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 |
I am enclosing for your consideration a letter which I today received from Mr. Foe3, and I will tell you such facts as I remember about this loan.
The loan was made by my father4, I should think
five or six years before his death. The original mortgage was signed by Mettie Johnson5 and Haakon Johnson6. Those were the names in the record Father sent me. I
wrote asking Mr. Foe whether Haakon had changed his named to Harry, but he did not give me any information. Perhaps this Harry7 is a son or brother of Haakon. Father never
told me anything
much about the husband who signed with
Mettie Johnson, but he said she was a good woman, and he believed she would pay her
debts when she could. I think (though of this I am not sure) that at the time of
Father's death, the Johnsons were considerably behind in their interest, although those were good years for farmers.
I wish, Mr. Crowell, you would examine the County Clerk's records and find out just
when this loan was made by Father, and whether it was made to Mettie and Haakon
Johnson. In Father's talk about the loan, he always said that the loan was made to
Mettie Johnson. But Mr. Foe, in his letters, has spoken only of Harry Johnson. Is
Mettie Johnson still living, and, if so, is Harry her husband, or son, or
brother-in-law? From the fact that Father never mentioned
talked to me about the man of the
family,
to me, I imagine he thought that the
man didn't amount to much.
It seems to me, Mr. Crowell, that it might be wise to look into Mr. Johnson's general
standing in his neighbourhood. Your remember J. P. Morgan8, the elder,
always said that
"credit was
is simply character." If Mr. Johnson is an industrious man who really wants to
be square, I certainly would not want to take away from him a farm which he wishes
to keep, and I would be perfectly willing to reduce his interest to either 4 or 5
per cent, whichever you thought wise. My impression that Father thought him a
happy-go-lucky fellow but
and his wife a reliable person, may be a
fault of my memory. Perhaps the wife in
whom Father had great confidence may be no longer living. And whether Harry is the
man who signed the mortgage with her, I do not know. The original mortgage would be
in Mr. Sherwood'9s bank and you could find out
exactly who the signers were. If Mettie Johnson is still living and active, that
fact makes a difference in the case. Several times Father wrote me: "Mettie Johnson
is considerably behind in her interest, but she is a good woman and will eventually
pay."
I am asking you, Mr. Crowell, to decide Mr. Foe's questions for me, as you are in a position to find out whether there is a responsible person behind the debt, and I cannot get this information for myself.
If you write me instructing me what to do, I will write or telegraph Mr. Foe at once. Better still, if you can give him your decision on the matter verbally, I will follow it up with any necessary formal instructions of procedure.
Very sincerely yours, Willa CatherP. S. When you write me, Mr. Crowell, please return Mr. Foe's letter for my files.
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let3161.xml
- Letter identifier
- 3161
- Contents
- Document is two leaves, typewritten on recto of each leaf only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Willard Crowell 1
- Date letter was written
- March 28, 1939
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Person Annotations
Crowell, Willard (1885-1963). Webster County farmer. Born in Indiana, Willard Crowell came to Webster County after 1900, probably to join his elder brothers Henry and Omer; he lived and farmed in the Batin area from 1910 into the 1930s. He and his wife, Adelma (known as Lulu), had four children, Clarence, Robert, Howard, and Geraldine. Crowell was elected sheriff in the 1930s. He also helped Cather manage Webster County properties she owned or had mortgages on; they sometimes had differences of opinion on these business matters, but she was concerned when he had suffered a disabling fall in August 1943.
Foe, Howard S. (1892-1960). Webster Count attorney. Born in Webster County, NE, Howard Foe was one of the five sons of Elizabeth and Samuel Foe; the elder Foe ran a billiard room in Red Cloud, NE. Howard Foe taught school to support his studies at the University of Nebraska law school, graduating in 1915. He became the Webster County attorney by 1920, later returning to private practice. In 1919 he married Vernon M. Storey, with whom he had two sons. In the 1930s and 1940s he did legal work for Willa Cather related to Webster County farm mortgages she held.
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).
Johnsen, Mette Mikkelsen (1869-after 1940) (“Mattie” “Mary”). Webster County resident. Born in Denmark, a daughter of Lars and Anna Helsen Mikkelsen, Mette came to the U.S. in 1888. She married Danish-born farmer Christ Johnson; they had nine children while living in Kearney County, NE. Widowed by 1910, she came to Webster County, farming in Glenwood township with her two youngest sons, Louis and Raymond. In June 1922 she married Norwegian immigrant Haakon Johnson in Red Cloud, NE. In 1940 she and her husband lived with her son Raymond and his family in Inavale township in Webster County.
Johnson, Haakon (1857-after 1940). Norwegian-American farmer. Born in Norway, son of Johan Johnson and Louisa Larson Johnson, Haakon Johnson married the widowed Mattie (Mary) Johnson in Red Cloud, NE, in June 1922. By 1940 they were living with his stepson, Raymond Johnson, in Inavale township in Webster County, NE. In the 1920s Cather’s father loaned money to Haakon and Mattie Johnson on Willa Cather’s behalf.
Johnson, Henry V. (1884-1977) (“Harry”). Webster County farmer. Born in Webster County, Harry Johnson farmed in the southern part of Catherton township. In 1909 he married Susie Lambrecht and they had two children, Norman and Mildred Johnson. Cather held a mortgage on some of the Johnson land.
Morgan, John Pierpont (1837-1913) (“J. P”). American Business leader,
philanthropist, and art collector. Morgan became one of the
richest and most powerful business leaders of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century through founding private banks, financing railroads, and
organizing U.S. Steel, General Electric, and other major corporations.
Before Cather joined the staff of McClure’s Magazine,
Ray Stannard Baker wrote articles criticizing Morgan’s business practices.
Morgan used his immense wealth to become a renowned philanthropist and art
collector. His wealth endowed the Morgan Library in New York City, to which
Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant, Laura Coombs Hills, and Elizabeth Morehead
Vermorcken donated Cather letters in the 1950s.
Sherwood, Walter Allen (1867-1941). Red Cloud banker; Carrie Miner Sherwood's husband. Walter Sherwood, born in Wisconsin, came with his family to Webster County in 1879. He worked in Silas Garber’s Farmers and Merchants bank in Red Cloud after his marriage to Carrie Miner in 1889; they had two sons, Clement Miner and Philip. After the failure of the Garber bank, Sherwood became cashier of the new People’s Bank, organized by his father-in-law, J.L. Miner, and eventually president of the bank.
Place Annotations
