| April 26, 1785 | John James Audubon is born to Captain Jean Audubon and his mistress Jeanne Rabine at Les Cayes, Haiti. He is given the name Jean Rabine. Six months after his birth, his mother dies. |
| August 1788 | Captain Jean Audubon takes his son to France where he and his wife, Anne Moynet, will raise him. |
| March 1789 | Jean Rabine is formally adopted by his father and wife and is given the name Jean-Jacques Fougere. |
| 1796 | At the age of eleven, young Audubon goes to Rochefort-sur-Mer for Naval Training. |
| 1803 | Audubon is sent to Pennsylvania in the United States by his father. The purpose of this is to take him away from the conflict in France and to manage his father's Mill Grove farm that was purchased. Audubon also meets and becomes engaged to his neighbor, Lucy Bakewell. |
| 1805 | Returning to France to visit family, Audubon sketches his first known drawings of birds. |
| May 1806 | Ferdinand Rozier returns with Audubon to America to be a partner in managing the farm at Mill Grove. |
| 1807 | Audubon begins to use wire to accurately sketch dead birds in lifelike positions. He also finds himself traveling to Louisville starting a business. |
| 1808 | John James Audubon returns to Pennsylvania in order to marry Lucy before they leave for Louisville together. |
| June 12, 1809 | The couple have their first child, Victor Gifford, in Louisville. |
| 1810 | Alexander Wilson, known ornithological illustrator, encourages Audubon to continue with his drawings. While the Audubons relocate to Henderson, Kentucky, John James Audubon and Ferdinand Rozier journey South searching for financial success. |
| 1811 | Audubon and Rozier part their separate ways due to little success and personality differences. Audubon now returns back home to his family. |
| 1812 | The family transfers to Pennsylvania and on July 3, Audubon receives U.S. Citizenship. Lucy gives birth to their second child, John Woodhouse, on November 30 of this year. |
| 1813 | Once again, the Audubon family moves back to Henderson, Kentucky. |
| 1815 | The Audubon's first daughter, Lucy, is born. |
| 1816 | Audubon enters a partnership in the saw mill business with Lucy's brother which soon fails. |
| 1817 | Lucy, their daughter, dies. |
| 1819 | This year saw his arrest and imprisonment on debtors charges. Audubon declares bankruptcy and survives by drawing charcoal portraits on commission. Another daughter, Rose, died shortly after birth. |
| 1820 | The family relocates to Cincinnati, Ohio where Audubon works as a taxidermist at the Western Museum. He, along with Joseph Mason, a student assistant, travel down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in order to fulfill his dream of painting all of the American birds. |
| 1821 | Audubon and Mason stop in New Orleans to raise money to continue traveling and to send money home to Lucy. Audubon raises this money by painting on commission and teaching. |
| 1822 | Audubon's sons now join the two in their travels. |
| 1824 | Audubon unsuccessfully attempts to publish his work in Philadelphia. He does, however, publish two papers in Annals of Lyceum of Natural History. Plans are being made to travel to England since he was told this was the only place where he would be able to publish his work. |
| 1826 | By exhibiting his bird paintings, Audubon raises money and gathers important contacts. One of these contacts is William Lizars who agreed to engrave and publish The Birds of America. |
| 1827 | Robert Havell replaces Lizars after his resignation. |
| 1829 | Audubon returns to his family in the United States and continues in search of more birds to add to The Birds of America. |
| 1830 | The House of Representatives subscribes to The Birds of America. Audubon begins working on Ornithological Biography with William MacGillivray and travels with Lucy back to England to observe the progress. |
| 1831 | Audubon again returns to the United States and meets John Bachman in South Carolina. Bachman becomes the scholar in Audubon's work and his sister-in-law becomes Audubon's assistant. |
| 1832 | Audubon begins painting and documenting the birds in Florida. |
| 1833 | The Audubon family returns to New York while Audubon and his son John travel to Labrador. |
| 1834 | The family now travels back to England to monitor the work of Havell and search for new subscribers. |
| 1835 | Desiring to complete The Birds of America, Audubon begins placing multiples species on one page in order to speed up the work. |
| 1837 | Audubon obtains more specimens in a trip to Florida. His second son, John Woodhouse, marries Maria Bachman. |
| 1838 | The four folio engraved volumes of The Birds of America are completed. |
| 1839 | The five volume Ornithological Biography is completed. The Audubon family now settles in New York. |
| 1840 | Audubon begins work on two new projects named The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America and the smaller edition of The Birds of America. |
| 1842 | The family moves to their other property in New York City which is now West 155th Street and Riverside Drive. |
| 1843 | The smaller edition of The Birds of America is completed. Audubon, Edward Harris and an assistant board a steamboat on the Upper Missouri River region on a summer expedition. |
| 1847 | A stroke decreases Audubon's mental competence. |
| 1848 | The last of the three volume Quadrupeds is completed. |
| 1851 | Audubon dies on January 27 at the age of 65. |
| 1886 | George Bird Grinnell, formally a pupil of Lucy Audubon, founded the first Audubon Society. |