CHAPTER IV

AUDUBON'S BIRTH, NATIONALITY, AND PARENTAGE

Les Cayes—Audubon's French Creole mother—His early names—Discovery of the Sanson bill with the only record of his birth—Medical practice of an early day—Birth of Muguet, Audubon's sister—Fougère and Muguet taken to France—Audubon's adoption and baptism—His assumed name—Dual personality in legal documents—Source of published errors—Autobiographic records—Rise of enigma and tradition—The Marigny myth.

Santo Domingo, though repeatedly ravaged by the indiscriminate hand of man, is a noble and productive land, which, for the diversity and grandeur of its scenery and the rare beauty of its tropical vegetation, was justly regarded as one of the garden spots of the West Indies and worthy to be in truth a "Paradise of the New World." For every lover of birds and nature this semi-tropical island, and especially Les Cayes, upon its south-westerly verge in what is now Haiti, will have a peculiar interest when it is known, that there, amid the splendor of sea and sun and the ever-glorious flowers and birds, the eyes of America's great woodsman and pioneer ornithologist first saw the light of day.

Jean Audubon met somewhere in America, and probably at Les Cayes, a woman whom he has described only as a "creole of Santo Domingo," that is, one born on the island and of French parentage, and who is now known only by the name of Mlle. Rabin.[35] To them was born, at Les Cayes, a son, on the twenty-sixth of April, 1785. This boy, who was sometimes referred to in early documents as "Jean Rabin, _créole de Saint-Domingue_," and who again was called "Fougère" (in English, "Fern"), received the baptismal name of Jean Jacques Fougère six months before his sixteenth birthday.

The bill of the physician, Doctor Sanson of Les Cayes, who assisted at young Audubon's birth still exists, and as the reader will perceive, it is a highly unique and interesting historical document.[36] Written in the doctor's own hand, it is receipted by him, as well as approved and signed by Jean Audubon himself. This tardy discovery, along with other pertinent records in the commune of Couëron, in France, finally resolves the mystery which has ever hedged the Melchizedek of American natural history. The child's name, of course, is not given in the bill, but authentic records of Audubon's subsequent adoption and baptism agree so completely in names and dates as to establish his identity beyond a shadow of doubt. Much other documentary evidence which also has recently come to light is all in harmony with these facts, and further shows that the natal spot and time as given in the Sanson bill can refer only to this talented boy. But before turning to these legal documents we must examine the personal record of Jean Audubon's physician.

Dr. Sanson's carefully itemized account, to the amount of 1,339 francs, extends over a period of nearly two years, from December 29, 1783, to October 19, 1785; it was accepted and signed by Captain Audubon on October 12, 1786, and receipted by the doctor when paid on June 7, 1787. The bill is interesting as a commentary on the medical practice of an early day, as well as for the light which it throws on Jean Audubon's Santo Domingan career, his establishment at Les Cayes, and his treatment of black slaves and dependents. This quaint document, moreover, tends to confirm a remark of Baron de Wimpffen to the effect that every doctor in Santo Domingo grew rich at his profession, and also recalls what he said in regard to the household remedies of the period. "Every colonist," to quote this observer again, "is commonly provided with a small chest of medicines, of which the principal are manna, salts, and rhubarb; the country itself produces tamarinds, and the leaves of the cassia tree, a slight infusion of which, with a little orange juice, makes as good a purge as a mixture more scientifically composed."

This physician's chief resources are seen to have been ipecacuanha, purgative decoctions, including such as the tamarind tree provided, manna, mineral waters, lotions, plasters, and _kino_, an astringent juice derived from different leguminous plants, which gave a red color to the saliva, not to speak of "other medicines," the nature of which is not revealed, which were liberally supplied to whites and blacks, both old and young, alike. It will be noticed further that the slaves of African birth when not named are referred to as "_bossals_" though many young blacks and mulattoes are called "Joue";[37] that a cooper, attached presumably to the Audubon sugar refinery, was dosed thrice daily with _kino_ on four days in succession; and that this favorite treatment was repeated a month later. A clerk in the establishment, Monsieur Aubinais, is mentioned as requiring frequent attention, as well as Jean Audubon himself, who was once bled at the arm.

