John James Audubon Biography – Life Chronology

By Melanie | October 29, 2012

John James Audubon’s life was spent working in many industries and on many continents. A chronology of his life, from Audubon, the naturalist by Francis Hobart Herrick, is included in what follows.

Year	Events
1785	April 26 — Fougere, Jean Rabin, or Jean Jacques Fougere Audubon, born at Les Cayes, Santo Domingo, now Haiti.
1789	Fougere, at four years, and Muguet, his sister by adoption, at two, are taken by their father to the United States, and thence to France.
1794	March 7 — Fougere, when nine years old, and Muguet at six, are legally adopted as the children of Jean Audubon and Anne Moynet, his wife.
1800	October 23 — Baptized, Jean Jacques Fougere, at Nantes, when in his sixteenth year.
1802-1803	Studies drawing for a brief period under Jacques Louis David, at Paris.
1803	First return to America, at eighteen, to learn English and enter trade: settles at “Mill Grove” farm, near Philadelphia, where he spends a year and begins his studies of American birds.
1804	December 15 — Half-interest in “Mill Grove” acquired by Francis Dacosta, who begins to exploit its lead mine; he also acts as guardian to young Audubon, who becomes engaged to Lucy Green Bakewell; quarrel with Dacosta follows.
1805	January 12-15 (?) — Walks to New York, where Benjamin Bakewell supplies him with passage money to France. January 18 (about) — Sails on the Hope for Nantes, and arrives about March 18. A year spent at “La Gerbetiere,” in Coueron, where he hunts birds with D’Orbigny and makes many drawings, and at Nantes, where plans are made for his return, with Ferdinand Rozier, to America.
1806	Enters the French navy at this time, or earlier, but soon withdraws. March 23 — A business partnership is arranged with Ferdinand Rozier, and Articles of Association are signed at Nantes. April 12 — Sails with Rozier on the Pollys Captain Sammis, and lands in New York on May 26. They settle at “Mill Grove” farm, where they remain less than four months, meanwhile making unsuccessful attempts to operate the lead mine on the property. September 15 — Remaining half interest in “Mill Grove” farm and mine acquired by Francis Dacosta & Company, conditionally, the Audubons and Roziers holding a mortgage.
1806-1807	December 15 — Half-interest in “Mill Grove” acquired by Francis Dacosta, who begins to exploit its lead mine; he also acts as guardian to young Audubon, who becomes engaged to Lucy Green Bakewell; quarrel with Dacosta follows.
1807	With Rozier decides to embark in trade in Kentucky. August 1 — They purchase their first stock of goods in New York. August 31 — Starts with Rozier for Louisville, where they open a pioneer store. Their business suffers from the Embargo Act.
1808	June 12 — Married to Lucy Bakewell at “Fatland Ford,” her father’s farm near Philadelphia, and returns with his bride to Louisville.
1809	June 12 — Victor Gifford Audubon born at Gwathway’s hotel, the “Indian Queen,” in Louisville.
1810	March — Alexander Wilson, pioneer ornithologist, visits Audubon at Louisville. Moves down river with Rozier to Redbanks (Henderson), Kentucky. December — Moves with Rozier again, and is held up by ice at the mouth of the Ohio and at the Great Bend of the Mississippi, there they spend the winter.
1811	Reaches Sainte Genevieve, Upper Louisiana (Missouri), in early spring. April 6 — Dissolves partnership with Rozier, and returns to Henderson afoot. Joins in a commission business with his brother-in-law, Thomas W. Bakewell. December — Meets Vincent Nolte when returning to Louisville from the East, and descends the Ohio in his flatboat.
1812	The annus mirabilis in Kentucky, marked by a series of earthquakes, which begins December 16, 1811, and furnishes material for “Episodes.” Commission house of Audubon and Bakewell is opened by the latter in New Orleans, but is quickly suppressed by the war, which breaks out in June. Spring — Starts a retail store, on his own account, at Henderson. November 30 — John Woodhouse Audubon, born at “Meadow Brook” farm, Dr. Adam Rankin’s home near Henderson.
