Van Noppen, Leonard Charles (1868-1935). Dutch-American translator and poet. Born in Holland, Leonard Charles Van Noppen immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child, where they lived first in Michigan and then North Carolina. He earned degrees from Guilford College, the University of North Carolina, and Haverford College. Although he trained as a lawyer, he turned to literary pursuits and spent two years studying Dutch language and literature in Utrecht and Leiden. He also spent brief periods working as a journalist, including in Pittsburgh, PA, where he evidently became friends with Cather in the late 1890s. She was enthusiastic about his translation of Lucifer by Joost van den Vondel, which established Van Noppen’s status as an authority on Dutch literature and made a sensation by revealing John Milton’s reliance on Vondel’s text in his Paradise Lost. In addition to his literary endeavors, Van Noppen served as private secretary to several politicians and served in the U.S. Navy in World War I. He married Adah Maude Stanton Becher in 1902. Van Noppen died in Glen Cove, Long Island, NY, and his widow spent years preparing his epic poem Cosmorama for publication.

Couse, Edwin Philips (1868-1909). Pittsburgh journalist. Born in Mercer County, PA, Edwin Couse graduated from Allegheny College (1889) and worked in the lumber business and taught before moving to Pittsburgh to pursue journalism. He and Cather both worked the telegraph desk at the Pittsburgh Leader in the late 1890s. In 1902, he moved back to Mercer County, to Brownsville, and purchased the Monitor. He died in Brownsville.

Davis, Annie S. (1865-1961?). American office worker; Cather's Pittsburgh acquaintance Born in Pittsburgh, PA, one of the daughters of Eliza and D. C. Davis, Annie S. Davis worked as a bookkeeper and later as a proofreader in newspaper offices, including the Axtell’s National Stockman and Farmer in the early 1920s; Cather wrote for this magazine in the late 1890s. The Davis family may have known the Axtells, as in 1885 they lived at 6444 Marchand Street, a block from the Axtells, who may have recommended that Cather board with the Davis family in 1898-99 when they lived at 341 Sheridan Avenue. According to Cather in an 1899 letter to Leonard van Noppen, at least two of the Davis sisters visited the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, where they had met van Noppen.

Davis, Zona M. (1870-after 1910). American stenographer; Cather's Pittsburgh acquaintance Born in Pittsburgh, PA, one of the daughters of Eliza and D. C. Davis, Zona M. Davis worked as a stenographer from the late 1890s into 1910, when she worked in the office of a steel works. She, like her sisters Annie S. Davis and Cora Davis Wagner and cousin Vernie Davis Hemmick, would have known Cather when she lived with them at their house at 341 Sheridan Avenue in 1898-99. According to Cather in an 1899 letter to Leonard van Noppen, at least two of the Davis sisters visited the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, where they had met van Noppen.

Wagner, Cora Davis (1871-after 1930). Cather's Pittsburgh acquaintance. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, one of the daughters of Eliza and D. C. Davis, Cora Davis married Joseph H. Wagner in 1899; they had one daughter, Dorothy Eliza, born in 1900. Like her sisters Annie S. Davis and Zona Davis and cousin Vernie Davis Hemmick, she would have known Cather when she lived with the Davis family at their house at 341 Sheridan Avenue in 1898-99. According to Cather in an 1899 letter to Leonard van Noppen, at least two of the Misses Davis visited the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, where they had met van Noppen.

Hemmick, Vernie Eliza Davis (1875-after 1938). American stenographer; Cather's Pittsburgh acquaintance. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, daughter of Mary J. Davis and niece of D. C. Davis, Vernie Davis lived with her widowed aunt Eliza Davis from the late 1890s until her marriage to Carroll Leicester Hemmick around 1903. They had one son, Russell D. Hemmick, born in 1904. They divorced before 1910, and Vernie returned to live with her aunt and cousins. She married Charles A. Smiley in 1918; widowed, she lived in Salem, NY, beginning in 1938. Like her cousins Annie S. Davis, Zona M. Davis, and Cora Davis Wagner, she would have known Cather when she lived with the Davis family at their house at 341 Sheridan Avenue in 1898-99. According to Cather in an 1899 letter to Leonard van Noppen, at least two of the Misses Davis, possibly including their cousin, visited the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, where they had met van Noppen.