Editing Ernest Thompson Seton (section)

== Early life ==

Seton was born in [[South Shields]], County Durham, England of Scottish parents. His family emigrated to [[British North America]] in 1866. After settling in [[Lindsay, Ontario|Lindsay]], [[Canada West]] Seton spent most (after 1870) of his childhood in [[Toronto]], and the family is known to have lived at 6 Aberdeen Avenue in [[Cabbagetown, Toronto|Cabbagetown]]. As a youth, he retreated to the woods of the [[Don River (Ontario)|Don River]] to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rowan |first=Edward L. |year=2005 |title=To Do My Best: James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America |publisher=Las Vegas International Scouting Museum |isbn=0-9746479-1-8}}</ref> He attended the [[OCAD|Ontario College of Art]] in 1879, studying with John Colin Forbes, then won a scholarship in art to the [[Royal Academy]] in London, England in 1880.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bradfield |first1=Helen |title=Art Gallery of Ontario: the Canadian Collection |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw Hill |location=Toronto |isbn=0070925046|url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=Helen%20Bradfield%2C%20canadian%20collection%20%2C%20art%20gallery%20of%20ontario&Ntk=Anywhere |access-date=2020-08-02}}</ref> In the 1890s, he studied at the [[Académie Julian]] in Paris{{sfn|Bradfield|1970|p=417}} In 1893-4, he was elected an associate member of the [[Royal Canadian Academy of Arts]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=McMann |first1=Evelyn |title=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts |date=1981 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |url=http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/aMcMann/amcmann/1%2C2%2C11%2CB/frameset&FF=amcmann+evelyn+de+r+evelyn+de+rostaing+1913+1999&8%2C%2C10 |access-date=2022-11-21 |archive-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011123753/http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/aMcMann/amcmann/1,2,11,B/frameset&FF=amcmann+evelyn+de+r+evelyn+de+rostaing+1913+1999&8,,10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On Seton's [[Coming of age|21st birthday]] his father presented him with an invoice for all of the expenses connected with his childhood and youth, including the fee charged by the doctor who delivered him. According to one writer, he paid the bill, but never spoke to his father again.<ref>{{cite book |last=Atwood |first=Margaret |year=2008 |title=Payback: Debt And The Shadow Side Of Wealth |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Graeber |first=David |year=2011 |title=Debt: The First 5,000 Years |url=https://archive.org/details/debtfirst5000yea00grae |url-access=registration |publisher=Melville House Publishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/debtfirst5000yea00grae/page/92 92] |isbn=978-1-61219-129-4}}</ref> In his autobiography, ''Trail of An Artist-naturalist: The Autobiography of Ernest Thompson Seton'', he discusses the incident in detail, but, since he hadn't "a cent of money," he could not pay his father. He went immediately to work and used the money he made to leave the household forever.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Seton |first1=Ernest Thompson |title=Trail of An Artist-naturalist: The Autobiography of Ernest Thompson Seton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZPyDwAAQBAJ&q=1882 |date=July 14, 2020 |publisher=Read Books |isbn=9781528767149 |access-date=2020-08-10}}</ref>

In 1882, he joined his brother on a homestead outside [[Carberry, Manitoba]], where he began to write. In 1891, he published ''The Birds of Manitoba'' and was appointed Provincial Naturalist by the government of [[Manitoba]].<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/seton_et.shtml| title =Memorable Manitoba: Ernest Thompson Seton | publisher =Manitoba Historical Society| access-date=November 22, 2019}}</ref> He continued to publish books about Manitoba for decades to come, including ''The Life Histories of Northern Animals: An Account of the Mammals of Manitoba'' and lived in Manitoba, before moving to New York and Connecticut. In 1930, when he moved to [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]].

He changed his name to Ernest Thompson Seton (after initially changing it to Ernest Seton-Thompson), believing that [[Seton (surname)|Seton]] had been an important family name. He became successful as a writer, artist, and naturalist, and moved to [[New York City]] to further his career. Seton later lived at Wyndygoul,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.thesetonfamily.com:8080/directory/ETSETONhouses.htm |title=The Houses |publisher=www2.thesetonfamily.com |access-date=2009-12-18
}}</ref> an estate that he built in [[Cos Cob, Connecticut|Cos Cob]], a section of [[Greenwich, Connecticut|Greenwich]], [[Connecticut]]. After experiencing vandalism by the local youth, Seton invited them to his estate for a weekend where he told them what he claimed were stories of the [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]] and of nature.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.etsetoninstitute.org/WOODCRFT.HTM | title =Woodcraft League Histories | publisher =Ernest Thompson Seton Institute | access-date =July 11, 2006 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20060701185949/http://etsetoninstitute.org/WOODCRFT.HTM | archive-date=July 1, 2006 | df =mdy-all }}</ref>  Seton was an early and influential member of the [[Camp Fire Club|Camp-Fire Club of America]], hosting several of the club's earliest official events at his Wyndygoul estate.<ref>{{cite news |title=CAMP FIRE CLUB IN QUEER CONTESTS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/06/12/archives/camp-fire-club-in-queer-contests-cold-rain-cant-keep-the-hardy.html |work=New York Times |date=June 12, 1910 |access-date=27 February 2023}}</ref> 

He formed the [[Woodcraft Indians]] in 1902 and invited the local youth to join. Despite the name, the group was made up of non-[[Native Americans in the United States|native]] boys and girls. The stories became a series of articles written for the ''[[Ladies Home Journal]]'', and were eventually collected in ''The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians'' in 1906. Shortly after, the Woodcraft Indians evolved into the Woodcraft Rangers, which was established as a non-profit organization for youth programming in 1922.

Since 1922, Woodcraft Rangers has served Los Angeles youth with Seton's model of character building, which encompasses service, truth, fortitude, and beauty.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.woodcraftrangers.org |title=woodcraftrangers.org Home |website=www.woodcraftrangers.org |access-date=2018-11-05}}</ref> Since then, Woodcraft Rangers youth have been received in a safe environment to encourage the discovery of their own talents. Today the Woodcraft Rangers organization serves over 15,000 youth in the Los Angeles county by helping them find pathways to purposeful lives. They offer expanded learning opportunities to youth from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Youth participants are encouraged to discover their natural talents and are embraced daily with the belief that all children are innately good.