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 |
NORTHEAST HARBOR2
MAINE August 1st No, Dear Boy1,
it was the Cowley family5 who kept the Catherton post office6. The wife7 used to tell me that she came from "a little island in the Irish sea8, along the coast o' Wales9." I can still hear her say it.
The Cramer place was much nicer. Big roomy farm house, lovely orchard. I had many a nice visit there when Will Andrews10 and Bess11 and Auntie12 lived there. When the Cramer family13 (or some of them) came back to the farm Will had to move up to a place in Adams County14.
It is very hot even here, and New York15, we hear from our friends, is terrible.
Lovingly, WillieNot born a poet, but he does tell what it feels like!
I wish I were a young farm hand!
Mr. R. C. Cather1 Colusa3 California NORTHEAST HARBOR, MAINE2 AUG 2 1944 630 PM From W. S. Cather ASTICOU INN NORTHEAST HARBOR2 MAINEInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let2222.xml
- Letter identifier
- 2222
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, handwritten on recto and verso. Includes one enclosed newspaper clipping. Includes one envelope, handwritten.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Roscoe Cather1
- Date letter was written
- August 1 [1944]
- Accompanying this letter
-
Includes two enclosed clippings from the Red Cloud newspaper, one a poem titled "Jungle Field" written by a Mr. Park, and the other a notice that proclaims "Several Hundred Men Needed in Sandhills to Harvest Hay". Cather writes above the former, "Not born a poet, but he does tell what it feels like!"; above the latter, "I wish I were a young farm hand!"
- Place letter was written
- Northeast Harbor, Maine, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Roscoe and Meta Cather Collection (MS316), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Archives & Special Collections, Lincoln, NE
Individual Annotations
Asticou Inn (Northeast Harbor, ME): Originally built in 1883 by A. C. Savage, the Asticou Inn was destroyed by a fire in 1899, but rebuilt by 1901. When the war and health considerations made travel to Grand Manan impossible, Willa Cather and Edith Lewis stayed at the Asticou in the 1940s, occupying a small cottage on the grounds of the inn.
Person Annotations
Cather, Roscoe (1877-1945) (“Ross”). Cather’s brother.
Roscoe was born in Virginia, the second child and oldest son of
Charles and Virginia Cather. After graduating from Red Cloud (NE) High
School in 1895, he taught country school for two years, attended the
University of Nebraska in Lincoln for one year (1897-1898), taught high
school in Carlton, NE, and Oxford, NE, and finally became superintendent of
schools in Fullerton, NE. There he met fellow teacher Meta Schaper, whom he
married in 1907. They relocated to Lander, WY, in 1909, where he opened an
abstract office and where their three children, Virginia and twins Margaret
and Elizabeth, were born. In 1921, they moved to Casper, WY, where Roscoe
became president of the Wyoming Trust Company, and in 1937 to Colusa, CA,
where Roscoe and his brother Douglass had acquired a controlling interest in
the First Savings Bank of Colusa. Roscoe served as president of the bank
until his death. Willa visited Roscoe and his family in Wyoming several
times and shared important travel experiences with them, including a 1926
trip to New Mexico with Roscoe, Meta, and their children and a 1941 San
Francisco vacation with Roscoe and Meta. She also relied on him to handle
family-related business as well as personal financial matters, and he was
one of her chief correspondents throughout her life. Roscoe served as a
prototype for one of the twin brothers in the Templeton family in “Old Mrs.
Harris” (1932).
Cowley, Isaac (1833-1896). Webster County farmer and postmaster. Born on the Isle of Man, Cowley married Nancy Jane Carr in Illinois; the couple came to Webster County, NE, from Illinois in 1873, establishing a farm in western Batin precinct. Their only surviving son, Charles, was born in 1876. Cowley was postmaster of the rural Catherton post office from 1876 to 1887. He built one of the first frame houses in the area in 1895. Willa Cather recalled that when her family lived on the William Cather farm in 1883-85, she would ride to the Cowley farm to pick up mail to distribute to their neighbors in the New Virginia area of Webster County.
