McMenamin, Hugh L. (1871-1947). American priest. Hugh L. McMenamin was born in Freeland, PA, to Anne O’Donell and Hugh McMenamin. He graduated from Bloomsburg Normal School, attended Sacred Heart College in Denver, CO, and studied for the priesthood at St. Mary’s Seminary School in Baltimore, MD. Before entering the priesthood, McMenamin spent much of his youth working as a circus clown. He was ordained as a priest in 1900, after which he worked briefly as the assistant rector at St. Mary’s church in Colorado Springs, CO. In 1904 he took the same position at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in 1904, where he later became rector in 1908 and was elevated to the rank of monsignor in 1933. McMenamin wrote Cather in 1927 praising her novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop.

Machebeuf, Anne (1820-after 1904) (“Sister Marie Philomène”). French nun; sister of Bishop Joseph Machebeuf. Born in Riom, France, daughter of Michael and Gilberte Plac Machebeuf, Anne Machebeuf was educated at the Convent of the Visitation in Riom. She entered it as a postulant in 1838 and took her vows in 1839, remaining there the rest of her life. Her older brother, Father Joseph Machebeuf, future Bishop of Colorado, chose her religious name. Father Machebeuf wrote to her throughout his life; she in turn sent him supplies, including vestments. After his death Sister Philomène gave his letters to the Rev. William Howlett, who wrote the first biography of Bishop Machebeuf. This book was one of Cather’s sources for Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927).

Cather, Charles Fectigue (1848-1928). Cather’s father. Charles Fectigue (possibly Fectique) Cather was born in the Back Creek Valley of Virginia, north of Winchester. His family were sheep raisers who were largely, but not entirely, Union supporters during the Civil War. He married Mary Virginia Seibert Boak, daughter of Confederate supporters, in 1872. In 1883 he and his family followed his parents, William and Caroline Cather, and brother George to Webster County in Nebraska, where various cousins and uncles had also settled. Initially he ran a ranch in the county but soon moved his family into the town of Red Cloud, where he had an insurance and real estate business. Four of his children, Willa, Roscoe, Charles, and Jessica, were born in Virginia, while three, James, Elsie, and John, were born in Nebraska. Cather’s relationship with her father was very warm: she made regular visits to her parents in Red Cloud and especially enjoyed her father’s letters expressing appreciation of her novels. A week after she concluded a visit to her ailing father in Red Cloud, he died of heart disease. He served as the prototype for Hillary Templeton in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932).

Cather, Mary Virginia Boak (1850-1931) (“Virginia” or “Jenny”). Cather’s mother. Born in Virginia to William Lee Boak and Rachel Seibert Boak, Virginia was educated in Baltimore, MD, and was a schoolteacher until her marriage to Charles Fectigue Cather in 1872. Her husband’s family were primarily Union supporters during the Civil War while her family supported the Confederacy (three brothers served in the Confederate Army although their mother opposed slavery). After her marriage she tried to help unite the divided family. Four of her children, Willa, Roscoe, Charles Douglas, and Jessica Virginia, were born in Virginia, while three, James Donald, Elsie Margaret, and John Esten, were born in Nebraska after the family moved there in 1883. Despite occasional differences, Cather remained in affectionate contact with her mother, who remained in Red Cloud, NE, where the family settled in 1884. After her husband’s death in 1928 Virginia Cather suffered a stroke while visiting her children and their families in California. She spent nearly three years in a sanitarium in Pasadena, CA, unable to speak. Willa Cather visited her there several times but was unable to travel quickly enough from Grand Manan to Red Cloud for her funeral and interment after she died in Pasadena in 1931. Virginia Cather was the prototype for Victoria Templeton in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932), which Willa Cather completed shortly before her mother’s death.