and "those in the middle class of society;" New
Orleans in seventeen days gave him 60 subscribers; Europe
supplied 15, among whom were William Roscoe, later a patron
of Audubon, and Benjamin West, the artist. Wilson figured and
described 278 species of American birds (within the limits of
the United States), of which 56 were supposed to be new, and
the total number, given by Wilson and Ord, is said to be 320.
Twenty-three species were erroneously supposed to be identical
with their European counterparts, yet all of Wilson's birds
except the "Small-headed Flycatcher," referred to at the end
of this chapter, have been identified. Considering the time
and the difficulties under which he labored, his mistakes were
remarkably few.

[188] See Vol. I, p. 340.

[189] See a letter to Professor S. S. Haldeman, dated February
6, 1879, in _Penn Monthly_, vol. x (Philadelphia, 1879).

[190] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
437.

[191] _Sketch of the Life of Alexander Wilson, Author of
the American Ornithology_, by George Ord, F. L. S. &c. pp.
i-cxcix, Philadelphia, 1828; taken from vol. i of an octavo
edition of Wilson, edited by Ord, and issued by Harrison Hall,
in three volumes, at Philadelphia in 1828-29, with folio atlas
of plates reproduced from the original work; see Note 187,
_supra_.

[192] See Ord's charge of plagiarism against Audubon (Bibl.
No. 145) in the _Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society_, vol. i (1840). So far as could be ascertained
in the summer of 1915, Wilson's diary of 1810 was not in
the possession of any library or scientific society in
Philadelphia, nor was it in the large collection of books
which was given by Ord to the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of that city at the time of his death in 1866.

[193] The bracketed lines are from Waterton, who once stated
that he had examined the original.

[194] This sentence is quoted from Burns' biographical
sketch of Wilson (Bibl., No. 161), but tenses are changed to
correspond with other entries.

[195] _Musicapa minuta_, which appears in Figure 5, Plate 50,
of volume vi of Wilson's _American Ornithology_ (pp. 62-63
of the text), and in Figure 2, Plate ccccxxxiv, of Audubon's
_Birds of America_ (_Ornithological Biography_, vol. v, pp.
291-3).

[196] Nevertheless so careful and discerning a naturalist
as Thomas Nuttall confidently asserted that his friend, Mr.
M. C. Pickering, had "obtained a specimen several years ago
near Salem (Massachusetts)"; see _A Manual of the Ornithology
of the United States and Canada_ (Cambridge, 1832). Dr.
Elliott Coues at one time thought that it might have been the
Pine-creeping Warbler, and Professor Baird identified it as
the female or young of the Hooded Warbler.

[197] Compare _Ornithological Biography_, vol. iii, p. 203,
where in Audubon's article on the Whooping Crane, there is
this note: "Louisville, State of Kentucky, March, 1810. I had
the gratification of taking Alexander Wilson to some ponds
within a few miles of town, and of showing him many birds of
this species, of which he had not previously seen any other
than stuffed specimens. I told him that the white birds were
the adults, and that the grey ones were the young. Wilson, in
his article on the Whooping Crane, has alluded to this, but,
as on other occasions, he has not informed his readers whence
his information came."

[198] What appear to be the original legends, written on
this drawing in ink, are as follows: "Chute de l'Ohio. July
1, 1808. No. 31. J. A. Que j'avais figuré [?] 12 pennes à
la queue." Above were later added, also in ink, the names,
"sylvia Trochilus delicata; Sylvia delicata, Aud."

[199] On this drawing, which with Audubon's other originals
is in the collections of the Historical Society of New York,
the legends are as follows: "Mississippi Kite, Male, Falco
mississippiensis; Drawn from nature by John J. Audubon,
Louisiana, parish of Feliciana, James Perrie's Esq.,
Plantation. June 28th, 1821. Length 14 inches; Breadth 3 feet,
½ inches; Weight 10¾ ounces; Tail feathers, 12." It is drawn
in his usual style of that period, in pastel, water color and
pencil, and has been dismounted.

[200] See Vol. I, p. 305.

[201] _American Ornithology_, vol. iii, p. 80.

[202] See Witmer Stone, "Some Letters of Alexander Wilson and
John Abbot," _The Auk_, vol. xxiii, 1906.

[203] In 1840, by W. B. O. Peabody, naturalist; author of a
_Life_ of Wilson; see Bibliography, No. 105.

[204] Vincent Nolte, _Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres_ (Bibl.
No. 176).