In the entry for March 27, 1784, there is this interesting reference: "Inoculated Cæsar, Jupiter, and Rose, at thirty francs each, ninety francs"; and if there were any doubt why Cæsar had been inoculated, a hint is immediately given under May 11: "For attention, visits, and remedies, during the smallpox (_la petite vérole_) of the mulatto Joue, sixty francs"; again we read: "June 30, inoculated a little negro _bossal_, named Joue, thirty francs." Every fresh batch of negroes landed in the colonies led to a new outbreak of this terrible scourge, and but one other disease, _la grosse vérole_,[38] was more common or more fatal among the blacks. For a long period it had been a common practice to inoculate both whites and blacks directly with the smallpox in order to secure some degree of protection against its most virulent form, but this method of fighting the devil with fire had its disadvantages. By the end of the eighteenth century opinion was about equally divided upon the advisability of continuing the measure, since induced variola or smallpox was apt to be virulent, and was often quite as infectious as when manifested in the usual and natural way. Then came Edward Jenner's grand discovery, made twelve years before this date but not announced until 1798, that vaccinia would prevent variola. Almost immediately vaccination spread like wild fire over Europe, and it has never been appreciated more fully or more highly lauded by the best representatives of the medical profession everywhere than at the present day.

The most interesting references in this historic document are to "Mlle. Rabin," whose name occurs no less than seventeen times, beginning May 21, 1784, and closing with the entry for the seventeenth of August, 1785. We learn that the physician spent the nights of April 24 and 25, 1785, at the woman's bedside, and that her child was born on the twenty-sixth day of that month, probably in the morning. It will be noticed further that she had been bled previously at the arm, that she had suffered also from the erysipelas, and that later she was treated for abscesses. These frequent attentions of the physician, extending over several months, the last record being for August 17, show only too clearly that at this time Audubon's mother was in feeble health. All that is further known about her is that she died either at the close of 1785 or in 1786, when her infant son was probably less than a year old.[39]

A daughter of Jean Audubon, Rosa, who was first called Muguet (in English, "Lily of the Valley"), was also born in Santo Domingo, and probably at Les Cayes, on April 29, 1787. Her mother, Catharine Bouffard, "_créole de Saint-Domingue_," who subsequently went to France, had another daughter, born also at Les Cayes, named Louise, who was living at La Rochelle in 1819.[40]

When Captain Audubon finally left the West Indies in the autumn of 1789, he took with him, in the care of trustworthy slaves, these two children, Fougère or Jean Rabin, aged four and a half years, and Muguet or Rosa, an infant of less than two. We know that he visited Richmond, Virginia, to collect a long outstanding claim against David Ross, then engaged in an iron industry near that city (see Chapter VIII, p. 121), and it is possible that he traveled by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. After spending some time at the close of this year in the United States, he went to France and made a home for his children at Nantes. This city became essentially their permanent abode until their father's retirement from the navy on January 1, 1801, when he finally settled in the little commune of Couëron, on the north bank of the Loire. The storm that burst over Nantes soon after their arrival revealed the true colors of Jean Audubon's patriotism, and the man was seen at his best, as will be related in the following chapter.

Madame Audubon, who had no children of her own, tenderly received the little ones, thus wafted from over the sea to her door in the Rue de Crébillon.[41] As the story proceeds we shall see that she was a most kind, if over-indulgent, foster mother, and became excessively proud of her handsome boy. "The first of my recollective powers," said the naturalist when writing of himself in 1835,[42] "placed me in the central portion of the city of Nantes ... where I still recollect particularly that I was much cherished by my dear stepmother ... and that I was constantly attended by one or two black servants, who had followed my father to New Orleans and afterwards to Nantes."

Jean Audubon, who spent a good part of his life at sea and in a country almost totally devoid of morals, must be considered as the product of his time. He was better, no doubt, than many who made greater professions, better certainly than a Rousseau, who gave excellent advice to parents upon the proper methods of rearing their children but sent his own offspring to orphan asylums. As most men have their faults, said the son, the father "had one that was common to many individuals, and that never left him until sobered by a long life"; but, he added, "as a father, I never complained of him; his generosity was often too great, and his good qualities won him many desirable friends." Whatever his faults, Jean Audubon was just, generous and possessed of a kind heart. He was in reality a truer father than many who give their children their name but deny them sympathy and a wise oversight. Jean Audubon not only cherished the two children but made them his heirs. On March 7, 1793, Fougère at the age of eight and Muguet at six were legalized by a regular act of adoption in the presence of witnesses at Nantes as the children of Jean and Anne Moynet Audubon.

