Note 79 — Chapter VII · FIRST VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES, AND LIFE AT "MILL GROVE"

Audubon, writing in 1820, described himself at this time as "a young man of seventeen, sent to America to make money (for such was my father's wish), brought up in France in easy circumstances;" but in the same journal he said that he did not reach Philadelphia until three months after landing, and that "shortly after" his arrival at "Mill Grove" the Bakewell family moved to "Fatland Ford." Mr. G. W. Bakewell, the historian of his family, states that in the spring of 1804, William Bakewell, Audubon's future father-in-law, with his son, Thomas, traveled through Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland in search of a farm; they purchased "Fatland Ford," which was then the property of James Vaux. Audubon's account of the Pewee (Ornithological Biography, vol. ii, p. 124) shows that he was at "Mill Grove" before April 10, when "the ground was still partially covered with snow, and the air retained the piercing chill of winter." If these various statements are correct, they would indicate that Audubon left Nantes about the middle of November, 1803, and that he finally reached "Mill Grove" not far from the end of March, 1804. On the other hand, Mr. W. H. Wetherill, the present owner of "Mill Grove," informs me that his records indicate that the Bakewells occupied "Fatland Ford" in January, 1804. If this were the case, young Audubon could not have left France later than August, 1803. Too much weight, however, should not be attached to such references of a biographical character in Audubon's own writings; for in the account referred to above Audubon said that after his first visit to the United States he remained two years in France and returned to America "early in August;" while we know that his sojourn in France lasted but little more than a year and that he landed in New York on the 28th of May.