Blue Yellow Back Warbler

1809 and 1812

The birth of his sons Victor and John Woodhouse

The Audubons had two sons, Victor Gifford (1809–1860) and John Woodhouse (1812–1862). Both later helped publish their father's works, and John Woodhouse became a naturalist, writer and painter in his own right.

spring 1810

Moves west to Henderson

To improve their finances, at the suggestion of Lucy's father, the Audubons sold the rest of Mill Grove for $8,000 in the spring of 1810 and, together with Rozier, travelled on west along the Ohio. They settled in Henderson, Kentucky, which then had a population of 159.

December 1810 – 1811

Whiskey downriver: six weeks in the ice among the Shawnee

In December 1810 Audubon and Rozier took a load of whiskey to Missouri and were stuck for six weeks in the ice on Shawnee land: Audubon made sketches, watched birds, talked with the local people and kept a daily journal while Rozier fretted at the enforced idleness. They sold their goods easily at Ste. Genevieve, which Audubon found small and dirty and its inhabitants uneducated.

6 April 1811

Dissolves the partnership with Rozier to pursue ornithology

On 6 April 1811 at Ste. Genevieve Audubon and Rozier mutually agreed to end their partnership. Audubon had decided to work at ornithology and art and wanted to return to Lucy and their son in Kentucky; Rozier agreed to pay him $3,000, $1,000 in cash and the balance over time.

16 December 1811

The New Madrid earthquake: the horse knew first

On 16 December 1811, as Audubon was working in Missouri and out riding, the New Madrid earthquake struck: at first he took the rumbling for a tornado, while his horse sensed trouble before its rider. At home he was relieved to find no major damage, but aftershocks shook the area for months.

1812–1819

The boom years in Henderson: shops and a sawmill

Trade went well: in January 1814 Audubon opened a shop in Shawneetown, Illinois, and in early 1817 another in Vincennes, Indiana, and he used the proceeds to buy land; in March 1817, with Thomas Woodhouse Bakewell and Thomas Pears, he began building a sawmill. It is known that nine slaves passed through his hands between 1813 and 1819.