This step was taken at the very moment when the storm had burst over La Vendée, when the fate of Nantes was trembling in the balance and the life of her citizens was most insecure. The act of adoption reads:[43]

_Extract from the registers of births of the sections of La Halle and Jean Jacques of the commune of Nantes, department of the Loire inférieure, on the seventh of March, 1749, the second year of the Republic, one and indivisible, at ten o'clock in the morning._

Before us, Joseph Theulier, public officer, elected to determine the public status of citizens, have appeared in the town hall, Jean Audubon, commanding the war sloop _Cerberus_, vessel of the Republic, aged forty-nine years, native of Les Sables d'Olonne, department of La Vendée, and Anne Moinet his wife, aged fifty-eight years, native of the former parish of Saint-Leonard, of this commune, who, assisted by René Toussaint Julien Beuscher, manufacturer, aged twenty-five years, living in the section of La Halle, Rubens Street, and by Julien Pierre Beuscher, marine surgeon, aged twenty-four years, living in the section of La Fraternité, Marchix Street, and employed steadily in the said war sloop _Cerberus_, have declared before me that they do adopt and recognize from this moment as their lawful children, to wit:

A male child named Fougère, born since their marriage, which took place on the twenty-fourth of August, 1772, in the commune of Paimbœuf, in this department, to him, Jean Audubon, and a woman living in America, who has been dead about eight years, and a female child, named Muguet, born also since the marriage aforesaid, to him and another woman living in America, named Catharine Bouffard, of whose fate he is ignorant.

The two children being present, the first aged nine years, that will expire on the 22d of next April, the second aged seven years, that will also expire on the 26th of April next, and both having been born in America, according to this declaration that the witnesses above mentioned have signified as true, I have drawn up the present act, which the natural father and the mother by adoption, as well as their witnesses have signed, together with myself in this said day and year.

It will be noticed that in this legally attested document, Bouffard, the true name of Muguet's mother, is given, while the name of the mother of Audubon is suppressed. It might therefore be inferred that the name Rabin, which appears later, was assumed, but as already remarked, such evidence is not conclusive.

Fougère, who was also called Jean Rabin, was baptized on October 23, 1800, by a priest of the church of Saint-Similien at Nantes. The archives of this church for the period in question have disappeared, but Jean Audubon's copy of the record has survived, and reads as follows:[44]

THE ACT OF BAPTISM OF JEAN AUDUBON-RABIN October 23, 1800

We, the undersigned, certify to have baptized on this day Jean Jacques Fougère Audubon, adoptive son of Jean Audubon, lieutenant of a frigate of the Republic, and of Anne Moinet, his legitimate wife, who being present bear witness that the adoption of the said Fougère, made by them, is in accordance with the present act.

[Signed] TARDIVEAU, priest of Saint-Similien, of the town of Nantes.

The act of adoption was drawn at a time when Captain Audubon could have had little leisure to consult records had he been disposed to do so, but the dates of birth which he then gave for these two children were correct both as to the year and month. Fougère, however, was born on the twenty-sixth, instead of the twenty-second of April, and Muguet, on the twenty-ninth, instead of the twenty-sixth, of that month. Audubon's mother's name is indicated in numerous legal documents of later date, and, as will appear, in every instance her son's identity is clearly established.

Young Audubon, who disliked the names of Fougère and Rabin, and naturally wished to be rid of their early associations, adopted the fanciful name of "La Forest,"[45] but used it only sporadically and for a short time. Some of his drawings of birds made at Nantes or Couëron as early as 1805, and in New York in 1806 and 1807, and possibly others of slightly later date, are signed "J. L. F. A.," or "J. J. L. Audubon."[46]

Jean Audubon and his wife are said to have settled some property upon "Jean Rabin, _créole de Saint Domingue_," 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."[47] The reference in this instance was, I believe, to the final will of Lieutenant Audubon,[48] according to which his property, after being held in usufruct by his wife during her lifetime, was to be equally divided between their two adopted children. In his first will the son was referred to as "Jean Audubon," but in the second and last document, executed in 1816, two years before 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 Audubon"; 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 wording is "Jean Audubon, called 'Jean Rabin.'" It is thus very plain that Audubon's foster parents considered 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 possibilities it will be necessary to revert at a later point of our story.[49]

This dual personality was set forth by the naturalist himself, but in a more curious form, in a power of attorney[50] executed at Henderson, Kentucky, on July 26, 1817, in favor of his brother-in-law, Gabriel Loyen du Puigaudeau. This measure was taken more than a year after Audubon's father had drawn up his last will, in which the son was referred to as "Jean Rabin," and was evidently designed to facilitate any settlement of this will which events in France might render necessary. The naturalist was then engaged in his famous but disastrous financial enterprises on the Ohio River,[51] but whether any intimation had come to him of possible legal troubles, which later actually ensued in France, cannot be stated.

