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 |
After two weeks of spring we had a bitter cold Easter. Elsie3 and I decorated the altar in memory of father4. The church5 was nearly full of people. After the service I gave one of the Easter Lily plants to Molly6, and one to Hazel Powell7, and the daffodils I took down to father's grave—you know he loved the "Easter flowers" as we used to call them, and they are the very first flowers I can remember in Virginia8.
I had dinner with Will9 and Charles10 at the hotel. Late in I made a call on Mrs. Turnure11 and Clifford12—she had asked me to dinner, but I could not go. Then I went over to Molly's and had a delicious little supper with her. It was lucky Elsie did not try to come down, as the weather turned so bitter.
Isn't it funny for me to be getting a card from the Peggs13? When that bashful blond boy in the but butcher shop lost his wife14 and baby I went down to Carolina15 and ordered a lot of those beautiful snapdragons such as
were sent to father. Everyone felt so sorry. She had a tumor inside her which grew
along with the baby and strangled it. A proper
examination and operation would have saved her. She had been carrying a dead baby
for several days. Dr. Stockman16 only called
Creighton17 when she was dying. Poor
Albert18 walks about like a dead man.
Lizzie19 has been at the Macs20 for a week now, but she still dashes
in in the morning to make the kitchen five fire for
me, and I dine over there occasionally. Helen21
is home sick with grippe.
I've got such lovely silk curtains up in the big dining room. My little old bed is
painted primrose color like the washstand,—I mean the
wooden bed that was in the ea west room. And the
table in downstairs back hall, which proved to be no walnut at all, I had mended and
painted and it's very pretty.
Molly had dinner with me here22 on Good Friday and Saturday nights, and says I'm a good cook. She helped me wash the dishes.
I had all father's oak furniture gone over with furniture polish for you and it looks so much better. If ever you want it painted I'll have it done.
Please write to me, dear mother.
With much love WillieInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1966.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1966
- Contents
- Document is two leaves, handwritten on recto and verso of each leaf.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Mary Virginia Boak Cather1
- Date letter was written
- [April 9, 1928]
- Place letter was written
- Red Cloud, Nebraska, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Philip L. and Helen Cather Southwick Collection (MS077), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
Grace Episcopal Church (Red Cloud, NE): Built in 1883, the Cather family joined Grace Episcopal Church in 1922. Cather and her siblings commissioned the installment of two stained glass windows in honor of each of their parents, as well as the altar rail in honor of their brother Douglass.
541 N. Seward Street (Red Cloud, NE): Built circa 1899, Cather’s parents, Charles F. and Mary Virginia Boak Cather, purchased this home in 1903. Cather stayed here when she returned to Red Cloud to visit her parents, returning for the last time in 1931 following her mother’s death. At that time, Cather's sister Elsie inherited the house, returning to Red Cloud for summer vacations for most of the 1930s. Willa Cather contributed to the maintenance of the property until Elsie sold the house in 1945 to W. H. Maynard. By 1946, it was being used as a local hospital. Willa Cather used the house as the prototype for the second Ferguesson house in her short story “The Best Years.”
Person Annotations
Cather, Mary Virginia Boak (1850-1931) (“Virginia” or
“Jenny”). Cather’s mother. Born in the 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.
Cather, Elsie Margaret (1890-1964) (“Bobbie”). Cather’s
sister. Born in Red Cloud, NE, shortly before Willa Cather
graduated from high school, Elsie attended the University of Nebraska in
Lincoln from 1908 to 1910, before transferring to Smith College, in
Northampton, MA, from which she graduated with an A.B. in English and Latin
in 1912. She undertook graduate study at the University of Nebraska in 1914
and in 1916 received her A.M. with a major in philosophy and a minor in
English. At both the undergraduate and the graduate level at Nebraska, she
studied under Louise Pound. She began a career in high school teaching in
1912, when she took a position in Lander, WY, where her brother Roscoe then
lived with his family. She also taught in Albuquerque, NM; Corning, IA;
Cleveland, OH; and briefly Red Cloud, when illness in the family brought her
home. Her longest tenure as a teacher was at Lincoln (NE) High School, where
she began teaching in 1920, with Olivia Pound and Mariel Gere as colleagues.
