[228] According to W. G. Bakewell, Bakewell-Page-Campbell ([Bibl. No. 200]), Thomas Bakewell sold his interest in the store and mill to Audubon in 1817, but this is contradicted by other accounts. For the incident which follows, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 34.
[229] See Dixon L. Merritt ([Bibl. No. 226a]), "Audubon in Kentucky," The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine, vol. 10 (1909), p. 293.
[230] Thomas Bakewell later became a successful builder of steamboats, first at Pittsburgh, and after 1824 at Cincinnati, where he was an important factor in the rising commerce of the Ohio Valley, and where he left his mark on the history of that city. As a theoretical mechanic in iron and wood he is said to have had no superior; his business was nearly destroyed in the panic of 1837, and he never regained his financial position. To his credit also it must be added that in 1860, at the age of seventy-two, he began at the bottom of the ladder again by engaging as a clerk with a paper company at Cincinnati, and, refusing the proffered aid of his children, he did not give up work until his eightieth year, seven years before his death in 1874. See W. G. Bakewell, Bakewell-Page-Campbell ([Bibl. No. 200]).
[231] Audubon was not so accurate when in his biographical sketch of 1835 he said: "Finally I paid every bill, and at last left Henderson probably forever...," for when at Charleston with Bachman in 1834, one of his former creditors attempted to sue him for debt and apparently carried his case to court. When Bachman asked for an explanation, Audubon wrote from New York, April 5, 1834, as follows: "Respecting the suit let me tell you ... that I went to Gaol at Louisville after having given up all to my creditors, and that I took the benefit of the act of insolvency at the Louisville Court House, Kentucky, before Judge Fortunatus Crosby & many witnesses, and that a copy of the record of that step can easily be had from that court.... I wish friend Donkin to do all he can to put a Conclusion—stop to this matter, for it makes me sick at heart." The lawyer here referred to was probably Judge Dunkin, friend of Bachman and distinguished in his profession, who had a plantation at Waccamaw, near Charleston, South Carolina (see [Chapter XXVII, Vol. II, p. 64.])
[232] See [Chapter IX, p. 63].
[233] For complete text of these wills, in the original, See [Appendix I, Documents 13-18].
[234] See [Note 4, Vol. I, p 27]. The suit brought by these plaintiffs was based upon a French law, which at that time debarred a natural child from inheriting property.
[235] Maria R. Audubon, Audubon and his Journals ([Bibl. No. 86]), vol i, pp. iii and 130.
[236] Lucy B. Audubon, ed., The Life of John James Audubon ([Bibl. No. 73]), p. 55.