Answer
Willa Cather was born Wilella Sibert Cather on December 7, 1873, in Back Creek Valley, Virginia. Her father was Charles F. Cather, a Methodist minister, and her mother was Mary Virginia Boak Cather. The Cather family moved to Nebraska in 1883, when Willa was nine years old. She attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where she studied literature and music. After graduating, she worked as a journalist and teacher.