AUDUBON 



frequent occurrence in that beautiful island, whose history 

 is too dark to dwell upon. Beyond this nothing can be 

 found relating to the mother, whom Audubon lost before 

 he was old enough to remember her, except that in 1822 

 one of the family Marigny told my father, John Woodhouse 

 Audubon, then a boy of ten, who with his parents was living 

 in New Orleans, that she was "une dame d'une beaut6 

 incomparable et avec beaucoup de fiert^." It may seem 

 strange that nothing more can be found regarding this 

 lady, but it is to be remembered these were troublous 

 days, when stormy changes were the rule ; and the roving 

 and adventurous sailor did not, I presume, encumber 

 himself with papers. To these circumstances also it is 

 probably due that the date of Audubon's birth is not 

 known, and must always remain an open question. In 

 his journals and letters various allusions are made to his 

 age, and many passages bearing on the matter are found, 

 but with one exception no two agree ; he may have been 

 born anywhere between 1772 and 1783, and in the face of 

 this uncertainty the date usually given. May 5, 1780, 

 may be accepted, though the true one is no doubt 

 earlier. 



The attachment between Audubon and his father was of 

 the strongest description, as the long and affectionate, if 

 somewhat infrequent letters, still in the possession of the 

 family, fully demonstrate. When the Admiral was retired 

 from active service, he lived at La Gerb^ti^re in France 

 with his second wife, Anne Moynette, until his death, on 

 February 19, 1818, at the great age of ninety-five. 



In this home near the Loire, Audubon spent his happy 

 boyhood and youth, dearly beloved and loving, and receiv- 

 ing the best education time and place afforded. As the 

 boy grew older and more advantages were desired for 

 him, came absences when he was at school in La Rochelle 

 and Paris ; but La Gerb^ti^re was his home till in early 

 manhood he returned to America, the land he loved above 



