Ernst Thompson Seton

Original name Ernest Evan THOMPSON (changed in 1898). He was born in a strict Presbyterian family (Joseph L. and Alice (Snowden) THOMPSON) and had 9 brothers. His family emigrated to Ontario, Canada when he was at the age of 6. Already as a boy he was a talented artist and his parents sent him to Toronto, New York, London and Paris to study arts. But in 1881 he became the naturalist for the government of Manitoba. He married twice, Grace ALLATIN in 1896, from whom he was divorced and Julia M. Battree MOSS in 1935. He is best known as co-founder of the boy scouts of America in 1910. He published some scientific books about mammals and birds of Manitoba, but became very well-known with popular nature descriptions and handbooks for scouts. At the American Ornithologists Union he was elected Associate in 1883 and Member in 1901.
In 1967 the E.T. SETON Memorial Library and Museum was built at Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimmaron, New Mexico. The collection holds 1500 specimens of birds and mammals and 3500 of his paintings and sketches.
His memory is also preserved by the Ernest Thompson SETON Institute (ETSI), Los Angeles, US and Winnipeg, Canada.

Lit.:
MAY Hal, 1983: Contemporary Authors.
PALMER T.S., 1947: SETON, Ernest Evan Thompson. In: PALMER T.S. et al. (1954): Biographies of members of the American Ornithologists Union. P. 516. Reprinted from The Auk 1884-1954. The Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore, MD, 630 pp.
PELLETIER P.A., ed. 1994: Prominent Scientists. New York. p 244.

Pers. comm. E. BAUERNFEIND, Vienna, Austria, R. QUIGLEY, Hemet, CA, USA

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