Frank Chester Robertson (January 12, 1890 – July 29, 1969) was an American author best known for his western novels. He published over 150 hard cover books and countless other short stories, serials and newspaper articles. In later years, he also wrote a column for the ''

Provo Herald The ''Daily Herald'' is a daily newspaper that covers news and community events in Utah County, central Utah. Much of the coverage focuses on the Provo-Orem metropolitan area in Utah Valley. The ''Daily Herald'' is owned by Ogden Newspapers. ...

'' called "The Chopping Block".

Early life

Robertson was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Idaho. His father had become a convert to

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) and moved his family to Chesterfield, Idaho. His family were farmers. To help support his family while his father was away on LDS missions, Robertson herded sheep and his mom briefly became a postmistress. In 1914, he obtained a homestead in the hills a few miles east of Chesterfield. In 1919, he married Winifred "Winnie" Bowman with whom he had three children. After moving to

Ogden Ogden may refer to: Places Canada *Ogden, Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta *Ogden, Quebec, a small municipality in the Eastern Townships * Ogdensville, British Columbia or Ogden City, alternate names for gold rush-era Seymour Arm, British Columbia *Og ...

Utah in the 1920s and then Salt Lake City, Robertson and his family settled in Mapleton Utah in 1937. He lived the rest of his life in Mapleton, writing stories and working in his cherry orchards.

Career

Robertson started writing short stories while in Chesterfield. He wrote his first novel in 1924 titled, ''The Foreman of the Forty Bar''. The novel was first published in ''People’s Popular Monthly'' and then syndicated in several newspapers. It was published as a book in 1925. His most popular book was his 1950 autobiographical book, ''A Ram in the Thicket: The Story of a Roaming Homesteader Family on the Mormon Frontier'', which was later condensed in ''Reader's Digest''. His prime writing years were from the 1920s to the 1940s, but he continued writing until his death. He wrote under several pseudonyms including Frank Chesterfield, Robert Crane and King Hill. In 1954, the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in th ...

presented the Silver Spur award for best juvenile story for Robertson's story, ''Sagebrush Sorrel''. He was also the 1959-1960 president of the Western Writers of America. His library of letters, notes, and correspondence were donated to BYU's Harold B. Lee Library.

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Frank Chester 1890 births 1969 deaths American Latter Day Saints People from Mapleton, Utah People from Moscow, Idaho Western (genre) writers Writers from Idaho Writers from Utah