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Ernest Thompson Seton

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Ernest Thompson Seton (August 14, 1860 - October 23, 1946) was a noted author and founding pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America.

Contents

Early life

He was born Ernest Evan Thompson in South Shields, County Durham (now part of South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear), England and his family emigrated to Canada in 1866. As a youth, he retreated to the woods to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father. He won a scholarship in art to the Royal Academy in London, England. He later rejected his father and changed his name to Ernest Thompson Seton. He developed a fascination for wolves while working as a naturalist for Manitoba. He became successful as a writer, artist and naturalist, later moving to New York City to further his career. Seton later lived at Windyghoul estate at Cos Cob, Connecticut. After experiencing vandalism by the local youth, Seton invited them to his estate for a weekend where he told stories of the American Indians and of nature. He formed the Woodcraft Indians in 1902. These stories became a series of articles written for the Ladies Home Journal and were eventually collected in the The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians in 1906.

He was married twice. The first marriage was to Grace Gallatin in 1896. Their only daughter, Ann, was born in 1904 and died 1990. Ann would write under the pen name of 'Anya Seton'. Ernest and Grace divorced in 1934. Ernest later married Julia M. Buttree in 1935. Julia would write work by herself and with Ernest. They did not have any children, but did adopt a daughter, Dee Seton (later Dee Seton Barber) in 1935.

He met Scouting's founder, Lord Baden-Powell, in 1906. Baden-Powell had read Seton's book, The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians, and was greatly intrigued by it. The pair met and shared ideas. Baden-Powell went on to found the Scouting movement worldwide, and Seton became vital in the foundation of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). His Woodcraft Indians (a youth organization), combined with the early attempts at scouting from the YMCA and other organizations, and Daniel Carter Beard's Sons of Daniel Boone, to form the BSA. The work of Seton and Beard are in large part the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement.[Traditional Scouting home]

Seton was an early pioneer of the modern school of animal fiction writing, his most popular work being Wild Animals I Have Known (1898).

In 1931 became a United States citizen. He died in Seton Village, New Mexico in 1946. Seton was cremated in Albuquerque. In 1960, in honor of his 100th birthday and the 350th anniversary of Santa Fe, his wife Julia scattered the ashes over Seton Village from a plane. The Chief: Ernest Thompson Seton and the Changing West, H. Allen Anderson

The Philmont Scout Ranch houses the Seton Memorial Library and Museum. Seton Castle in Sante Fe housed other items from him.

Works

See also

References

External links

 

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