Mink

1840s

“The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America” with Bachman

Together with John Bachman Audubon began a book on quadrupeds, agreed back in 1831: he did the illustrations and Bachman wrote the text. By the mid-1840s his sons were doing most of the work (John Woodhouse drew about half of the 150 illustrations), and in 1845 relations with Bachman soured further: Audubon did not supply him with skins from his last collection, his notes or the books Bachman had ordered.

1842

Minnie's Land: a house on the Hudson

On a plot of 30 acres (14 according to other accounts) on the Hudson in the west of Manhattan Audubon built a house, Minnie's Land, named after Lucy's childhood nickname; it was registered in Lucy's name because creditors from Henderson periodically tracked Audubon down. The family moved in during 1842, and the growing garden eventually held peaches, apricots, apples, pears, plums, nectarines and quinces.

March – November 1843

An expedition up the Missouri to the Rockies

From March to November 1843 Audubon made an expedition up the Missouri River toward the Rocky Mountains, a severe ordeal that undermined his health; he was accompanied by Edward Harris, the taxidermist John Graham Bell, the artist Isaac Sprague and an assistant, Lewis Squires. The expedition yielded fewer new birds than hoped: in a letter to Spencer Baird he reported bringing back 15 new species and some quadrupeds.

1846–1847

Failing sight, dementia and a heart attack

In 1846 Audubon's eyesight suddenly deteriorated: with glasses he could still read but no longer draw. A year later he developed dementia and lost interest in life, and in the spring of 1847 he suffered a heart attack; his sons concealed their father's condition so as not to harm the success of the “Quadrupeds”.