Ixxx AUDUBON THE NATURALIST 



Mr. Arthur, in his detailed biography, has reversed the 

 names of the parents of Audubon's mother, giving Fougere as 

 the father's name. Since both of us have derived our informa- 

 tion from the same source, I have recently appealed to Judge 

 Fougere to settle this question if possible, and he has written 

 me under date of May 22, 1937, as follows: "If I have written 

 to Mr. Arthur that Mile. Rabin was probably Rabin by her 

 mother, and Fougere by her father, it may have been due to 

 a lapsus calami, . . . nevertheless this false belief has been 

 practised by the Fougere family for a good long time. I have 

 been lately positively convinced of the fact that Mile. Rabin 

 was Fougere by her mother, through explanations received from 

 a near relative. As to whether the Mademoiselle was Fougere 

 by her mother or her father is, in my opinion, a matter of no 

 real importance. What is of the utmost consequence to know 

 is that the Fougere of Audubon's baptismal name came from 

 one of the grandparents on his mother's side." 



Belony Fougere, Audubon's older brother and Judge Fou- 

 gere's great-grandfather, according to the family records that 

 I am now following, married Francine d'Obcent (or d'Opsant)- 

 Dumont, who was owner of the large rural section of "Dumont" 

 in the district of Les Cayes. He worked as a planter, at one 

 time taught school, and also set up as a shoemaker. Belony 

 had two sons, Oxylus and Tibere, and four daughters, Belo- 

 mine, Telcila, Dulcinette, and Elmirene. Louis Joseph Simon, 

 a son of Telcila now living at Les Cayes, was at one time 

 Haitian Consul-General at New York. Belony spent his early 

 life at Les Cayes, but later lived at Jeremie, where he died. 



Oxylus Fougere, nephew of Audubon and grandfather of 

 Judge Fougere, to continue this account, was a physician and 

 also had a pharmacy at Les Cayes. He had three sons, An- 

 toine, father of Judge Fougere, Fenimore and Marc, and a 

 daughter, Marie. Antoine was a pharmacist of the first class 

 at the University of Paris, and a former house surgeon in that 

 city with the degree of licentiate in medicine. Fenimore was a 

 physician and assistant surgeon in the French army in 1870. 



