Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
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| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
How proud and thankful to God this citation4 must make you in spite of all your grief. How proud it must have made G. P.5, to, and how thankful; to feel in himself the calm courage to do things like this, at a time that mercilessly sorts base men from true.
A dozen people have telephoned me today to ask if that splendid man who headed the list of splendid men in all the papers were any kin of mine. He has covered us all with a credit we do not deserve—none of us except you and Uncle George6.
Lovingly Willie Mrs. George P. Cather1 Bladen3 Nebraska NEW YORK, N.Y. STA.C2 JUN 26 1918 930 PM Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let0418.xml
- Letter identifier
- 0418
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto only. Includes one envelope, handwritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Frances Smith Cather1
- Date letter was written
- [June 26, 1918]
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- George Cather Ray Collection (MS113), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
The 25 June 1918 New York Times reported that G. P. Cather was cited for bravery for his actions at Cantigny. The citation read: "Lieutenant G. P. Cather (since killed in action.)--With splendid courage and coolness he mounted the parapet of a trench and directed a destructive flanking fire from two automatic rifle teams exposed to seven German machine guns."
Person Annotations
Cather, Frances Amanda Smith (1845-1922) (“Franc”). Cather’s
aunt. Born in Boston, MA, Franc graduated from Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary in South Hadley, MA, in 1870. Franc worked both as a private
tutor and as a teacher at Winchester Female Institute in Winchester, VA. In
1873 she and George Cather married and moved to Webster County in Nebraska,
where they raised their five children—Grosvenor, Blanche, Carrie, and
twins Frank and Oscar. Willa and Franc Cather maintained a warm relationship
and were regular correspondents until Franc’s death, exchanging letters
about family matters and about Willa’s writing. Elements of the life of her
New-England-born aunt inspired the character Aunt Georgiana in Willa
Cather’s story “A Wagner Matinee” (1904), and Franc’s son Grosvenor was the
prototype for Claude Wheeler in One of Ours (1922),
making Frances the prototype for Claude’s mother, Evangeline Wheeler.
Cather, Grosvenor Perry (1883-1918) (“G.P.”). Cather’s cousin.
G.P. Cather was born in Catherton, NE, the oldest son of Frances and
George Cather. He attended Grand Island Baptist College and the University
of Nebraska in Lincoln but was a poor student and did not earn a degree. He
married his childhood friend Myrtle Bartlett in 1910. Restless and
unsuccessful both before and after his marriage, he joined the Nebraska
National Guard in 1914 and served under General John J. Pershing on the
Mexican border in 1916. He became a member of the Allied Expeditionary Force
in 1917 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He died in action in
Cantigny, France, on May 28 and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre. Willa Cather read his letters home to
his mother about his experiences in the army, and she modeled Claude
Wheeler, the protagonist of One of Ours (1922), on
G.P. His body was first buried in a military cemetery in France, where
Cather visited his grave in 1920. In 1921, a large military funeral marked
the reinterment of his remains in Bladen, NE.
Cather, George P. (1847-1938). Farmer; Cather’s uncle. Born
in Back Creek Valley, VA, George was the eldest child of William and Emily
Caroline Smith Cather. He married Frances (Franc) Smith in 1873, and they
moved west to become two of the early settlers of northwestern Webster
County, NE, followed by many family members and neighbors from Back Creek,
including George’s parents, his sisters, and his brother Charles and family.
After early struggles, George and Franc Cather prospered, rearing five
children: Carrie, Blanche, Grosvenor P., and twins Oscar and Frank. George
was a partial prototype for Nat Wheeler in Cather’s One of
Ours (1922), and his son Grosvenor was the main prototype for
Claude Wheeler, the novel’s protagonist.
Place Annotations
