Mari Sandoz

American novelist and biographer Mari Sandoz was born in Sheridan County, NE, in 1901, the eldest of six children of Swiss immigrants (she once noted that she grew up speaking German and hearing French, Polish and Czech, due to the number of Europeans who settled the Nebraska frontier; she didn't learn to speak English until she started school, at nine years of age). After graduating she took the exams to become a rural teacher, and taught school for five years. Afterwards she attended the University of Nebraska for 3-1/2 years but did not graduate. She began writing at an early age and had several stories published in the "Omaha Daily News".

It was eventually accepted (after 13 more rejections) and published in 1935. It won the "Atlantic" Magazine prize for non-fiction.

In 1937 she was offered a position at the Nebraska Historical Society as assistant editor of their publication, "Nebraska History". She had written a biography of her father, "Old Jules", which had been rejected by many publishers. Frustrated, she decided to give up writing. After she got the position at the historical society, however, she decided to give it another try. She re-submitted the manuscript to several publishers.

She continued to write, and her most famous book would be "Cheyenne Autumn", which came out in 1951; it was made into a very popular film, Cheyenne Autumn (1964), directed by 'John Ford (I)'.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1998.