Margaret Cather Shannon

Roscoe Cather, born in 1877, was the second child of Charles and Jennie Cather. Along with his sister Willa, he was born in Virginia and grew up in Red Cloud, Nebraska. He served as superintendent of Fullerton High School. Meta Elizabeth Schaper Cather was born on January 29, 1884 in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, the second daughter of Robert and Julia Ramke Schaper. She was a 1903 graduate of the University of Nebraska and taught at Havelock High School. She met Roscoe Cather while teaching in Fullerton, Nebraska, and the two married on July 27, 1907. The couple moved to Lander, Wyoming, following their marriage. Roscoe worked at a local bank in Lander. They had three daughters. The eldest, Virginia, was born on February 2, 1912 and the twins, Margaret and Elizabeth, were born on August 16, 1915. The family moved to Casper, Wyoming, in 1921, where Roscoe continued work as a banker. In 1937, when Roscoe was 60 years old, he and Meta moved to Colusa, California, where the winters would be less arduous. Roscoe Cather ran the First Savings Bank of Colusa in Colusa, California. Roscoe died on September 4, 1945. Meta Cather died on August 29, 1973.

Willa Cather is best known for her short stories, essays, and novels that focused on her Nebraska experience, her early years in Virginia, her life in New York and Pittsburgh, and her travels to New Mexico, Canada, and Europe. For more biographical information on Cather, please visit The Willa Cather Archive .