The Audubon Reader (4 page)
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Authors: John James Audubon
| DATE | AUTHOR’S LIFE |
| 1769 | Jean Audubon serves in French Navy. |
| 1785 | 26 April: Audubon born Jean Rabin, illegitimately, to ship’s captain and sugar planter Jean Audubon and French chambermaid Jeanne Rabin at Les Cays, Saint-Domingue (Haiti). |
| 1786 | Jeanne Rabin dies of infection. |
| 1787 | 18 January: Lucy Green Bakewell born at Burton-on-Trent, England, first child and firstborn daughter of wealthy country squire William Bakewell and Lucy Green Bakewell. Audubon’s half-sister Rosa born to Catherine Bouffard, “créole de Saint-Domingue.” |
| 1789 | Slaves near rebellion in Saint-Domingue. Jean Audubon sells plantation, buys substantial farm in Pennsylvania—Mill Grove, near Valley Forge—and returns to Nantes. |
| 1791 | Jean Audubon’s two illegitimate children arrive in France. His wife, Anne Moynet, welcomes them. |
| 1793 | Jean Audubon and his wife formally adopt his children; Jean Rabin renamed Jean-Jacques Fougère (“Fern”) Audubon. |
| 1801 | Jean Audubon and family retire to Couëron. William Bakewell family emigrates to America. |
| 1803 | August: John James Audubon, 18, arrives in America, settles at Mill Grove. Bakewell family occupies Fatland Ford. |
| 1804 | Audubon and Lucy Bakewell meet at Fatland Ford and begin long courtship. |
| 1805 | Audubon sails to France to seek permission to marry Lucy Bakewell. Carries some 120 drawings of French and American birds which he gives to his mentor Charles d’Orbigny. |
| 1806 | Audubon returns to America with business partner Ferdinand Rozier, applies for U.S. citizenship, begins business training in New York under Benjamin Bakewell. |
| 1808 | 5 April: Lucy Bakewell and John James Audubon married at Fatland Ford. With Ferdinand Rozier, they emigrate to Louisville, Kentucky, to operate a general store. |
| 1809 | 12 June: Victor Gifford Audubon born in Louisville. |
| 1810 | Wilson and Audubon meet in Louisville. Audubons and Rozier move to Henderson, Kentucky. Audubon and Rozier travel by keelboat to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri Territory (“Journey Up the Mississippi”). |
| 1811 | Audubon and Rozier dissolve their partnership. Audubons return to Pennsylvania planning to move to New Orleans. |
| 1812 | Audubon draws Whip-poor-will and Nighthawk in flight: first successful flight drawings. 3 July: Audubon becomes American citizen; Audubons return to Henderson, floating down the Ohio on William Clark’s barge. 30 November: John Woodhouse Audubon born in Henderson. |
| 1813 | Audubon and brother-in-law Thomas Bakewell form partnership to build steam-powered mill at Henderson. |
| 1814 | December: girl, Lucy, born to the Audubons; hydrocephalic, she will live less than two years. |
| 1816 | Eliza Bakewell, Lucy’s younger sister, marries Nicholas Berthoud. |
| 1818 | Jean Audubon dies at Nantes. |
| 1819 | Audubon’s business fails; family possessions sold at auction; jailed for debt, takes bankruptcy. Begins new career as professional artist drawing portraits; continues drawing birds. Daughter Rose born in Shippingport; dies of fever at seven months. |
| 1820 | Audubon joins Western Museum, Cincinnati, as artist and taxidermist. Long Expedition stops over in Cincinnati, views Audubon’s work. October: Audubon departs Cincinnati by flatboat with assistant Joseph Mason, bound for New Orleans, to collect birds for The Birds of America ; begins Mississippi River Journal . |
| 1821 | Audubon arrives in New Orleans. Paints Fair Incognito. In June, takes up residence at Oakley Plantation as artist and teacher. Fired in October; returns to New Orleans. 18 October: Anne Moynet dies in Couëron. Lucy and sons arrive from Shippingport in time for Christmas. At least 31 drawings completed this year for the Birds . |
| 1822 | Audubon breaks through to new richness of drawing; decides to redraw all his earlier work. Moves to Natchez, where his family joins him in September. |
| 1823 | Lucy Audubon opens school at Beechwood Plantation, near Bayou Sarah. Audubon begins preparing to go to Europe to see his drawings engraved. |
| 1824 | Audubon travels to Pennsylvania to find work as a teacher and study oil painting with Thomas Sully; meets Charles-Lucien Bonaparte. In autumn, explores Great Lakes. Returns in November to Bayou Sarah. |
| 1825 | Audubon at Beechwood Plantation teaching fencing, drawing and cotillion dancing to raise money for England. |
| 1826 | 17 May: Audubon, 41, sails for Liverpool; arrives 21 July. Taken up by Rathbone family. In Edinburgh, William Home Lizars agrees to undertake engraving of Birds . |
| 1827 | Lucy moves to Beech Grove Plantation. Audubon issues Prospectus , moves to London, transfers engraving of Birds to establishment of Robert Havell, Sr., and sons Robert, Jr. and George. By year’s end, has more than 100 subscribers, 20 finished plates and £777 due after expenses. |
| 1829 | Audubon returns to U.S.A., works through summer at Great Egg Harbor and Great Pine Swamp. In November, reunites with Lucy at Beech Grove. |
| 1830 | Audubons sail for England. Audubon elected Fellow of Royal Society of London. In October, begins writing Ornithological Biography . First volume of Birds completed in December. |
| 1831 | Audubons return to U.S.A.; Audubon explores South Carolina and East Florida. |
| 1832 | Audubon collects in the Florida Keys, winters in Boston. Robert Havell, Sr., dies. |
| 1833 | Audubon charters schooner, spends summer exploring Gulf of St. Lawrence and Labrador coast, writes Labrador Journal . |
| 1834 | Audubons return to England in May. Second volume of Birds finished, third underway. |
| 1835 | Audubon finishes drawings for fourth volume of Birds . Third volume published; third volume of Ornithological Biography published. Fire in New York destroys pre-1821 journals. |
| 1836 | Audubon and John Woodhouse return to U.S.A., work from Nuttall-Townsend Expedition skins in Charleston, dine at White House with Andrew Jackson. Charles Dickens: Pickwick Papers (–1837). Ralph Waldo Emerson: |
| 1837 | Father and son explore Gulf westward to Galveston Bay. Meet Sam Houston. John Woodhouse marries Maria Bachman. Audubons return to England. |
| 1838 | 16 June: The Birds of America finished: 435 plates, 1,065 figures. |
| 1839 | Last volume of Ornithological Biography finished; Audubons return to America. Begin work on lithograph Octavo edition, plan Quadrupeds . Victor Audubon and Eliza Bachman married. |
| 1840 | Maria Bachman Audubon dies of consumption at 23. |
| 1841 | Eliza Bachman Audubon dies of consumption at 22. |
| 1842 | Audubons acquire Minnie’s Land on Hudson River at 155 St., Manhattan. Audubon visits Quebec. |
| 1843 | Audubon explores Upper Missouri River on American Fur Company steamboat; Missouri River Journals . |
| 1846 | Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America begins publication (1846–54). |
| 1847 | Audubon disabled by dementia. |
| 1851 | 27 January: Audubon, 65, dies at Minnie’s Land. Buried in Trinity Cemetery. |
| 1874 | Lucy Audubon, 86, dies at Shelbyville, Kentucky, and is buried beside her husband in New York. |
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