Meet the Audubons
Sep 01, 2020
4 minutes
by Mark Clemens
The life of John James Audubon had an unlikely beginning. He was the illegitimate son of Jean Audubon, a French naval officer and landowner, and his mistress, Jeanne Rabine. He was born on the French colony of Saint-Domingue, present-day Haiti, on April 26, 1785. Rabine died when her son was a baby. Several years later, Audubon and a half-sister were brought to Nantes, France, to be raised by Jean Audubon and his wife, who legally adopted the children. The captain’s son was renamed from Jean Rabin to Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon.
Audubon enjoyed a comfortable and privileged childhood in France.
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