The Life of John James Audubon: The Naturalist (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Life of John James Audubon: The Naturalist The black revolt so endangered the property of the foreigners resident in St. Domingo, that the plate and money belonging to the Audubon family had to be carried away to New Orleans by the more faithful of their servants. Returning to France with his family, the elder Audubon again married, left his young son, the firture naturalist, under charge of his second wife, and returned to the United States, in the employment of the French govern ment, as an ofiicer in the Imperial navy. While there he became attached to the army under Lafayette. Moving hither and thither under various changes, he seldom or never communicated with his boy 5 but meanwhile the prop erry which remained to him in St. Domingo was greatly augmenting in value. During a visit paid to Pennsylvania, the restless Frenchman purchased the farm of Millgrove on the Perkiomen Creek, near the Schuylkill Falls. Finally, after a life of restless adventure, he returned to France and filled a post in the marine and after spending some portion of his years at Rochefort, retired to his estate on the Loire. This estate was left by Commodore Audubon to his son John James, who conveyed it to his sister without even visiting the domain he so generously willed away. The naturalist was born on his father's plantation near New Orleans, Louisiana, May 4th, 1780, and his earliest recollections are associated with lying among the flowers of that fertile land, sheltered by the orange trees, and watching the movements of the mocking-bird, the king of song, dear to him in' after life from many associations. He has remarked that his earliest impressions of nature were exceedingly vivid 3 the beauties of natural scenery stirred a frenzy in his blood, and at the earliest age the bent of his future studies was indicated by many characteristic traits. He left Louisiana while but a child, and went to St. Domingo, where he resided for a short period, previous to his departure for France, where his education was to be commenced. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.