1812-1813	Storekeeping at Henderson, where he purchases four town lots and settles down.
1816	March 16 — Enters into another partnership with Bakewell; planning to build a steam grist and sawmill at Henderson, they lease land on the river front.
1817	Thomas W. Pears joins the partnership, and the steam mill, which later became famous, is erected. (After long disuse or conversion to other purposes, “Audubon’s Mill” was finally burned to the ground on March 18, 1913.)
1818	Summer — Receives a visit from Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, who becomes the subject of certain practical jokes, at zoology’s future expense, and figures in a later “Episode.”
1819	After repeated change of partners, the mill enterprise fails, and Audubon goes to Louisville jail for debt; declares himself a bankrupt, and saves only his clothes, his drawings and gun. Resorts to doing crayon portraits at Shippingport and Louisville, where he is immediately successful.
1819-1820	At Cincinnati, to fill an appointment as taxidermist in the Western Museum, just founded by Dr. Daniel Drake; settles with his family and works three or four months, at a salary of $125 a month; then returns to portraits, and starts a drawing school.
1820	Decides to publish his “Ornithology,” and all his activities are now directed to this end. October 12 — Leaves his family, and with Joseph R. Mason, as pupil-assistant, starts without funds on a long expedition down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to New Orleans, hoping to visit Arkansas, and intending to explore the country for birds, while living by his talents: from this time keeps a regular journal and works systematically.
1821	January 7 — Enters New Orleans with young Mason without enough money to pay for a night’s lodging. February 17 — Sends his wife 20 drawings, including the famous Turkey Hen, Great-footed Hawk, and White-headed Eagle. Obtains a few drawing pupils; is recommended by John Vanderlyn and Governor Robertson, but lives from hand to mouth until June 16, when Audubon and Mason leave for Shippingport; a fellow passenger, Mrs. James Pirrie, of West Feliciana, offers Audubon a position as tutor to her daughter, and with Mason he settles on her plantation at St. Francisville, Bayou Sara, where he remains nearly five months; some of his finest drawings are made at this time. October 21 — Leaves abruptly and returns with Mason to New Orleans, where he again becomes a drawing teacher, and resumes his studies of birds with even greater avidity. December — Is joined by his family, and winter finds them in dire straits.
1822	March 16 — To Natchez with Mason, paying their passage by doing portraits of the captain and his wife; while on the way finds that many of his drawings have been seriously damaged by gunpowder; teaches French, drawing and dancing at Natchez, and Washington, Mississippi. July 23 — Parts with Mason, after giving him his gun, paper and chalks, with which to work his way north. September — Mrs. Audubon, who was acting as governess in a family at New Orleans, joins him at Natchez, where she obtains a similar position. Receives his first lessons in the use of oils from John Stein, itinerant portrait painter, in Natchez, at close of this year.
1823	January — Mrs. Audubon is engaged by the Percys, of West Feliciana parish, Louisiana, and starts a private school at “Beechwoods,” belonging to their plantation, in St. Francisville, where she remains five years. March — Audubon leaves Natchez with John Stein and Victor on a painting tour of the South, but meeting with little success, they disband at New Orleans; visits his wife, and spends part of summer in teaching her pupils music and drawing. Adrift again; both he and Victor are taken ill with fever at Natchez, but when nursed back to health by Mrs. Audubon, they return with her to “Beechwoods.” September 30 — Determined to visit Philadelphia in the interests of his “Ornithology,” he sends on his drawings and goes to New Orleans for references. October 3 — Starts with Victor for Louisville, walking part of the way.
1823-1824	Winter spent at Shippingport, where Victor becomes a clerk to his uncle, Nicholas A. Berthoud. Paints portraits, panels on river boats, and even street signs, to earn a living.