In reading the published accounts of Audubon's early life many have been puzzled by the absence of definite dates, as well as by the numerous contradictions in which they abound. It is needless to burden this narrative with a tedious reference to all these errors or to attempt to trace their origin, which no doubt had many sources, but since we have given the first true account of the naturalist's birth, we cannot pass these matters without a word of comment. The situation is somewhat involved, since we should possibly differentiate between what Audubon at different times believed to be true, and what he wished to make known to his family or to the public; possibly also we should discriminate between what he actually published over his own signature during his lifetime and the material which has appeared since his death, even though originally written by his own hand.

The first definite date which Audubon ever gave concerning his own life was that of his marriage in 1808, when he was twenty-three years of age, and all that he ever published of a biographical nature is to be found in his _Ornithological Biography_.[52] In the introduction to this work he simply said that he had "received light and life in the New World," and further that he returned to America from France, whither he had gone to receive the rudiments of his education, at the age of seventeen. Since Audubon's first return to America was in the autumn of 1803, when he was actually about eighteen and one-half years old, this statement is not so wide of the mark as to imply that the date of his birth was not then well understood. Moreover, the record of his adoption, which was certified to at the time of his baptism in 1800, was carefully preserved among the family documents, and there is no reason to suppose that knowledge of his age was ever withheld from him. Nevertheless, Audubon was inclined to overestimate his years, a characteristic rare in these days; when at Oxford in 1828 he was asked for his autograph, and was begged to inscribe also the date of his birth; "that," he said in recording the incident, "I could not do, except approximately," and his hostess was greatly amused that he should not know.

While going down the Ohio River in 1820, bound for New Orleans, Audubon took advantage of a rainy day to write in his journal something about himself that he thought his children at some future time might desire to know. This brief record may or may not have been at hand when in 1835 he wrote the more extended version that finally saw the light in 1893.[53] Since the manuscript of the later sketch was presumably in possession of Mrs. Audubon when the biography of her husband was prepared in New York about the year 1866, that account in its various versions has furnished biographers with practically all of the available material, not purely conjectural, concerning the naturalist's early life. Such additions as were made subsequently have proved to be very inaccurate.

In the first of these sketches, which, so far as it goes, is more in strict accord with facts, Audubon said nothing of his birth, and of his mother remarked only that he had been told that she was "an extraordinary beautiful woman," who died shortly after he was born. His father, he added, saw his wealth torn from him, until there was left barely enough to educate his two children, all that remained of the five, his three elder brothers[54] having been "killed in the wars." He then believed, as he said, that his first journey to France was made when he was two years old.

The later and fuller biography, referred to above as written in 1835 and published in 1893, begins with these words:[55]

The precise period of my birth is yet an enigma to me, and I can only say what I have often heard my father repeat to me on this subject, which is as follows: It seems that my father had large properties in Santo Domingo, and was in the habit of visiting frequently that portion of our Southern States called, and known by the name of, Louisiana, then owned by the French Government.

During one of these excursions he married a lady of Spanish extraction, whom I have been led to understand was as beautiful as she was wealthy, and otherwise attractive, and who bore my father three sons and a daughter,—I being the youngest of the sons and the only one who survived extreme youth. My mother, soon after my birth, accompanied my father to the estate [_sic_] of Aux Cayes,[56] on the island of Santo Domingo, and she was one of the victims during the ever-to-be-lamented period of the negro insurrection of that island.

My father, through the intervention of some faithful servants, escaped from Aux Cayes with a good portion of his plate and money, and with me and these humble friends reached New Orleans in safety. From this place he took me to France, where having married the only mother I have ever known, he left me under her charge and returned to the United States in the employ of the French Government, acting as an officer under Admiral Rochambeau. Shortly afterward, however, he landed in the United States and became attached to the army under La Fayette.

The true history of Jean Audubon's commercial, naval, and civic career is given in the preceding and following chapters.

The naturalist, in his letters and journals, made frequent allusions to his age, but, as his granddaughter remarked, with one exception, no two agree; hence, his granddaughter concluded that he might "have been born anywhere from 1772 to 1783." In the face of such uncertainty she adopted the traditional date of May 5, 1780, adding that the true one was no doubt earlier. Audubon was thus five years younger than his biographers supposed, and twenty-one years were added to the age of his father, who actually lived to be only seventy-four years old, while his son died in his sixty-seventh year.

