With this modest pension and a property yielding an income not above $2,000 a year[74], Lieutenant Audubon retired to his quiet villa of "La Gerbetière," at Couëron, where he could indulge his taste for country life and for raising his favorite fruits and flowers; he is said to have kept some live stock, but could have been a farmer only on a modest scale. Meanwhile he continued to maintain a house, or at least rooms, at Nantes, whither he went periodically to conduct his correspondence and business affairs. The following letter of attorney, issued by Lieutenant Audubon a year after he had retired from the navy, shows that he still had interests in Santo Domingo, and was endeavoring to collect rents, long overdue, from houses and stores that belonged either to himself or to his clients. Whether through the dishonesty of agents or from what other cause, this property which the elder Audubon held in his own right seems gradually to have melted away:

The 19th pluviose, in the eleventh year of the Republic, one and indivisible [January 7, 1802], before the public notaries of the department of Loire inférieure, who reside in Nantes and Doulon, the undersigned have seen present the citizen Jean Audubon, lieutenant of frigate, retired, and proprietor at Santo Domingo, aged 59 years, infirm and unable in consequence of his infirmities to go himself to attend to his business affairs in Santo Domingo, living in Rubens Street, in the Mocquard house,[75] No. 39, in the city and commune of Nantes, department of Loire inférieure:

Who has made and constituted for his general and special attorney Jean François Blanchard, merchant, and originally from the commune of Chateaubriand, department of Loire inférieure, living at the town of Les Cayes, in the southern section of the island of Santo Domingo, opposite Ile à Vaches, to whom he gives full and complete powers to revoke for him, and in his name, every preceding bill of attorney, for the purpose of managing the stores [magazins] at Les Cayes, in the southern part of Santo Domingo, opposite Ile à Vaches: To demand and obtain all accounts from the holders of said properties, who have had or still have charge of them there; to examine the said accounts, to debate, close up and stop them ... to lease the said properties, without the power of making any extensive repairs to them whatsoever, about which he had not informed the constituent in France, and that he has not authorized him there to do, at least by a special letter, it being understood that the actual tenant is obliged to make all the necessary repairs to the said houses and stores to the extent of 15,000 francs, and he should not use more than 4,000 francs yearly for the space of five years, counting from the month of thermidor, year 8 [July 19-August 17, 1800].

It is demanded of citizeness Fauveau, or of her assigns, to know the reason why she has failed, to the present moment, to pay to the constituent in France for the domicile of the citizeness Coyron,[76] the twelve thousand six hundred francs that she should annually pay to him, according to the act of July 15, 1788, as given by Domergue, notary at Les Cayes. You will satisfy them with the state of the dwelling house in the plain of Jacob, opposite Ile à Vaches.

This was sold by the said act to the said citizeness Fauveau and to her late husband by the said constituents, to whom he will report regularly on the state of affairs, at least twice in the year....

[Signed at Nantes] J. Royer [one of
the undersigned notaries]

Lieutenant Jean Audubon died at Nantes,[77] when on a visit to that city, on February 19, 1818, at the age of seventy-four, "regretted most deservedly," said his son, "on account of his simplicity, truth, and perfect sense of honesty"; "his manners," he continues, "were those of a most polished gentleman ... and his natural understanding had been carefully improved both by observation and by self education." Jean Audubon's means in France had been reduced partly by bad debts, for he seems to have been generous in lending money to his friends; Madame Audubon found herself greatly hampered by lack of ready money, although, as her son-in-law remarked, her hands were full of notes.

When Jean Audubon applied for nomination to the naval service of the Republic in 1793, we find a description of his previous life and habits recorded as a part of the information required by the Committee of Public Safety. The commune of Nantes at that time gave a flattering testimonial to his patriotism, in which he was described as an officer of merit, who had acquired through long experience at sea an extensive knowledge of navigation, who was a man of honor, and devoid of any inclination to vice or gambling; his nautical experience had been chiefly gained in American waters, the voyages of his choice being those to Santo Domingo and the United States.

At the age of forty-eight the elder Audubon thus briefly described himself: short in stature, measuring five feet, five inches; figure, oval; eyes, blue; nose and mouth, large; eyebrows, auburn; hair and beard turned gray. Contrary to the naturalist's expressed belief, there seems to have been little or no physical resemblance between father and son. At a corresponding age, John James Audubon, according partly to his own account, stood five feet, ten inches in stockings; his hair was dark brown; he had sunken, hazel eyes, flecked with brown, and of remarkable brightness; while his clean-cut profile showed an aquiline nose. "In temper," said the son, to continue the comparison, "we much resembled each other, being warm, irascible, and at times violent, but it was like the blast of a hurricane, dreadful for a time, when calm almost instantly returned."

Though passionate at times, Jean Audubon was a man of force and decision, as his career amply shows. If he does not loom large in the history of his time or was but little known beyond the limits of his province, it must be remembered that the time called forth thousands of the ablest men of his nation.