BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 69 



This was a sugar plantation on the north side of Lake 

 Ponchartrain, three miles east of what is now the vil- 

 lage of Mandeville and twenty- five miles due north of 

 New Orleans. 



Pierre Enguerrand Philippe de Mandeville, Ecuyer 

 Sieur de Marigny, 23 at one time owner of vast estates in 

 and about New Orleans, was born in that city in 1750, 

 and served as its alcade or mayor for two years. A 

 lavish dispenser of hospitality, in 1798 he entertained 

 in great state the Duke of Orleans, later known as 

 Louis Philippe of France, together with his two broth- 

 ers who accompanied him. He died at New Orleans, 

 leaving five sons, of whom the third, Bernard Marigny, 

 later became the owner of "Fontainebleau," which it 

 has been mistakenly assumed was inherited from his 

 father. At the time of the Duke of Orleans' visit just 

 mentioned Jean Audubon had been out of the country 

 nine years; there is no evidence of his ever having 

 owned property at New Orleans, or ever having sus- 

 tained any relations with the Marigny family. 



Before following the Marigny myth further, it will 

 be interesting to notice a late echo of the "Fontaine- 

 bleau" story. In 1910 the Reverend Gordon Bakewell, 

 then in his eighty-ninth year, gave some interesting rem- 

 iniscences of Audubon, and spoke very definitely con- 

 cerning both the time and place of his birth. Dr. Bake- 

 well was a nephew of Mrs. Audubon, and as a youth, in 

 1834, had passed some time at her home in London. 

 John W. Audubon, with his father's assistance, painted 

 at that time a portrait of young Bakewell, who at a 



33 See J. W. Crozart, "Bibliographical and Genealogical Notes Con- 

 cerning the Family of Philippe de Mandeville, Ecuyer Sieur de Marigny, 

 1709-1800," Louisiana Historical Society Publications, vol. v (New Orleans, 

 1911). The portrait referred to below now hangs in the H. Sophie New- 

 comb Memorial College, New Orleans. 



