FIRST VENTURES IN BUSINESS 153 



ended the joint interests of the elder Audubon and 

 Rozier, for in November, 1806, a new power of attor- 

 ney 7 was given to the young men by Lieutenant Audu- 

 bon and his wife; as later events will prove, however, 

 their rights in the property were not completely sur- 

 rendered with its transfer to Dacosta and his mining 

 company in the autumn of this year. The partners were 

 now free to "choose some kind of serious work," and 

 Ferdinand, who was then twenty-nine, was anxious to 

 make a beginning at once. Since he was not as yet 

 proficient in the English tongue, Rozier engaged as a 

 clerk in the French importing house of Laurence 

 Huron, of Philadelphia, while Audubon, following the 

 advice of his future father-in-law, entered the office of 

 the latter 's brother, Benjamin Bake well, in New York. 

 In the autumn of 1806 Benjamin Bakewell was 

 conducting a successful wholesale importing business at 

 175 Pearl Street. He then owned several vessels, and 

 his correspondents were scattered over England, 

 France, the West Indies and the Southern States. 

 With him were associated at this time a number of 

 young men, including his nephew, Thomas W. Bake- 



7 This was issued, so the letter reads, to "their son, John Audubon, 

 and Ferdinand Rozier, both of the said city of Philadelphia, Gentlemen," 

 by "John Audubon, late of the city of Philadelphia, in the common- 

 wealth of Pennsylvania, now residing in the commune of Coueron, near the 

 city of Nantes in France, Gentleman, and Anne Moynette, his wife," to 

 apply to all lands and other property belonging to them in the United 

 States, with the power to "raise or borrow money on the whole or any part 

 or parts of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to secure the 

 repayment of said monies by bond, warrant of attorney, to contest judg- 

 ment of the mortgage of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or 

 any part or parts thereof. . . ." Written in French and English; signed 

 by Jean Audubon, Anne Moynet, his wife, by Doctors Chapelain and C. 

 d'Orbigny as witnesses, by the mayor of Coueron, the prefect of the 

 arrondissement and the prefect of the department; countersigned on 

 December 4, 1806, by W. D. Patterson, of the "Commercial Agency of the 

 United States at Nantes." For the favor of examining this paper, I am 

 indebted to the kindness of Miss Maria R, Audubon. 



