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 |
UNION CLASS OF SERVICE
This is a full-rate
Telegram or Cable-
gram unless its de-
ferred character is in-
dicated by a suitable
sign above or preced-
ing the address. SIGNS
DL = Day Letter
NM = Night Message
NL = Night Letter
LC = Deferred Cable
NLT = Cable Night Letter
Ship Radiogram R. B. WHITE
PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD J. C. WILLEVER
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT The filing time shown in the date line on telegrams and day letters is Standard Time at point of origin. Time of receipt is Standard Time at point of destination. Received at THE QUICKEST, SUREST AND SAFEST WAY TO SEND MONEY IS BY TELEGRAPH OR CABLE LN D 38 NL New York NY.2 12 Mrs. W. A. Sherwood1, Red Cloud Nebraska3.
Impossible to come this year but am planning to be with you next Christmas your telegram and the thought that you want me make me very happy stop my love to every one of you4 not forgetting the grand children.
Willa Cather 11pmInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1781.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1781
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only of telegram.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Carrie Miner Sherwood1
- Date letter was written
- [1933 to 1946]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
R. B. White became the Western Union president in 1933, suggesting this telegram was sent sometime between 1933 and 1946, the year before Cather's death.
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Person Annotations
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.
Sherwood, Walter Allen (1867-1941). Red Cloud banker; Carrie Miner Sherwood's husband. Walter Sherwood, born in Wisconsin, came with his family to Webster County in 1879. He worked in Silas Garber’s Farmers and Merchants bank in Red Cloud after his marriage to Carrie Miner in 1889; they had two sons, Clement Miner and Philip. After the failure of the Garber bank, Sherwood became cashier of the new People’s Bank, organized by his father-in-law, J.L. Miner, and eventually president of the bank.
0552Sherwood, Clement Miner (1890-1966) (“Miner”). Red Cloud banker. Born in Red Cloud, NE, elder son of Walter and Carrie Miner Sherwood, Miner Sherwood graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1913 and entered the family bank, the People’s Bank of Red Cloud in 1915. He served in World War I, then married Dessie Deane Taylor in 1919; they had three children, Elizabeth, John, and Janet. He became president of the merged People’s-Webster County Bank, becoming president in 1951.
0553Sherwood, John Wheaton II (1921-2012). Red Cloud banker. Born in Red Cloud, NE, only son of Clement Miner and Dessie Taylor Sherwood, John was named after his great-grandfather. A graduate of Red Cloud High School, he entered the University of Nebraska in 1939, but after the outbreak of World War II he joined the Navy in 1942, then the Marines in 1944, flying fighter planes. After the war he worked first for a bank in Lincoln, NE, and then the family bank in Red Cloud, People’s-Webster County Bank, starting in 1949; he became its president in 1969. He married Dorothy Ely in 1951, and they had two sons, Brad and James.
0554Sherwood, Elizabeth J. (1919-1994) (“Betty”). Art gallery worker. Born in Red Cloud, NE, elder daughter of Clement Miner and Dessie Taylor Sherwood, Betty graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1937 and attended the University of Nebraska. She did war work during World War II, then married Evin Phoutrides in 1951; they later divorced. She worked at art galleries in Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA, and Lincoln, NE, before returning to Red Cloud in 1978.
0555Crary, Janet L. Sherwood (1924-2014). Webster County teacher. Born in Red Cloud, NE, younger daughter of Clement Miner and Dessie Taylor Sherwood, Janet graduated from Red Cloud High School and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and received a master’s degree in English from Kearney State College. She moved back to Red Cloud in 1959 and taught in elementary schools in Hastings, NE, Superior, NE, and Guide Rock, NE. In 1963 she married Clinton H. Crary of Guide Rock; they had one son.
0556Sherwood, Philip Sheridan (1892-1989) (“Phil”). Red Cloud banker. Born in Red Cloud, NE, younger son of Walter and Carrie Miner Sherwood, Phil graduated from Red Cloud High School and the University of Nebraska. He served with the quartermaster corps in France from 1918 to 1919, and after being mustered out he joined his father’s bank, the People’s Bank of Red Cloud. In June 1921 he married Aimee Arnold of Red Cloud; they had two daughters, Mary and Juliet. Phil became assistant cashier of the merged People’s-Webster County Bank in 1934, and became cashier when his brother became president in 1951. He also practiced law.
0557Sherwood, Aimee Arnold (1892-?). Red Cloud teacher. Born in Nebraska, Aimee lived in Lincoln, NE, where she attended the University of Nebraska. She moved with her parents to Elm Creek Precinct in Webster County, NE, where she taught in the Red Cloud High School. She married Philip S. Sherwood in 1921, and they had two daughters, Mary and Juliet.
0558Moranville, Mary Sherwood (1924-2010). Naval wife. Born in Red Cloud, NE, elder daughter of Phil and Aimee Arnold Sherwood, Mary graduated from Red Cloud High School and attended the University of Nebraska. She married H. Blake Moranville of Guide Rock, NE, a naval officer and World War II fighter ace; they had two sons. The family moved frequently, settling in Oregon after her husband’s retirement from the Navy.
0559Saladen, Juliet Sherwood (1928-2006) (“Julie”). American nurse. Born in Red Cloud, NE, she was the younger daughter of Phil and Aimee Arnold Sherwood. She married Richard Saladen, also of Red Cloud, in 1950, and they had two children. The family moved to Oregon, where she died.
1020Sherwood, Dessie Dean Taylor (1890-1986). Cather's Red Cloud acquaintance. Born in Missouri, Dessie Taylor was the youngest daughter of Isaac Taylor and Arabel Turnure Taylor. Her father died in 1898; by 1910 the family had moved to Red Cloud, NE, where Arabel’s brothers Frederick and Dallas lived. Dessie worked as a store cashier before attending the University of Nebraska, graduating in 1916. In 1917 she married Clement Miner Sherwood; they had three children, Elizabeth (Betty), John, and Janet. According to some sources, Willa Cather suggested to friends that Gladys Farmer in One of Ours (1922) resembled Dessie Taylor Sherwood.
Place Annotations
