64 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



ney 16 executed at Henderson, Kentucky, on July 26, 

 1817, in favor of his brother-in-law, Gabriel Loyen du 

 Puigaudeau. This measure was taken more than a year 

 after Audubon's father had drawn up his last will, in 

 which the son was referred to as "Jean Rabin," and was 

 evidently designed to facilitate any settlement of this 

 will which events in France might render necessary. 

 The naturalist was then engaged in his famous but dis- 

 astrous financial enterprises on the Ohio River, 17 but 

 whether any intimation had come to him of possible legal 

 troubles, which later actually ensued in France, cannot 

 be stated. 



"This unique document reads as follows: 



"To all to whom these presents may come: know ye that I, John 

 Audubon, having special trust and confidence in my friend, G. Loyen Du 

 Puigaudeau, of the Department of Loire and [sic] Inferieure, and Parish 

 of Coueron, near Nantes, in the kingdom of France, [do constitute him] 

 my true and lawful attorney, and the true and lawful attorney in fact of 

 Jean Rabin, husband of Lucy Bakewell, of the County of Henderson 

 and State of Kentucky, in the United States of America, for us [?], the 

 said Jean Rabin, and in our name to our use and benefit, to ask, demand, 

 sue for, recover, and receive all and every part of the Real and Personal 

 Estate, that is to say Lands, Tenements, Grounds, Chattels, and credits, 

 which I have, or either of us, in the Department of Loire and [sic] 

 Inferieure in the kingdom of France, aforesaid, and to make sale of the 

 same, either at auction, or by contract of the said Lands and Tenements, 

 Goods, Chattells, and Credits, to receive the money arising from said 

 sale, to give any Receipt, acquittance, or other discharge for the said 

 money or any part thereof, if money or specie shall be received, or for 

 any property he may receive in exchange or barter for said Real and 

 personal Estate, and our said attorney, or the attorney of Jean Rabin 

 aforesaid, is hereby authorized and empowered to make, give, execute, and 

 deliver any Deed, Covenant, or transfer of said Real and Personal Estate 

 to the purchaser of all or any part thereof for us, or for the said 

 Jean Rabin, in as full and ample a manner as he, the said Jean, could 

 do, was he personally present in said Department, in the Kingdom. In 

 testimony whereof the said John Audubon has hereunto set his hand and 

 affixed his seal the Twenty Sixth day of July, Anno Domini One thousand 

 & Eight hundred and Seventeen. 



JOHK J. AUDUBON [Seal within] 



On the back of the preceding is the notary's certificate that Jean Audu- 

 bon appeared before him; seal affixed, and dated July 26, 1817. 



Signed, "A[MBROZE] BARBAND, 

 Notary of Henderson County, Kentucky." 



"See Chapter XVI. 



