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to assign his effects over to Mr. Page & Mr. Kinder, two of his friends who will dispose of his property so as if possible to avoid the loss which at this time would ensue from a preemptory sale. He has suffered much uneasiness of mind & I was afraid of his health for some time but he is now recovered & appears tolerably reconciled to his situation. He seems to dislike engaging in a commercial life & proposes to become a cotton planter in the Southern or Western states, should he be able to manage the purchase of a plantation. If to
deserve
success was to
command
it he would not have failed, but you know him & I need not say more on this point.
    My daughter Lucy was married the 5th of this month [to John James Audubon] & on the 8th she left us for Louisville in Kentucky. I informed you that Mr. Audubon went last autumn to look out a situation for trade & he has fixed on that place as the best adapted for it. It is situated on the Ohio River at what are calledthe rapids (i.e., some rocks which obstruct the navigation & the vessels are often detained there till the river rises).
    She went in the stage coach to Pittsburgh 300 miles; from there they sail down the Ohio in boats 700 miles to their place of destination. It is a formidable undertaking & I wish it had suited her to be nearer us, but smaller circumstances must give way to greater.
    Mr. Audubon is entered into partnership with a Mr. Rozier, a native of the same town (Nantes), a young man of good character & property & I hope they will succeed. They have purchased a considerable quantity of merchandise which together with Lucy’s furniture (i.e., such kinds as are not too bulky for carriage) are conveyed by wagons to Pittsburgh & from there down the river to Louisville. Mr. Rozier is a single man & proposes to board with Mr. A. for the present.
    [My son] Thomas is in New Orleans. He sailed from New York a little before this unfortunate affair [i.e., the Embargo] in a ship of my brother’s with a cargo of merchandise chiefly French such as claret, olive oil & some manufactories. He has met with good sale for them, & Mr. Kinder (the gentleman before mentioned) has sent him from New York a second cargo. Thomas was by agreement with my brother to have half the profits of the adventure & Mr. K. has sent his on the same terms.
    It is not a very common case that a youth not yet twenty years of age should have sufficient judgment & stability to be entrusted with such a charge but my brother & Mr. K. have full confidence in him & I hope he will augment himself to their satisfaction.
    As New Orleans is liable to the yellow fever in autumn Thomas proposes to return by land & will come by the way of Louisville & see how Lucy goes on. The rest of my young people are now at home …

Lucy Audubon to Euphemia Gifford
“The partner of my destiny”
    Louisville, Kentucky
    27 May 1808
    My dear Cousin,
    My papa has, I imagine, before this time informed you of my change of situation. My marriage took place in the beginning of April. I soon afterwards left home and entered on my new duties. As yet they have been light and be they what they may I hope I shall ever cheerfully perform them. I wish you were acquainted with the partner of my destiny. It is useless to say more of him to you at so great a distance, than that he has most excellent dispositions which add very much to the happiness of married life. I wish, my dear cousin, you could have enjoyed the variety [of] beautiful prospects we did on our journey without partaking of the fatigues. However, considering the length of it I must not complain. We traveled something more than three hundred miles by land and seven hundred by water. You will form some idea of the roads when I tell you that the first day we traveled seventy miles, set out at four in the morning and arrived at the inn about seven in the evening, and every day afterwards, traveling the same number of hours, we could only go between thirty and forty. Unfortunately, we