[205] The first steamboat on the Ohio was the _Orleans_, a
vessel of 200-400 tons, built at Pittsburgh in the summer and
fall of 1811, by Robert Fulton and Robert M. Livingston; her
first voyage, when she touched at Henderson, was signalized,
as it seemed to many, by the great earthquakes of that year.
The first Kentucky steamer was built at Henderson in 1817, the
same year that a small vessel was constructed by Samuel Bowen
and J. J. Audubon at the same place (see Chapter XVI). Compare
Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_
(Bibl. No. 186).

[206] Known first as Redbank or Redbanks, to distinguish
it from Yellowbank, or Owensboro, on a similar bend farther
upstream; called also Hendersonville, but this term had no
official standing. The population of Henderson in 1810 is
given as 159, and that of the entire county, then larger than
at present, as 5,000. See Starling, _op. cit._

[207] See Vol. I, p. 235.

[208] See translations from copies of the originals, in
French, in possession of the Louisiana Historical Society,
New Orleans, in Appendix I, Document No. 21.

[209] Boat for the exchange of prisoners of war.

[210] Compare Note, Vol. I, p. 152.

[211] See Note, Vol. I, p. 148.

[212] For this characterization of Ferdinand Rozier I am
indebted mainly to an account by his son, Firman A. Rozier,
at one time mayor of Ste. Geneviève and member of the State
Legislature; see his _History of the Early Settlement of the
Mississippi Valley_ (Bibl. No. 202) (St. Louis, 1890).

[213] For a photograph of the old Rozier store at Ste.
Geneviève, as well as for the likeness of Rozier, made in
1862, when he was in his eighty-fifth year, I am indebted to
the kindness of Mr. Ruthven Deane, who received them from a
son of Ferdinand, Felix Rozier, in November, 1905, when the
latter had attained his eighty-third year.

[214] While living at Henderson the Audubons lost their two
daughters, Rosa and Lucy, both of whom died when very young.

[215] "The Earthquake," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No.
2) vol. i, p. 280.

[216] This journey was probably made in February, though the
date is given as April (see Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his
Journals_, vol. i, p. 44), if the legends of four drawings of
this time are to be trusted; all are labeled Pennsylvania, and
bear the following dates: Swamp Sparrow, March, 1812; Spotted
Sandpiper, April 22, 1812; White-throated Sparrow, April 24,
1812; and Whippoorwill, May 7, 1812.

[217] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
81. In his biographical sketch of 1835 Audubon said that this
occurred on his first return from Ste. Geneviève to Henderson
(in 1811), a contradiction characteristic of his manner of
dealing with biographical and historical details. For an
account of this "Episode," see Chapter XVIII.

[218] For early references to Henderson I am indebted mainly
to Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_
(Bibl. No. 186), who had access to all the town and county
records.

[219] In 1819, the year of Audubon's departure, 129 town lots
had been sold, while 29 had been given to privileged persons
or to prospective settlers.

[220] According to the town records, as quoted by Starling,
on December 22, 1813, Audubon purchased lots numbers 95
and 96, which were one-half of the square lying on the west
side of Third Street and between Green and Elm Streets, from
General Samuel Hopkins, agent of the Messrs. Richard Henderson
& Company; on September 3, 1814, he bought lots numbers 91
and 92, or one-half of the square on the west side of Second
Street, between Green and Elm. The mill site on the Ohio River
was a part of the land given to Henderson by the Transylvania
Company, the original owners of a large part of Kentucky;
this site was leased for 99 years to J. J. Audubon, was sold
and resold, but reverted to the city of Henderson in 1915.
In the latter year the project was broached of obtaining the
original mill site, together with adjoining property along the
river, and converting the whole into a public park dedicated
to Audubon.

[221] At a somewhat later time the naturalist occupied a
one-story frame house, built in 1814, which stood at the
corner of Fourth and Main Streets; see Starling, _op. cit._

[222] See Note 15, Vol. I, p. 124.

[223] A Henderson correspondent of Joseph M. Wade, under the
signature of "W. S. J.," August 8, 1883, gave the following
account of the structure. The original mill covered forty-five
by sixty-five feet, and consisted of four stories and
basement; the basement walls of stone stood four feet thick,
while at the third story the thickness was three feet; the
three upper stories were in frame. The studding measured
three by six, and the rafters four by eight, inches. Many
of the large timbers that could then be seen were sound
and apparently good for a century or more. Parts of the old
machinery that had been used in the grist mill were lying
about under the eaves; the building was then used as a tobacco
stemmery. See Joseph M. Wade (Bibl. No. 182), _Ornithologist
and Oölogist_, vol. viii, p. 79 (1883).

The old Audubon mill in more recent times was incorporated
into a warehouse for the storage of leaf tobacco; it was
burned to the ground on March 18, 1913.

