Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860–1946, American writer and artist, b. England. His name was originally Ernest Seton Thompson. His stories and paintings of wildlife, especially Wild Animals I Have Known (1898, new ed. 1942), were standard works on nature study and wood lore for boys and girls in the first quarter of the 20th cent. In 1902 he organized the Woodcraft Indians (later the Woodcraft League), much in the spirit of the later Boy Scout movement.

Bibliography

See his autobiography, The Trail of an Artist-Naturalist (1940) and extracts from his journals, ed. by his widow, J. M. Seton (1967).

Seton, Ernest Thompson

orig. Ernest Evan Thompson also called Ernest E.T. Seton or Ernest Seton-Thompson

(born Aug. 14, 1860, South Shields, Durham, Eng.—died Oct. 23, 1946, Seton Village, Santa Fe, N.M., U.S.) British-born U.S. naturalist and animal fiction writer. Seton's family emigrated to Canada from England in 1866. He earned a living for a time as a wild-animal artist, and in 1898 he published his most popular book, the story collection Wild Animals I Have Known. Deeply concerned for the future of the North American prairie, he fought to establish reservations for American Indians and parks for endangered animals. In 1902 he founded the Woodcraft Indians to give children opportunities for nature study. He chaired the committee that established the Boy Scouts of America.

Seton, Ernest Thompson (1860–1946) naturalist, writer, illustrator; born in Durham, England. The 12th of 14 children, he emigrated to Canada with his family in 1866 when his father's shipping business failed. He studied art, but returned to his first love, natural history, writing and illustrating a series of books about birds and animals; critics accused him of humanizing his wild creatures for narrative effect. He was a strong proponent of conservation and of preserving Indian culture and woodcraft skills. A founder of the Boy Scouts of America (1910), he resigned as chief scout in 1915 to protest former President Theodore Roosevelt's campaign to "militarize" scouting. He spent his last years in a country house he built in New Mexico.