A Facsimile Of Vol 1 No 1 Of The Audubon Magazine

Author : National Audubon Society
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332102822
Total Pages : 696 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (28 download)

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Download or read book The Audubon Magazine, Vol. 1 written by National Audubon Society and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Audubon Magazine, Vol. 1: Published in the Interests of the Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds; February, 1887, to January, 1888 John James Audubon. John James Audubon was born on his fathers plantation near New Orleans, Louisiana, May 4, 1780.His father was a Frenchman, and the naturalist himself spent a considerable part of his early life in France. What he knew of his ancestry he tells us in the following language: John Audubon, my grandfather, was born at the small village of Sabled Olonne, in La Vendee, with a small harbor, forty-five miles south from Nantes. He was a poor fisherman with a numerous family, twenty-one of whom grew to maturity. There was but one boy besides my father, he being the twentieth born, and the only one of the numerous family who lived to a considerable age. The father of the naturalist was sent out into the world to seek his fortune at the age of twelve years. Shipping at Nantes as a boy on a fishing vessel bound to America, at the age of twenty-one he was in command of a vessel, and at twenty-five not only captain but owner of his craft. His voyages were successful, and he at length found himself at St. Domingo, where he purchased a plantation. Here he accumulated a fortune, and was later sent to France by the Governor of St. Domingo in an official capacity during the days of the First Empire. His acquaintance with prominent men of the time soon led to his receiving an appointment to the command of a vessel of war in the Imperial Navv. Previous to this, and while residing in the West Indies, he had made various purchases of land in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, and had married Anne Moynette, a Louisiana lady of Spanish extraction. A daughter and three sons were born to him, the youngest of the latter being John James. The first years of the boys life were spent in Louisiana, but later the family removed to St. Domingo, where, in the rising of the negroes, Madame Audubon was killed. Soon after this Commodore Audubon returned to France, where he married a second time, and again sailed for America, leaving John James in the charge of his wife. She proved a loving and indulgent guardian to the self-willed boy, who was pretty much his own master until the return of his father to France. It was the fathers desire that the boy should become either a sailor or an engineer, and as a preparation for whichever profession should be determined on for him, he received especial instruction in mathematics, drawing, geography, music and fencing. But the boy cared only for an outdoor life which brought him in contact with nature. It was his delight even in his earliest years to make long excursions alone into the country, returning laden with the natural objects which hemet with in his walks. Thus birds nests and eggs, plants, insects and stones became early his playthings. 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.