Willa Cather's expectation that Elsie be responsible for aging family and
friends and for legal affairs after their parents' deaths sometimes brought
the sisters into conflict. Elsie Cather retired from Lincoln High School in
1942. She died in Lincoln.
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).
Ferris, Mollie (c. 1864-1941). Cather family friend in Red Cloud.
Ferris was a close friend of Cather’s mother. Willa Cather and
Ferris served jointly as godmothers when Cather’s niece Helen Louise Cather
was christened in Red Cloud, NE, in 1918. When Ferris died, Cather
contributed money for a stained glass window in her honor in Grace Episcopal
Church in Red Cloud.
Powell, Hazel Robinson (1895-1979). Webster County treasurer; Cather’s Red Cloud acquaintance. Born and raised in Red Cloud, NE, Hazel Robinson was the eldest daughter of Webster County treasurer Charles D. Robinson and his wife Edith Wilson Robinson. She married Oliver Powell, who owned a café in Red Cloud, around 1918. She worked as a bookkeeper in her father’s office, succeeding him as county treasurer by 1930. In the late 1930s the couple moved to Maywood City in Los Angeles County, CA.
Auld, William Thomas (1908-2000) (“Tom,” “Will”). Cather's nephew.
Born in Red Cloud, NE, to Jessica Cather Auld and James William
Auld, William Thomas Auld graduated from Red Cloud High School in 1927 and
Amherst College in Amherst, MA, in 1931. His roommate at Amherst, Richard
Hager Mellen, would later marry his sister, Mary Virginia Auld. He graduated
from Stanford University Medical School in 1936, the same year he married
Helen Jane Wall. From 1938 until his retirement, Auld practiced pediatrics
in Stockton, CA, except for the four years (1942-1946) he served in the Army
Air Force Medical Corps. He and his wife had no children. Willa Cather seems
to have had minimal contact with her nephew as an adult, and there are no
known letters from her to him.
Auld, Charles Cather (1911-1992). American businessman; Cather’s
nephew. Born in Red Cloud, NE, Charles Auld was the younger son
of William Auld and Jessica Cather Auld (Willa Cather’s sister). He
graduated from the Red Cloud high school in 1930, and from Stanford
University in 1934 with a degree in economics. He settled in southern
California, where his mother and brother Thomas also lived, but served
overseas as a captain in World War II. Willa Cather had little contact with
Charles Auld after he was grown.
Turnure, Alta May Cryder (1872-1968). Cather's Red Cloud acquaintance. Born in Missouri, youngest child of Jonathan and Harriet Downs Cryder, Alta Cryder married Frederick Grant Turnure in 1891; they had four children, Floyd, Raymond, Greta, and Clifford. In 1893 the family moved to Red Cloud, NE, to operate a grocery store, adding dry-goods in 1898. In the 1930s the Turnure family moved to Seattle, WA, where Alta Turnure was widowed in 1946.
Turnure, Frederick Clifford (1910-1967) (“Clifford” “Fred”). American accountant. Born in Red Cloud, NE, youngest child of Frederick G. and Alta Cryder Turnure, Clifford Turnure grew up in Red Cloud, where he occasionally met Willa Cather through his parents. By 1930, he moved with his sister Greta Turnure Wilson and her husband, to Denver, CO. In the early 1930s he and his brothers and parents moved to Seattle, WA. In the late 1930s he married Erma Pitts, with whom he had a son, Jack Turnure in 1945
Pegg, Benjamin Nathan (1873-1959). Webster County farmer. Born in Indiana, Benjamin Pegg came to Webster County, NE, in the late 1870s. He married Leona Turner in 1899; they had three daughters, Irene, Wilma Marie, and Erma. After their daughter Erma Pegg Soderlin’s death in 1928, Leona and Benjamin Turner sent Willa Cather a card, probably in thanks for the flowers she sent for the funeral.
