Lincolnite

2. John J. Pershing
3. I believe is Willa Cather.

3. Mari Sandoz?
4. William Jennings Bryan

1. Nathan Pound

1. You’re close D.M.B., but that’s not quite right
2. Yes, that’s John J. Pershing
3. Nope, she isn’t Willa Cather or Mari Sandoz
4. Yes, that’s William Jennings Bryan

Don’t forget the second piece of the puzzle: identifying what relationship the person has to Lincoln.

ok, Nathan Roscoe Pound

Oops, sorry D.M.B. I remembered him as Roscoe Pound, and Wikipedia backed me up. But I see elsewhere his real first name was Nathan.

Back when I was in college, I wanted to call the UNL fencing club, which we were reinstituting, “Pershing’s Blades”, because General (then Lieutenant) Pershing had established the original fencing curriculum at the university.

I was overruled, though, and we were just the Cornhuskers. More’s the pity.

Some clues:

3. She isn’t Willa Cather, but she spent a lot of time with her.
5. He isn’t a Lincolnite. He is an architect who is very important to Lincoln.
6. Even if you don’t know who he is, you probably know his house.

3. Bess Streeter Aldrich? (a Nebraska author from, I think, Elmwood)
5. Bertram Grosvernor (architect of the state capitol)?
6. Thomas Kennard (the Kennard House)?  Nebraska’s secretary of state.

3. Nope.
5. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, yes.
6. Yep.

Hmmm.  Last guess.

3. Louise Pound.  As I recall she was quite an athlete and a close friend of Cather.

Ding ding ding! They were very good friends (and lovers, by several accounts). It would have been easier had a posted a photo of the two of them together in their younger days.

OK, that little quiz was probably too difficult, wasn’t it? That’s what I get for having an idea and running with it before thinking about how I could improve it. I’ll try to do better next time.

That one was pretty tough all right.  Interesting though!