1824	To Philadelphia, to find patrons or a publisher; thwarted; is advised to take his drawings to Europe, where the engraving could be done in superior style; befriended by Charles L. Bonaparte, Edward Harris, Richard Harlan, Mr. Fairman, and Thomas Sully, who gives him free tuition in oils. August 1 — Starts for New York, with letters to Gilbert Stuart, Washington Allston, and Samuel L. Mitchell; is kindly received and made a member of the Lyceum of Natural History. August 15 — To Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Meadville, and Pittsburgh, taking deck passage on boats, tramping, and paying his way by crayon portraits. September — Leaves Pittsburgh on exploring tour of Lakes Ontario and Champlain for birds; decides on his future course. October 24 — Returns to Pittsburgh, and descends the Ohio in a skiff; is stranded without a cent at Cincinnati; visits Victor at Shippingport, and reaches his wife in St. Francisville, Bayou Sara, November 24.
1825-1826	Teaches at St. Francisville, and gives dancing lessons at Woodville, Mississippi, to raise funds to go to Europe.
1826	May 17 — Sails with his drawings on the cotton schooner Delos bound for Liverpool, where he lands, a total stranger, on July 21. In less than a week is invited to exhibit his drawings at the Royal Institution, and is at once proclaimed as a great American genius. Exhibits at Manchester, but with less success. Plans to publish his drawings, to be called The Birds of America, in parts of five plates each, at 2 guineas a part, all to be engraved on copper, to the size of life, and colored after his originals. The number of parts was at first fixed at 80, and the period of publication at 14 years; eventually there were 87 parts, of 435 plates, representing over a thousand individual birds as well as thousands of American trees, shrubs, flowers, insects and other animals of the entire continent; the cost in England was £174, which was raised by the duties to $1,000 in America. Paints animal pictures to pay his way, and opens a subscription book. October 26 — Reaches Edinburgh, where his pictures attract the attention of the ablest scientific and literary characters of the day, and he is patronized by the aristocracy. November, early — William Home Lizars begins the engraving of his first plates at Edinburgh, and on the 28th, shows him the proof of the Turkey Cock. Honors come to him rapidly, and he is soon elected to membership in the leading societies of science and the arts in Great Britain, France and the United States.
1827	February 3 — Exhibits the first number of his engraved plates at the Royal Institution of Edinburgh. March 17 — Issues his “Prospectus,” when two numbers of his Birds are ready. April 5 — Starts for London with numerous letters to distinguished characters and obtains subscriptions on the way. May 21 — Reaches London, and exhibits his plates before the Linnaean and Royal Societies, which later elect him to fellowship. Lizars throws up the work after engraving ten plates, and it is transferred to London, where, in the hands of Robert Havell, Junior, it is new born and brought to successful completion eleven years later. Summer — Affairs at a crisis; resorts to painting and canvasses the larger cities. December — Five parts, or twenty-five plates, of The Birds of America completed.
1828	March — Visits Cambridge and Oxford Universities; though well received, is disappointed at the number of subscribers secured, especially at Oxford. September 1 — To Paris with William Swainson; remains eight weeks, and obtains 13 subscribers; his work is eulogized by Cuvier before the Academy of Natural Sciences, and he receives the personal subscription, as well as private commissions, from the Duke of Orleans, afterwards known as Louis Philippe.
1829	April 1 — Sails from Portsmouth on his first return to America from England, for New York, where he lands on May 1. Summer — Drawing birds at Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey. September — To Mauch Chunk, and paints for six weeks at a lumberman’s cottage in the Great Pine Woods. October — Down the Ohio to Louisville, where he meets his two sons, one of whom he had not seen for five years; thence to St. Francisville, Bayou Sara, where he joins his wife, from whom he had been absent nearly three years.
