| Grey Owl | |
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Portrait of Grey Owl (1936), by Yousuf Karsh |
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| Born | Archibald Belaney September 18, 1888 Hastings, England |
| Died | April 13, 1938 (aged 49) Prince Albert hospital |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Prince Albert National Park |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Hastings Grammar School |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Employer | Dominion Parks Service |
| Known for | his conservation career |
| Home town | Hastings |
| Spouse | Angele Egwuna Constance Holmes Anahareo (Gertrude Bernard) Yvonne Perrier |
| Children | Agnes Shirley Dawn (1932-1984) |
Grey Owl (or Wa-sha-quon-asin, from the Ojibwe wenjiganoozhiinh, meaning "great horned owl" or "great grey owl") was the name Archibald Belaney (September 18, 1888 – April 13, 1938) adopted when he took on a First Nations identity as an adult. A British native, he was most notable as an author and one of the "most effective apostles of the wilderness".[1]
Revelation of his British origins after his death adversely affected his reputation for some time. Since the 1970s and, with the centennial of his birth, there has been renewed public appreciation for his conservation efforts. Recognition has included biographies, a historic plaque at his birthplace, a 1999 biopic about his life by director Richard Attenborough.
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Archibald Stansfeld Belaney was born in September 1888, near Hastings, England.[2] Born to George Belaney and his wife Katherine (Kittie) Cox, Archie was mostly of English descent on both sides; his paternal grandfather had come from Scotland and married in England.[3][4]
Kittie was his father's second wife. Years before Archie's birth, George Belaney had immigrated to the United States with his then-wife Elizabeth Cox and her younger sister Katherine (Kittie). After Elizabeth's early death, George persuaded Kittie, not yet 20, to marry him. Within the year they returned to England in time for the birth of their son Archie. The family lived together near Hastings until Kittie became pregnant for a second time. The father and Kittie left to return to the United States, where he abandoned her.[5] Kittie had left Archie in the care of his father's mother Juliana Belaney and his two younger sisters, Julia Caroline Belaney and Janet Adelaide Belaney,[6] whom the boy would know as Aunt Carry and Aunt Ada. Kittie visited him a few times.
Belaney later told his publisher his father was Scots. The Belaney name does have roots in Scotland. One of his biographers documented that Archie's paternal grandfather had moved from Scotland to England, where he became a successful merchant.[7]
The Belaney boy attended Hastings Grammar School, where he excelled in subjects such as English, French and Chemistry.[8] While outside school, he spent much time reading, or exploring St Helen's Wood near his home.[9]
As a boy, Belaney was known for pranks, such as using his Grammar School chemistry to make small bombs.[10] He called them "Belaney Bombs".[11] Fascinated by American Indians, Belaney read about them and drew them in the margins of his books. Belaney left Hastings Grammar School and started work as a clerk with a lumber company located behind St. Helen's Wood.[12]
There Belaney and his friend George McCormick perfected the arts of knife throwing and marksmanship. Belaney turned his creativity to pursuits other than work. His last event there was lowering fireworks down the chimney of the lumber company's office. The works exploded and nearly destroyed the building. After the lumberyard fired him, Belaney's aunts let him move to Canada, where he sought adventure. On March 29, 1906 Belaney boarded the SS. Canada and sailed for Halifax.[13]
Belaney emigrated, ostensibly to study agriculture. After a brief time in Toronto, he moved to Temagami (Tema-Augama), Northern Ontario, where he worked as a fur trapper. Fascinated with the Anishinaabe Ojibwe, he set about learning their language and lore. On August 23, 1910, he married Angele Egwuna, an Ojjibwa woman from whom he learned much about the people. They started life together in a tent on Bear Island (Lake Temagami). Soon Angele gave birth to their daughter Agnes. Angele's uncle called Belaney "Little Owl", because he watched everything carefully. Belaney claimed he was adopted by the tribe and given a name meaning "Grey Owl".
Belaney worked as a trapper, wilderness guide, and forest ranger. At first he began to sign his name as "Grey Owl". Then he created a full-blown Native identity, telling people that he was the child of a Scottish father and Apache mother. He claimed to have emigrated from the U.S. to join the Ojibwa in Canada.
Belaney enlisted with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force (CEF) on May 6, 1915 during World War I. His Regimental number with the CEF was 415259. On his attestation papers, he claimed to be born in Montreal on Sept 18, 1888, and listed no next of kin, however when asked about his marital status, it appears some confusion may have taken place as the word 'yes' was written, and then crossed out, then the word 'no' was written, and then crossed out ultimately not clearly answering the question, leaving his marital status unclear to the military at the time of enlistment. He stated his trade was a 'trapper', and that he previously served as a 'Mexican Scout' with the 28th Dragoons, although this is unclear since the U.S. was not in any significant military actions in the region (other than small operations, to which he could not have served, he would have had to serve between 1904 and 1915). Belaney joined the 13th (Montreal) Battalion of the Black Watch. His unit was shipped to France, where he served as a sniper. His comrades accepted his self-presentation as Indian and generally praised his conduct. Belaney was wounded in January 1916, and then more seriously on April 24, 1916, with a shot through the foot. When the wounded limb developed gangrene, Grey Owl was shipped to England for treatment.
