200 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Present the kind regards of our family circle to my daugh- 

 ter, M r Audubon, & my Grandson 13 who I hope are well 



I remain Gent n 



Yours truly 



W m Bakewell 



PS 



M r Kinder is of opinion that there ought to be a renuncia- 

 tion by Lucy of any claim of dower upon this estate to 

 make the title good this may be sent on when you are 

 coming this way 

 [Addressed] Mess s Audubon & Roziee 



Merch s 



Louisville 



Kentucky — 

 [Endorsed] Rec d . May 5 th . 1810 



Lucy Green Bakewell, Audubon's wife, was three 

 years younger than her husband, having been born at 

 Burton-on-Trent, England, in 1788. Her family were 

 descended from John Bakewell of "Castle Donning- 

 ton," in Leicestershire; Robert Bakewell, the geologist, 

 who came to the naturalist's defense many years later, 

 and who lived until 1843, was a nephew of her grand- 

 father, Joseph Bakewell of Derby. Left an orphan at 

 an early age, Lucy's father, William Bakewell, was 

 brought up by an uncle, Thomas Woodhouse, a rich 

 bachelor of Crith, Derbyshire, who eventually left him 

 a fortune. 



When William Bakewell succeeded to his uncle's es- 

 tate and manor, he lived the life of a country gentleman, 

 devoting himself mainly to shooting and to the study of 

 chemistry and natural philosophy, while he enjoyed the 

 friendship of such men as Joseph Priestley and Erasmus 

 Darwin. His advocacy of Priestley's republican and 



13 Victor Gifford Audubon, who was then nine months old. 



