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A Canadian Legend
 Born Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, Sept.18,
1888, in Hastings, Sussex, the first child of George Furmage Belaney, (a spendthrift, alcoholic and ne'er-do-well), and Kittie Scott-Brown, the sister of one of George's wives.
Departed on a ship to Canada on March 29, 1906 with the simple desire to live in the wilderness, near the Indians.
After arriving he worked for a Toronto department store for several months, then headed to
northern Ontario (and briefly Quebec) where he learned to trap, canoe and survive in the wilderness as he worked as a forest ranger and guide.
He enlisted with the Canadian Army in 1915 til 1917. Worked for the Canadian Parks
Branch, briefly at Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, and then at Prince Albert National Park from 1931-38.
 Then one day he just stopped killing beavers
and adopted the persona of Grey Owl, masquerading as an Ojibway Indian. The fact that he was an Englishman, and not an Indian, was not uncovered until after his death in 1936.
He is remembered as being the father of the conservation movement, having gained international recognition in the 1930s for his
writings and lectures on the Canadian north. He dedicated his life to preserving Canada's pristine wilderness areas.
Also, on a personal note, Archie Grey Owl was known to frequent a certain Lodge in Northern Ontario that was owned and operated by my Great-Aunts. The lodge is
mentioned several times in the movie “Grey Owl” starring Pierce Bronsan.
Marriages:
- Angele Egwuna, an Ojibwa Indian, in 1910, daughters Agnes and Flora;
- Marie Girard, common law partner, 1913-14, son Johnny;
- Ivy Holmes, a childhood sweetheart in England who later divorced him on the grounds of bigamy, in 1917;
- Anahareo (born Gertrude Bernard); common law partner, off and on until 1934, daughter Shirley Dawn;
- Yvonne Perrier, Ottawa medical assistant, 1936 (while still legally married to Angele).
Books:
- The Men of the Last Frontier, published in London by Country Life, 1931;
- Pilgrims of the Wild, published in Toronto by Macmillan, 1934;
- The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People, published in London by Lovat, Dickson &Thompson Limited, and in the United States by Scribner's, under the title
Sajo and the Beaver People, 1935;
- Tales of an Empty Cabin, published in London by Lovat, 1936;
- The Tree, published in London by Lovat, originally one of the short stories in Tales of an Empty Cabin, 1937.
- Numerous magazine articles and several documentary films
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