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 sending you a letter from Mrs. Gurney3 which has lain on my desk a long while. When the letter arrived I was in Jaffrey, New Hampshire4, staying with friends. I had left instructions that no letters should be forwarded to me, as I went into the country for a complete rest. I had been ill for some weeks before I left town.
Please go to see the Gurneys5 and deal with them exactly as if the property were your own. For anything I know, you may have rented it to the Government, as you did some time ago. I suppose the Gurneys will offer very little for such a poor piece of land, but you might think it worth while to sell it for very little in order to get rid of paying taxes on it. Any arrangement which seemed wise to you would be perfectly satisfactory to me. The only condition I would make would be that, if they buy the land at all, they should pay for it in cash. More hard years may come along and I hate to take money from people when times are hard. It makes ill-feeling, as it did in the case of Mr. Osborn6. The Gurneys could borrow money from the Government if they really wanted the land, could they not?
I shall certainly be in New York City2 for two weeks longer, as I am working hard to complete a piece of work which was delayed by my illness. After July 23rd I shall go up to my little cottage in Canada7 as soon as possible. Should you decide to sell the place, my absence might make some difficulty about signing the deed. However, there is a notary (he is also a Member of the Canadian Parliment) on the small island8 where I go, and I have twice signed deeds9 before him.
Cordially yours, Willa CatherInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let3166.xml
- Letter identifier
- 3166
- Contents
- Document is two leaves, typewritten on recto only of each leaf.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Willard Crowell 1
- Date letter was written
- July 10, 1940
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Individual Annotations
It is unclear which deeds Cather may be referring to. The deed to the Grand Manan property was signed by Edith Lewis, not Cather, and the notary who witnessed it was William A. Fraser.
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.
Gurney, Lillian Maude Coleman (1896-1963) (“Lily,” “Lillie”). Red Cloud resident. Lillian Maude Coleman was born in Red Cloud, NE, to Charles H. and Nora C. Coleman. The Colemans moved to White Mound, KS, c. 1900. Coleman eventually lived with her brother-in-law and sister in Esben, KS, before returning to Red Cloud and marrying Lawrence L. Peirce in 1916. Coleman and Peirce divorced in 1917, and she married William Lemuel Gurney in 1918. The Gurneys had six sons and five daughters and remained active participants in the local community until they moved to Richland, AR, before 1950. The Gurneys seemed interested in purchasing some land that Cather owned and inquired about the parcel in 1940.
Gurney, William Lemuel (1885-1971). Red Cloud farmer. William Lemuel Gurney was born in Red Cloud, NE, one of three children of Rebecca Mary Knutson and Asa Lemuel Gurney. Gurney worked as a farmer and a section worker for the Burlington Railroad. Gurney married Lillian Maude Coleman in 1918, and they moved to a farm just outside of Red Cloud. The two had six sons and five daughters. The Gurneys moved to Richland, AR, before 1950 and continued farming. Gurney and his wife seemed interested in purchasing some land that Cather owned and inquired about the parcel in 1940.
Osborn, William Jennings Bryan (1898-1972). Webster County farmer. Born in Webster County, NE, William Osborn was one of the eleven children of laborer John Osborn and Emma Goss Osborn. He married Ellen Pauline Streit in 1922; they had two daughters, Evelyn and Doris. During the agricultural depression of the 1930s, Cather came to hold the mortgage on William Osborn’s farm in the Red Cloud area; he lost the farm in 1940 but continued to live on it as a renter.
Place Annotations
Grand Manan, New Brunswick, CanadaCather and Edith
Lewis frequently vacationed on Grand Manan Island during the summer and
early fall for about twenty years, beginning in 1922. For the first few
years, they stayed at the Inn at Whale Cove, a collection of cottages with a
main house operated by Sarah Jacobus. Cather and Lewis rented Orchardside
Cottage from Jacobus until they had their own cottage built. In 1926, Lewis
acquired land on Grand Manan, and construction was completed in 1928. Cather
and Lewis returned to this cottage almost every summer until
1940.