While doctors tried to heal his foot, they moved Grey Owl from one British infirmary to another for a full year. In England, Grey Owl met again with childhood friend, Constance (Ivy) Holmes, and they married. Their marriage failed in a short time, without his having told Holmes that he was still married to Angele, whom he had abandoned but not divorced.[14]
Grey Owl was shipped back to Canada in September 1917, where he received an honorable discharge on November 30 with a disability pension.
In 1925, then 37-year-old Grey Owl met 19-year-old Gertrude Bernard (aka Anahareo, or Pony), a Mohawk Iroquois woman who was to be very influential in his life. She encouraged him to stop trapping and to publish his writing about the wilderness. They had a passionate eight-year affair, beginning with their Anishinaabe wedding ceremony.[15][16] Through her influence, he began to think more deeply about conservation. Anahareo encouraged his writing and influenced him by saving and raising a pair of beaver kits.
His first piece, "The Falls of Silence", was published under the name A.S. Belaney in Country Life, the famous English sporting and society magazine. He also published articles on animal lore as Grey Owl in Forest & Outdoors, a publication of the Canadian Forestry Association. He became increasingly known in Canada and the United States. In 1928, the National Parks Service made a film, Beaver People, featuring Grey Owl and Anahareo, which showed them with two beavers which they had taken in as kits and raised after their mother was killed. After his work attracted the attention of the Dominion Parks Service, Grey Owl was invited to join them as a naturalist.
In 1931, Grey Owl and Anahareo moved briefly (with their beavers) to a cabin in Riding Mountain National Park to find a sanctuary for them. The following year, they resettled at Ajawaan Lake in a home provided by the government at Prince Albert National Park, where Grey Owl was made Honorary Warden responsible for protecting beaver.[15] They had a daughter together, Shirley Dawn, who was born August 23, 1932.
Belaney told his publisher and future biographer, Lovat Dickson, the following story about his origins:
He was the son of a Scottish father and Apache mother. He claimed his father was a man named George MacNeil, who had been a scout during the 1870s Indian Wars in the southwestern United States. Grey Owl said his mother was Katherine Cochise of the Apache, Jicarilla band. He further said that both parents had been part of the Wild Bill Hickok Western show that toured England. Grey Owl claimed to have been born in 1888 in Hermosillo, Mexico, while his parents were performing there.
[17] Little of this account was factual.
In his articles, books, and films, Grey Owl promoted the ideas of environmentalism and nature conservation. In the 1930s, he wrote many articles for the Canadian Forestry Association (CFA) publication Forests and Outdoors, including the following:
His article, "A Description of the Fall Activities of Beaver, with some remarks on Conservation", was collected in Harper Cory's book Grey Owl and the Beaver (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1935).
In 1935-36 and 1937–38, Grey Owl toured Canada and England (including Hastings) to promote his books and lecture about conservation. His popularity attracted large, interested audiences, as Pilgrims in the Wild at one point was selling 5,000 copies a month.[14] Grey Owl appeared in traditional Ojibwa clothing as part of his First Nations identity. Although his aunts recognized him at his 1935 appearance in Hastings, they did not talk about his British origins until 1937. In his later tour, Grey Owl was invited to the court, where he made a presentation to King George VI of the United Kingdom and princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
During a publication tour of Canada, Grey Owl met Yvonne Perrier, a French Canadian woman. In November 1936 they married.
The tours were fatiguing for him and his years of alcoholism weakened him.[15] In April 1938, he returned to Beaver Lodge, his cabin at Ajawaan Lake. Five days later, he was found unconscious on the floor of the cabin. Although taken to Prince Albert hospital for treatment, he died of pneumonia on April 13, 1938. He was buried near his cabin.
His first wife Angele proved her marriage and, although she had not seen him for several years, inherited most of his estate.[15] After their deaths, Anahareo and Shirley Dawn (died June 3, 1984) in turn were buried at Ajawaan Lake.
Belaney had relationships with at least five women.[18] He deserted his first wife and child, later committing bigamy by marrying Constance Holmes in England. He had a daughter with his first and third wives, and was known to have fathered a boy as well.
Women in Belaney's life:
Doubts about Grey Owl's First Nation identity had been circulating and stories were published immediately after his death. The North Bay Nugget newspaper ran the first exposé the day of his death, a story which they had been holding for three years.[18] This was followed up by international news organisations, such as The Times. His publisher Lovat Dickson tried to prove Belaney's claimed identity, but had to admit that his friend had lied to him. His popularity and support for his causes led The Ottawa Citizen to conclude, "Of course, the value of his work is not jeopardized. His attainments as a writer and naturalist will survive." This opinion was widely shared in the national press.[18]
While his writings showed his deep knowledge and concern about the environment, Belaney's account of his origins as "Grey Owl" was mostly fictional. The consequences of the revelation were dramatic. Publishers immediately ceased producing his books under the name Grey Owl. In some cases his books were withdrawn from publication. This in turn affected the conservation causes with which Belaney had been associated, resulting in a decrease in donations to them.
Numerous books about Grey Owl have been published, including:
A long story from Tales of an Empty Cabin was published separately in 1937 as a small volume:
Grey Owl's first three books, The Men of the Last Frontier, Pilgrims of the Wild and Sajo and her Beaver People, have been collected and reprinted as Grey Owl: Three Complete and Unabridged Canadian Classics (2001: ISBN 1-55209-590-8). Excerpts from all four of his books were collected in The Book of Grey Owl: Selected Wildlife Stories (1938; 1989 reprint: ISBN 0-7715-9293-0).
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