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.

Sherwood, Carrie Miner (1869-1971). 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.

Mizer, Max Kilgore (1878-1958). Farmer; brother of Beatrix Mizer Florance. Born in Paris, OH, elder son of Benjamin F. Mizer and Josephine Kilgore Mizer, Max Mizer moved to Red Cloud, NE, with his family in the early 1880s. He married Marie Moranville in February 1903; they had two daughters, Mildred and Josephine Elizabeth. Max farmed near Red Cloud until moving to the Denver, CO, area where his brother Frank lived in 1930. Max and Marie divorced in 1932; a few years later he married Elizabeth (Elva) Emery; they lived and farmed near La Veta, CO, where he died.

Mizer, Frank Paul (1887-1969). Tradesman; brother of Beatrix Mizer Florance. Born in Red Cloud, NE, younger son of Benjamin F. Mizer and Josephine Kilgore Mizer, Frank Mizer married Vera Wilson on December 25, 1910. They had four children, Mary, Floyd, and Frances, all born in Nebraska, and Jack, born in Denver, CO, where the family moved in 1921. Frank had managed his father’s ranch near Otis, CO, but worked as a shoemaker and repairman in Denver; later, in the 1940s, he worked in a lumber warehouse and for Denver’s transportation system.