Sherwood, Carrie Miner (1869-1971). Sherwood, Carrie Belle Miner (1869-1972) Civic leader; Cather's friend. Born in Waukon, IA, to James L. Miner and Julia Erickson Miner, Carrie Miner was the eldest of their children. The family moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1878, where the Miner Brothers store became the largest in town. Cather remembered meeting Carrie there. In 1884, Carrie, her mother, and siblings were confirmed in the Catholic church. In 1888, she studied music at St. Mary’s Academy at Notre Dame, IN. She married bank clerk Walter Sherwood in late 1889; they had two sons. The Sherwoods travelled often in the West, and visited Europe in 1930. They built a new house at 3rd and Seward streets in Red Cloud in 1908; Cather sometimes sent materials for Carrie to keep in its spacious attics. Carrie Miner Sherwood led local Red Cross work during the two World Wars, served on the Red Cloud school board and park commission, and was active in the League of Women Voters and in the Ladies Guild of Grace Episcopal Church. Cather corresponded with Carrie Miner Sherwood throughout her life and dedicated My Ántonia to Carrie, model for Frances Harling in the novel, and her sister Irene. Carrie was one of Mildred Bennett’s chief sources for The World of Willa Cather (1951), and was instrumental in setting up what is now the Willa Cather Foundation in Red Cloud.

Everett, Walter Hunt (1880-1946). American illustrator. Born in New Jersey, Walter Everett as a youth studied with illustrator Howard Pyle. His work began appearing in major magazines before he was twenty and became much in demand. He taught at the Philadelphia School of Art from 1911 to 1914. A perfectionist, he had trouble meeting deadlines; then, in the mid-1930s, he burned much of his previous work and stopped doing illustrations, although he continued to paint for himself until his death.

Mellen, Mary Virginia Auld (1906-1982) (“Virginia,” “M.V.”). Cather's niece. Born in Red Cloud, NE, to Jessica Cather Auld and James William Auld, Mary Virginia graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1924 and then spent a year at Dana Hall in Wellesley, MA, to qualify for admission to Smith College in Northampton, MA. In 1929 she received an A.B. in psychology from Smith and then moved to New York City, where she found work at Lord & Taylor before telling her aunt of her arrival. In 1930, probably with Willa Cather's help, she secured a position in the Circulation Department of the New York Public Library. In 1931, she entered the library's internal training school and in 1932 was assigned to the Tremont branch library in the Bronx. After Mary Virginia’s parents divorced in 1933 Cather took a quasi-parental role. She paid for vacations and when, in 1935, Mary Virginia married Richard (Dick) Mellen, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and roommate of her brother William Thomas Auld at Amherst College, she supervised wedding arrangements. After Dick was commissioned as a doctor in the Air Force, Mary Virginia—much to Cather’s regret—accompanied him to Chattanooga, TN, where he was assigned. In Cather's will, Mary Virginia was designated a beneficiary of the literary estate.

Sprague, Bernard (1932-1999). Red Cloud lawyer. Born in Hastings, NE, son of Leon and Helen McNeny Sprague, Bernard grew up in Red Cloud, NE; he attended the University of Nebraska and earned his law degree at the University of Denver (CO). In 1955 he married Barbara Flanagan, and they had four children. He served as Assistant United States Attorney in Lincoln, NE, from 1961 to 1963, then returned to Red Cloud to practice, serving, like his father, as Red Cloud City Attorney and Webster County Attorney, and then as District 10 judge.

Miner, James L. (1847-1905) (“J.L.”). Red Cloud merchant. Born in Ohio, James Miner came with his family to Iowa, where he married Julia Erickson in 1868. They had eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood, Carrie, Mary, Margaret, Irene, and Hugh, who were Cather’s childhood friends in Red Cloud, NE, where the family moved in 1878. James and his brother Hugh Miner started the Miner Bros. store, which became one of the largest in the region. They also bought a large cattle ranch on the Republican River west of Red Cloud and started the People’s Bank of Red Cloud in 1893, when other town banks had failed. Miner was a Catholic and a Democrat in a predominantly Protestant and Republican area; Cather drew on this in her portrayal of R.E. Dillon in “Two Friends” (1932). Miner also appears as Christian Harling in My Ántonia (1918), the distant father of the Harling children.

Richardson, William Newman (1839-1914) (“Num”). Red Cloud livestock dealer. Born in New York, Richardson grew up in Illinois, enlisting in the Illinois infantry in 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War. He married Charlotte Chapman in 1866; they had two children, Lloyd and Winifred (later Garber). The family moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1872, where William bought land and livestock, becoming one of the biggest dealers in the state in the 1880s. After the death of Charlotte in 1883, he married Elizabeth Tangil in 1886; they had two daughters, Norma (later Barber) and Marguerite. William was one of the wealthiest men in Red Cloud; after his death the Red Cloud Chief praised his integrity and said, “He tried to live largely. He was big minded, big hearted. Too much so to be saving and accumulative. He lived generously, liberally.” Cather reflected these qualities in the character of W.H. Trueman in her story “Two Friends” (1932).