Betty Zane is Zane Grey’s first novel, originally published in 1903.  It is based on actual events in the life of his great-great-great aunt – Betty Zane.  Grey loved to hear family stories and based his first novel on that family history.  Grey took the main facts of this story from an old family notebook belonging to his great-grandfather, Col. Ebenezer Zane.  This story takes place in the area of modern Wheeling, West Virginia during the time of the Revolutionary War.
 
Grey, Zane