1830	January 1 — Starts with his wife for Europe, first visiting New Orleans, Louisville, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Washington, where he meets the President, Andrew Jackson, and is befriended by Edward Everett, who becomes one of his first American subscribers. April 1 — Sails with Mrs. Audubon from New York for Liverpool. Settles in London ; takes his seat in the Royal Society, to which he was elected on the 19th of March; resumes his painting, and in midsummer starts with his wife on a canvassing tour of the provincial towns; invites William Swainson to assist him in editing his letterpress, but a disagreement follows. Changes his plans, and settles again in Edinburgh; meets William MacGillivray, who undertakes to assist him with his manuscript, and together they begin the first volume of the Ornithological Biography in October.
1831-1839	The Ornithological Biography, in five volumes, published at Edinburgh, and partly reissued in Philadelphia and Boston.
1831-1834	In America, exploring the North and South Atlantic coasts for birds.
1831	March — First volume of the Ornithological Biography published, representing the text of the first 100 double-elephant folio plates. April 15 — Returns with his wife to London. May-July — Visits Paris again in the interests of his publications. August 2 — Starts with his wife on his second journey from England to America, and lands in New York on September 4. Plans to visit Florida with two assistants, and obtains promise of aid from the Government. October-November — At Charleston, South Carolina, where he meets John Bachman and is taken into his home. November 15 — Sails with his assistants in the government schooner Agnes for St. Augustine.
1832	April 15 — In revenue cutter Marion begins exploration of the east coast of Florida; proceeds to Key West, and later returns to Savannah and Charleston. Rejoins his family at Philadelphia, and goes to Boston; there meets Dr. George Parkman, and makes many friends. August — Explores the coasts of Maine and New Brunswick, and ascends the St. John River for birds. Returns to Boston, and sends his son Victor to England to take charge of his publications.
1832-1833	Winter — In Boston, where he is attacked by a severe illness induced by overwork; quickly recovers and plans expedition to Labrador.
1833	June 6 — Sails from Eastport for the Labrador with five assistants, including his son, John Woodhouse Audubon, in the schooner Ripley chartered at his own expense. August 31. — Returns to Eastport laden with spoils, including few new birds but many drawings. September 7 — Reaches New York and plans an expedition to Florida. September 25 — Visits Philadelphia and is arrested for debt, an echo of his business ventures in Kentucky; obtains subscribers at Baltimore, and in Washington meets Washington Irving, who assists him in obtaining government aid; finds patrons at Richmond and at Columbia, South Carolina. October 24 — Reaches Charleston and changes his plans; with his wife and son passes the winter at the Bachman home, engaged in hunting, drawing and writing.
1834	The number of his American subscribers reaches 62. April 16. — Sails with his wife and son on the packet North America from New York to England with large collections. Settles again in Edinburgh, and begins second volume of his Biography, which is published in December.
1835	Many drawings, papers and books lost by fire in New York. Part of summer, autumn and winter in Edinburgh, where the third volume of his Ornithological Biography is issued in December.
1836	Audubon’s two sons, who have become his assistants, tour the Continent for five months, traveling and painting. August 2 — Sails from Portsmouth on his third journey from England to the United States; lands in New York on Sept. 6 and canvasses the city. September 13 — Hurries to Philadelphia to obtain access to the Nuttall-Townsend collection of birds, recently brought from the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast; is rebuffed, and bitter rivalries ensue; Edward Harris offers to buy the collection outright for his benefit. September 20 — Starts on a canvassing tour to Boston, where he meets many prominent characters, and obtains a letter of commendation from Daniel Webster, who writes his name in his subscription book. Visits Salem, where subscribers are also obtained; meets Thomas M. Brewer, and Thomas Nuttall, who offers him his new birds brought from the West. October 10 — Is visited by Washington Irving, who gives him letters to President Van Buren and recommends his work to national patronage. October 15 — Returns to Philadelphia, where attempts to obtain permission to describe the new birds in the Nuttall-Townsend collection are renewed; he is finally permitted to purchase duplicates and describe the new forms under certain conditions. November 10 — To Washington, to present his credentials, and is promised government aid for the projected journey to Florida and Texas.
1836-1837	Winter — Spent with Bachman at Charleston, in waiting for his promised vessel; makes drawings of Nuttall’s and Townsend’s birds, and plans for a work on the Quadrupeds of North America.