[224] The mill is supposed to have cost about $15,000; of this
sum Thomas Pears is said to have contributed from $3,000 to
$4,000, and William Bakewell a similar amount in the interest
of his son, while Audubon presumably furnished the balance.

[225] Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 47.

[226] In his journal of 1820 Audubon said that after the
withdrawal of Bakewell, "men with whom I had long been
associated offered me a partnership. I accepted, and a
small ray of light appeared in my business, but a revolution
occasioned by a numberless quantity of failures put all to an
end."

[227] One of J. J. Audubon & Company's bills is here
reproduced from Starling, _op. cit._

"To the President and Directors of the Bank of Henderson to
Henderson steam mill:

"To three pieces of scantling, 56 feet, 4½ c $2.52

"To ten pieces of scantling, 34 feet ——

"To sixty rafters, 714 feet, at 4 c 28.56

"To five pieces scantling, 40 feet, at 3 c 1.20

"To fifteen joists [?], 278½ feet, at 6 c 16.71
———
"J. J. Audubon & Co." $48.99

[228] According to W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_
(Bibl. No. 200), Thomas Bakewell sold his interest in the
store and mill to Audubon in 1817, but this is contradicted
by other accounts. For the incident which follows, see Maria
R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 34.

[229] See Dixon L. Merritt (Bibl. No. 226a), "Audubon in
Kentucky," _The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine_, vol. 10 (1909), p.
293.

[230] Thomas Bakewell later became a successful builder of
steamboats, first at Pittsburgh, and after 1824 at Cincinnati,
where he was an important factor in the rising commerce of the
Ohio Valley, and where he left his mark on the history of that
city. As a theoretical mechanic in iron and wood he is said to
have had no superior; his business was nearly destroyed in the
panic of 1837, and he never regained his financial position.
To his credit also it must be added that in 1860, at the age
of seventy-two, he began at the bottom of the ladder again by
engaging as a clerk with a paper company at Cincinnati, and,
refusing the proffered aid of his children, he did not give up
work until his eightieth year, seven years before his death
in 1874. See W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl.
No. 200).

[231] Audubon was not so accurate when in his biographical
sketch of 1835 he said: "Finally I paid every bill, and
at last left Henderson probably forever...," for when at
Charleston with Bachman in 1834, one of his former creditors
attempted to sue him for debt and apparently carried his case
to court. When Bachman asked for an explanation, Audubon wrote
from New York, April 5, 1834, as follows: "Respecting the
suit let me tell you ... that I went to Gaol at Louisville
after having given up all to my creditors, and that I took
the benefit of the act of insolvency at the Louisville
Court House, Kentucky, before Judge Fortunatus Crosby & many
witnesses, and that a copy of the record of that step can
easily be had from that court.... I wish friend Donkin to
do all he can to put a _Conclusion_—stop to this matter, for
it makes me sick at heart." The lawyer here referred to was
probably Judge Dunkin, friend of Bachman and distinguished
in his profession, who had a plantation at Waccamaw, near
Charleston, South Carolina (see Chapter XXVII, Vol. II, p. 64.)

[232] See Chapter IX, p. 63.

[233] For complete text of these wills, in the original, See
Appendix I, Documents 13-18.

[234] See Note 4, Vol. I, p 27. The suit brought by these
plaintiffs was based upon a French law, which at that time
debarred a natural child from inheriting property.

[235] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol i, pp. iii and 130.

[236] Lucy B. Audubon, ed., _The Life of John James Audubon_
(Bibl. No. 73), p. 55.

[237] See Chapter VIII, p. 121.

[238] See Chapter II, pp. 33 and 34.

[239] From G. L. du Puigaudeau's copy of his letter to John
James Audubon (at Henderson), dated "Couëron, August 15,
1819," translated from the French. (Lavigne MSS.)

[240] See Vol. I, p. 64.

[241] This, and the letter to follow, translated from Gabriel
du Puigaudeau's copies. (Lavigne MSS.)

[242] This reference is evidently to the litigation over
Lieutenant Audubon's will and the final disposition of his
estate.

[243] It was thought that Victor had come to settle the
family's financial affairs, and his uncle and aunt asked
if this were the case; he replied that it was not, that the
children of Jean Audubon who were in America had taken their
[share of the] property in that country, while those in France
had theirs in France; he considered that all was settled,
but if Rosa's children wished for any money, they had but to
ask for it, and the heirs in America would send them what
they desired; the subject was then dropped. A considerable
correspondence followed this visit, but the letters were
all destroyed about twenty-five years ago by Monsieur du
Puigaudeau, when putting his effects in order. This account
is given on the authority of Monsieur Lavigne.