0735Cowley, Nancy Jane Carr (1848-1929). Webster County farmer. Born in Illinois, Nancy married Isaac Cowley in the early 1870s and came with him to Webster County, NE, in 1873. They farmed in the western part of Batin precinct, where their son Charles was born in 1876. In 1895 the family moved into one of the first frame houses in the area, but Isaac died the following year. Nancy continued to live on the farm, adjacent to her son and his family, before moving to Bladen, NE. Although Cather thought Nancy Cowley was, like her husband, born on the Isle of Man, Nancy and both her parents were born in the United States.
Cowley, Nancy Jane Carr (1848-1929). Webster County farmer. Born in Illinois, Nancy married Isaac Cowley in the early 1870s and came with him to Webster County, NE, in 1873. They farmed in the western part of Batin precinct, where their son Charles was born in 1876. In 1895 the family moved into one of the first frame houses in the area, but Isaac died the following year. Nancy continued to live on the farm, adjacent to her son and his family, before moving to Bladen, NE. Although Cather thought Nancy Cowley was, like her husband, born on the Isle of Man, Nancy and both her parents were born in the United States.
Andrews, William (“Will”) Lee (1865-1950). Cather’s cousin; farmer. William Andrews was born in Frederick County, VA, son of Sarah Ellen Boak Seymour Andrews and her second husband, Joseph Andrews, and the brother of Nannie V. Andrews Matheny and half-brother of Elizabeth (“Bess”) Seymour. He came to Webster County “in his early youth,” according to his obituary, and farmed in the Batin and Catherton precincts all his life. He gave a home to his mother and sister for the latter parts of their lives.
Seymour, Elizabeth (c. 1859-1934) (“Bess,” “Bessie”). Cather’s
cousin. Bess Seymour was born in Virginia to Sarah Boak (the
elder sister of Willa Cather’s mother) and her first husband, Joseph D.
Seymour. In 1883, Bess moved with Willa Cather’s family to Webster County,
NE. Seymour lived in the Cather family home from 1883 to 1904, when she
moved to the Webster County farm of her half brother, Will Andrews. Cather
used her cousin’s name as a byline for the story “The Burglar’s Christmas”
(1906), and it has been suggested that she served as a model for Aunt Tillie
in The Song of the Lark (1915). Cather frequently
mentions in letters to other family members that she received long letters
from Seymour full of family news, and she urged her sister Elsie Cather to
care for Seymour during her final illness and sent money to pay medical
expenses.
Andrews, Sarah Ellen Boak Seymour (1834-1925) (“Auntie”). Cather’s aunt. Sarah Boak, the elder sister of Cather’s mother, was born in Virginia. She married Joseph D. Seymour in 1857, and they were parents of Elizabeth (Bess). After Sarah’s first husband died in 1861, she married Joseph Andrews in 1862 and gave birth to four more children, William, Katie, Nannie, and a daughter who died in infancy. In 1908, after her second husband died, Sarah moved to Webster County, NE, to live with Will (Nannie had also relocated there). References to her appear frequently in Cather family correspondence, especially when she was elderly and in poor health.
Cramer, William B. (1848-1910). Webster County farmer. Born in Ohio, William Cramer came to Webster County, NE, in 1873 with his sister, Sarah Britton, and her family. He married Malinda Adelia Garloch in 1876; they had five children. In 1884, the Cramers built a nine-room frame house on their farm in Batin precinct, one of the first frame houses in the area. They retired to Red Cloud before 1910; both William and Adelia were buried in Bladen, NE. Cather’s cousin, Will Andrews, rented the Cramer farm c. 1910, and she visited him and his mother, Sarah Andrews, and his sister, Bessie Seymour, while they lived there.
0824Cramer, Malinda Adelia Garloch (1855-1951) (“Delia”). Webster County farm wife. Born in Ohio, Adelia Garloch married William B. Cramer in 1876, not long after her family moved to Webster County, NE. They had five children. In 1884, the Cramers built a nine-room frame house on their farm in Batin precinct, one of the first frame houses in the area. They retired to Red Cloud, NE, before 1910; both William and Adelia were buried in Bladen, NE. Cather’s cousin, Will Andrews, rented the Cramer farm c. 1910, and she visited him and his mother, Sarah Andrews, and his sister, Bessie Seymour, while they lived there.
Place Annotations