1837	Spring — Starts overland with Edward Harris and John W. Audubon for New Orleans; there meets the revenue cutter Campbell, and in her and her tender, the Crusader, the party proceeds as far as Galveston, Texas; visits President Sam Houston. May 18 — Leaves for New Orleans, and on June 8 reaches Charleston. John Woodhouse Audubon is married to Bachman’s eldest daughter, Maria Rebecca. To Washington, and meets President Martin Van Buren. July 16 — Sails with his son and daughter-in-law on the packet England from New York; reaches Liverpool on August 2d, and on the 7th is in London. The panic of this year causes loss of many subscribers, but Audubon decides to extend The Birds of America to 87 parts, in order to admit every new American bird discovered up to that time.
1838	June 20 — Eighty-seventh part of The Birds of America published, thus completing the fourth volume and concluding the work, which was begun at Edinburgh in the autumn of 1826. Summer — By way of a holiday celebration tours the Highlands of Scotland with his family and William MacGillivray. Autumn — To Edinburgh, where, with the assistance of MacGillivray, the fourth volume of his Biography is issued in November.
1839	May — Fifth and concluding volume of the Ornithological Biography is published at Edinburgh. A Synopsis of the Birds of North America, which immediately follows, brings his European life and labors to a close. Late summer — Returns with his family to New York, and settles at 86 White Street. Victor, who preceded his father to America, is married to Mary Eliza Bachman. Projects at once a small or “miniature” edition of his Ornithology, and begins work on the Quadrupeds. Collaboration of Bachman in this project is later secured.
1840-1844	First octavo edition of The Birds of America is published at Philadelphia, in seven volumes, with lithographic, colored plates and meets with unprecedented success; issued to subscribers in 100 parts, of five plates each with text, at one dollar a part.
1840	June — Begins a correspondence with young Spencer F. Baird, which leads to an intimate friendship of great mutual benefit, Baird discovering new birds and sending him many specimens.
1841	Purchases land on the Hudson, in Carmansville, at the present 157th Street, and begins to build a house. July 29 — Writes to Spencer F. Baird that he was then as anxious about the publication of the Quadrupeds as he ever was about procuring birds.
1842	April — Occupies his estate, now included in the realty section of upper New York City called Audubon Park, which he deeded to his wife and named for her “Minnie’s Land.” September 12 — Starts on a canvassing tour of Canada, going as far north as Quebec, and returns well pleased with his success, after spending a month and traveling 1,500 miles. Plans for his western journey nearly completed.
1843	March 11 — At fifty-eight, sets out with four companions for the region of the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, but is unable to attain his long desired goal, the Rocky Mountains. November — Returns with many new birds and mammals.
1845-1846	The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, in collaboration with the Rev. John Bachman, issued to subscribers in 30 parts of five plates each, without letterpress, making two volumes, imperial folio, at $300.00. John W. Audubon, traveling in Texas, to collect materials for his father’s work.
1845	Engrossed with drawings of the Quadrupeds, in which he receives efficient aid from his sons. July 19 — Copper plates of The Birds of America injured by fire in New York. December 24 — Bachman, his collaborator, issues ultimatum through Harris, but work on the Quadrupeds, which had come to a stand, is resumed.
1846-1847	John W. Audubon in England, painting subjects for the illustration of the Quadrupeds of North America.
1846-1854	The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, in collaboration with John Bachman, published in three volumes, octavo, text only, by J. J. and V. G. Audubon; volume i (1847) only appeared during the naturalist’s lifetime.
1847	Audubon’s powers begin to weaken and rapidly fail.
1848	February 8 — John W. Audubon joins a California company organized by Colonel James Watson Webb, and starts for the gold fields, but his party meets disaster in the valley of the Rio Grande; he leads a remnant to their destination and returns in the following year.
1851	January 27. — Jean Jacques Fougere Audubon dies at “Minnie’s Land,” before completing his sixty-sixth year.