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.

Auld, Jessica Virginia Cather (1881-1964) (“Jessie”). Cather’s sister. Born in Virginia and raised in Red Cloud, NE, Jessica was the fourth child and second daughter of Charles and Virginia Cather. After graduating from Red Cloud High School in 1899, she taught at a country school and the South Side Grade School until her marriage to James William Auld, a Red Cloud banker, in 1904. They had three children (Charles, William Thomas, and Mary Virginia). After their divorce in 1933, she moved to Palo Alto, CA, where she died thirty-one years later. Few letters from Willa Cather to her sister Jessica survive, and particularly after Jessica’s divorce their relationship was strained.

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.

Tyndale, Julius Hilgard (1843-1929). Lincoln physician; Cather’s friend. Julius H. Tyndale was reared in Illinois, son of Sharon Tyndale and Mary Hilgard Tyndale. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and afterwards became a physician in New York City, specializing in diseases of the ear, nose, and throat, a practice which brought him into contact with actors and singers. He moved to Lincoln, NE, around 1893 to join his sister, Emma Tyndale Westermann, and her family. The Westermanns owned the Lincoln Evening News at the time, for which Tyndale wrote theater reviews. He was Cather’s friend and mentor as she began reviewing for the Nebraska State Journal and closely followed her career. Although they remained friends and correspondents until his death, there is only one brief letter from Cather known to be extant.