Wherever there is mystery there tradition is certain to raise its head, and though the naturalist carried his "enigma" to the grave, others, building upon his story, have fixed upon the very house in Louisiana in which he is said to have been born. Indeed, advocates of more than one house in that state as the probable scene of Audubon's nativity have arisen in recent times. We are obliged, therefore, to examine somewhat farther the now universally received but thoroughly erroneous idea that John James Audubon was a native of Louisiana at a time when that Commonwealth was part of a province of France.

Upholding a tradition of rather recent growth, Audubon's granddaughter has expressed the belief that the naturalist was born in a house belonging to the famous Philippe de Marigny and known as "Fontainebleau." This was a sugar plantation on the north side of Lake Ponchartrain, three miles east of what is now the village of Mandeville and twenty-five miles due north of New Orleans.

Pierre Enguerrand Philippe de Mandeville, Ecuyer Sieur de Marigny,[57] at one time owner of vast estates in and about New Orleans, was born in that city in 1750, and served as its alcade or mayor for two years. A lavish dispenser of hospitality, in 1798 he entertained in great state the Duke of Orleans, later known as Louis Philippe of France, together with his two brothers who accompanied him. He died at New Orleans, leaving five sons, of whom the third, Bernard Marigny, later became the owner of "Fontainebleau," which it has been mistakenly assumed was inherited from his father. At the time of the Duke of Orleans' visit just mentioned Jean Audubon had been out of the country nine years; there is no evidence of his ever having owned property at New Orleans, or ever having sustained any relations with the Marigny family.

Before following the Marigny myth further, it will be interesting to notice a late echo of the "Fontainebleau" story. In 1910 the Reverend Gordon Bakewell, then in his eighty-ninth year, gave some interesting reminiscences of Audubon, and spoke very definitely concerning both the time and place of his birth. Dr. Bakewell was a nephew of Mrs. Audubon, and as a youth, in 1834, had passed some time at her home in London. John W. Audubon, with his father's assistance, painted at that time a portrait of young Bakewell, who at a later day was welcomed in their home on the Hudson. Dr. Bakewell's contribution was as follows:[58]

The uncertainty as to the place of Audubon's birth has been put to rest by the testimony of an eye witness in the person of old Mandeville Marigny now dead some years. His repeated statement to me was, that on his plantation at Mandeville, Louisiana, on Lake Ponchartrain, Audubon's mother was his guest; and while there gave birth to John James Audubon. Marigny was present at the time, and from his own lips, I have, as already said, repeatedly heard him assert the above fact. He was ever proud to bear this testimony of his protection given to Audubon's mother, and his ability to bear witness as to the place of Audubon's birth, thus establishing the fact that he was a Louisianian by birth.

We do not doubt the candor and sincerity of the excellent Dr. Bakewell, but are bound to say that the incidents as related above betray a striking lapse of memory and an even greater misunderstanding of recorded facts. Singularly a footnote to the paragraph quoted shows that the Marigny to whom he refers was, as must have been the case, Bernard Mandeville de Marigny, who was born in 1785, the same year as the naturalist. Since both were in the cradle at the same time, he is hardly available as a witness. Moreover, the official records of the United States Government prove that the estate called "Fontainebleau" was not in possession of the Marigny family at the time of Audubon's birth. The land in question was granted to a creole named Antonio Bonnabel, on January 25, 1799, by Manuel Goyon de Lemore, Governor-General of the Province of Louisiana and West Florida. Bonnabel sold his tract to Bernard Marigny in 1800, and Congress confirmed his title to it by a special act in 1836.[59]

Bernard Marigny served in the French army towards the close of the Napoleonic period, and his return to the United States from France, about 1818, is said to have been hastened by a duel which he fought with one of his superior officers. On his return he named Bonnabel's old tract on Lake Ponchartrain "Fontainebleau," in remembrance of the place where his regiment had been assigned for duty in France, and eventually built upon the estate a sawmill and a sugar-house, and planted sugar cane, living meanwhile on another plantation two and one-half miles away. The latter estate was allotted by him in 1832, when he gave it the name of Mandeville; the settlement thus started has since grown to a village of some 1,500 people. Here a summer house which belonged to Bernard's father still exists, although in altered form; it has been raised to accommodate a lower story, and is now known as the "Casino." According to those who have most carefully investigated existing records, this is the only house in Mandeville which belonged to the elder Marigny at the time of which we speak.

Bernard Marigny was one of those who befriended Audubon when he was in desperate straits at New Orleans in 1821, by advancing him money in return for portraits or drawings of birds. He died in that city in 1868, when in his eighty-third year, a poor and honest man.