death_place death_date birth_place other_names birth_date spouse article_title name occupation
canada 20 october 1972 edinburgh , scotland , uk william brown sinclair 09 january 1881 -lrb- -lrb- 2 -rrb- ruth brown 1 -rrb- bertha m. -lrb- brown -rrb- bower bertrand william sinclair
 bertrand william sinclair novelist
bertrand william sinclair

bertrand william sinclair -lrb- 1881 -- 1972 -rrb- was a canadian novelist known for a series of westerns set in the united states , and also for a series of novels set in his home province of british columbia .
sinclair was born 9 jan 1881 in edinburgh , scotland , u.k. .
he was the son of george bertrand and robina -lrb- williamson -rrb- sinclair .
his name at birth was william brown sinclair , but he changed it , adopting his father 's middle name as his first name .
he emigrated to canada with his mother in 1889 .
at age 14 sinclair ran away to montana and became a cowboy for the next seven years .
in 1903 he left montana for seattle and san francisco , but returned to montana , living in great falls for the next three years .
in 1905 he first published stories .
also in 1905 , he married author bertha m. brown , better known under her pen name -lrb- using her first husband 's last name -rrb- : b. m. bower .
bower , a very prolific novelist , taught him to write `` productively '' and to employ a formula .
sinclair and b. m. bower had one daughter .
by 1908 sinclair and bower had moved to santa cruz , california .
they divorced in 1912 .
the same year , sinclair married his first wife 's cousin , ruth brown .
they had a child in 1912 , a daughter .
the sinclairs moved to vancouver , b.c. , ultimately settling in pender harbour .
sinclair lived in pender harbour until his death .
sinclair 's first series of work took place in montana .
sinclair had disapproved of previous westerns he had read because he felt the action portrayed was far different that the lives cowboys actually led .
when he moved to vancouver , the settings of his works changed -lrb- except for two very late westerns -rrb- .
he tended to write about social causes , and worked in the timber industry prior to writing big timber .
later , before writing about the fishing industry , he worked as a commercial fisherman and then wrote poor man 's rock .
later in life , from 1936 -- 66 , he worked full-time as a licensed commercial fisherman .
in writing about the outdoors , sinclair was influenced in his portrayals by jack london .
in his works treating social causes , he was influenced by upton sinclair , who may have been a cousin .
over the years 1905-40 sinclair wrote over 60 stories and 11 `` novelettes '' .
