62 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
some property upon “Jean Rabin, créole de Saint Do- 
mingue,’ which he refused to accept, saying, “my own 
name I have never been permitted even to speak; accord 
me that of Audubon, which I revere, as I have cause 
to do.” 1° The reference in this instance was, I believe, to 
the final will of Lieutenant Audubon, according to 
which his property, after being held in usufruct by his 
wife during her lifetime, was to be equally divided be- 
tween their two adopted children. In his first will the 
son was referred to as “Jean Audubon,” but in the sec- 
ond and last document, executed in 1816, two years be- 
fore the testator’s death, he appears as “Jean Rabin.” 
Madame Audubon drew four wills; in the first, dated 
December 4, 1814, her adopted son is called “Jean Au- 
dubon”; in the next, of 1816, he is “Jean Rabin, créole 
de Saint-Domingue,”’ while in a draft written December 
26, 1819, he is styled simply “Jean Rabin’; finally, in 
her fourth and last testament of July 16, 1821, the word- 
ing is “Jean Audubon, called ‘Jean Rabin.’” It is 
thus very plain that Audubon’s foster parents consid- 
ered it advisable to have his identity clearly set forth 
in legal documents. In one of his autobiographical 
sketches Audubon remarked that his own mother was 
said to have been as wealthy as she was beautiful, and 
if this were true, such caution might be explained and 
a key found to certain other enigmatical conditions 
which seemed to hedge his early life. But to such pos- 
sibilities it will be necessary to revert at a later point of 
our story.’® 
This dual personality was set forth by the naturalist 
himself, but in a more curious form, in a power of attor- 
* This statement was made to me by Miss Maria R. Audubon in 1914. 
“For full text of the six wills drawn at different times by Jean 
Audubon and his wife see Appendix I, Documents Nos. 13-18. 
* See Chapter XVII. 