1041Pegg, Leona Bell Turner (1873-1933). Webster County farm wife. Born in Missouri, Leona Turner grew up in Line precinct, near Red Cloud, NE, where her parents, Richard Turner, a carpenter, and his wife Nancy J. Turner, settled in the late 1870s. She married Benjamin Pegg in 1899; they had three daughters, Irene, Wilma Marie, and Erma. After their daughter Erma Pegg Soderlin’s death in 1928, Leona and Benjamin Turner sent Willa Cather a card, probably in thanks for the flowers she sent for the funeral.
Soderlin, Erma Loree Pegg (1906-1928). Cather’s Red Cloud acquaintance. Born in Red Cloud, NE, daughter of Benjamin and Leona Turner Pegg, Erma married Albert Soderlin in the mid-1920s. She died March 29, 1928. Willa Cather, recovering from her own father’s recent death, sent flowers for her funeral.
Carolina. Florist.Possibly an employee or owner of a shop in Red Cloud, NE, that sells flowers. No further information is available about this person.
Stockman, James William (1873-1940). Red Cloud physician. Born in Iowa, James Stockman married Adelaide Chambers in Montana in 1903; they had two daughters. The family came to Red Cloud, NE, by 1909. James Stockman served briefly as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Medical Corps at the end of World War I. He practiced medicine in Red Cloud until his death.
Creighton, Ernest A. (1871-1934). Cather family physician. Born in Ontario, Canada, E. A. Creighton graduated from the medical school of Western University in 1899, and came to Red Cloud, NE, soon after, boarding with the Cathers' family friend Mollie Ferris and her brother. He married Mary S. Miner on July 28, 1900, and they built a house close by her parents’ house. Cather wrote that she felt her parents were in good hands with him.
Soderlin, Albert (1896-1983). Red Cloud butcher. Born in Nebraska, son of a Swedish father and an Iowa-born mother, Albert Soderlin grew up on his father’s farm near Red Cloud, NE. In 1920 he worked as a hired man on William Koon’s farm near Red Cloud, then went to work in a butcher shop in town. He married Erma Pegg in the mid-1920s, and was widowed in 1928. He married Nellie Grace Burr Boyer in 1964.
Huffman, Elizabeth M. Wolfe (1901-?) (“Lizzie”). Worker for the Cather family. Elizabeth and Raymond K. Huffman married in 1921. She worked in the households of the Charles F. Cather and Bernard McNeny families before moving to Stratton, in Hitchcock County, NE, by 1930; her family included a son, Richard, born in 1922, and a daughter, Emma Arlene, born in 1924. By 1940 the family was living in Haxton, CO.
McNeny, Helen Sherman (1880-after 1940) (“Nell”). Cather’s Red Cloud friend. Helen Sherman was born in Nebraska, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Sherman. She was a milliner and clerked in the Miner Bros. store before her marriage to Bernard McNeny in 1907. They had one daughter, also named Helen, in 1908. In 1914 the McNenys moved into a house across the street from the second Charles Cather home. She was active in local women’s clubs.
0075McNeny, Bernard (1871-1939). Red Cloud lawyer. Bernard McNeny was born in Ft. McHenry, NY. He came to Red Cloud, NE, in 1889 to visit his elder brother James McNeny, a lawyer, and was himself admitted to the bar in 1891, becoming very successful. He was part of the young social set of Red Cloud when Cather was growing up there. He married Helen Sherman in 1907, and they had one daughter, Helen, in 1908. In 1914 the McNenys moved into a house across the street from the second Charles Cather home. Bernard McNeny handled some business and legal matters for Willa Cather.
Sprague, Helen McNeny (1908-?). Cather's Red Cloud acquaintance. Helen McNeny was the only child of Bernard and Helen (Nellie) McNeny. She graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Omaha, NE, and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where she met Leon Sprague, whom she married after her graduation in 1930. He practiced law with her father, and they lived in Red Cloud, NE, where she was a member of the Literature and Art Department of the Red Cloud Women’s Club. They had three children, born in 1932, 1934, and 1938.
Place Annotations
