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Bibliography

LIW / RWL books & articles

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Chicago Inter-Ocean / Inter-Ocean

Republican political newspaper.

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mosquito bar / netting

Woven cloth bug barrier.

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“For the Sake o’ Somebody”

1794 Robert Burns poem.

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popcorn

Heat makes it burst & it’s tasty.

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bank

financial institution

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Hide the Thimble

You’re getting warmer…

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De Smet during the Little House years

The Ingalls family moved here in 1879.

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whiffle-tree / whiffletree

Bar to attach traces to.

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Minnie Johnson

Laura’s schoolmate in De Smet

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bacon

Hog’s flesh salted or pickled and dried, usually in smoke.

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Peter Pfeiffer family

John May’s son-in-law.

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auk

Extinct sea bird used to describe dovekie found by Charles Ingalls.

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Visscher Barnes

Probate Judge, VP of Temperance Society, and first director of De Smet school board.

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“nervous as a witch”

restless

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Reverend Stewart Sheldon

American Home Missionary Society Superintendent 1874-1886.

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dumpling

Dough cooked in liquid.

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The Youth’s Companion

Weekly instructional magazine for children, first published in 1827.

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“Give us this day our daily bread”

The City, a Mc Kee plain glassware pattern.

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T

tableland – two-faced

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buffalo beans

Prairie ground plum.

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certificate

Written testimony of fact.

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willow

Tree of the genus Salix.

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Protected: James H. Clewett

De Smet teacher, January-March 1883

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“Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess”

Nursery rhyme wordplay on the name Elizabeth.

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copper-toed shoes

Metal shoe protector.

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These Happy Golden Years – historical perspective

De Smet, D.T., 1883-1885.

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cant-hook / cant-pole

Instrument used by lumbermen to move logs.

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Introspections of an Individualist

Norma Lee Browning article about Rose Wilder Lane.

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muskrat

Their houses predict winter weather.

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perforated paper embroidery

Stitched designs.

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clinched nail

Bent at a right angle.

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starch

cloth stiffener

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Mr. Hanson

Walnut Grove land trader.

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saleratus / soda

Leavening agents used in baking.

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ice cream / ice-cream

Sweetened cream, congealed by freezing.

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cannon

Military engine used for throwing balls and other instruments of death by the force of gunpowder.

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“Gaily Now Our Boat is Sailing”

Singing school exercise

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acre

4840 square yards of land.

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Dr. E. Gomer Davies

First doctor in De Smet.

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Will Knight

Walnut Grove revival singer.

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Y

“Yankee Doodle” – Youth’s Companion

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ash withe / ash-withe

A flexible, slender twig or branch used as a band for tying.

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Millbank

1871 novel by Mary Jane Holmes.

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last

Mold of a foot, used in making shoes.

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yoke

Frame worn on the neck for lifting or drawing.

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Alfred N. Waters

Attorney and land agent in De Smet.

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“Polly Wolly Doodle”

Daniel Decatur Emmett song.

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“Nellie was a Lady”

…last night she died

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“Song of the Grass”

Song from Leslie and Randall’s The Conqueror, page 16.

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I

“I am Mrs. Jinks…” – “I wouldn’t marry a farmer”

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Perley Day Wilder

Almanzo’s youngest brother.

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“De Boatmen’s Dance”

Away Down the RIver on the O-hi-o.

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“All the Blue Bonnets are Over the Border”

1829 Sir Walter Scott air.

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buffalo / bison

bison

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Lost, between sunrise and sunset…

Horace Mann quotation from his Writings, published in 1872.

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Jim River / James River

A tributary of the Missouri River.

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Ross family

Neighbors in the Perry District.

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Spin-offs and Adaptations of the Little House Books

Not by LIW, but kindred publications.

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coal / coal hod

Carbonized plant matter mined and used as fuel.

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President George Washington

First President of the U.S.A.

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“The Blue Juniata”

1841 Marion Dix Sullivan song.

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Eleck Nelson family

Neighbors of the Ingalls family when living on their preemption claim north of Walnut Grove.

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“Hail Columbia”

1789 Philip Phile march.

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crow

Large black bird of genus Corvus.

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Margaret Garland family / Cap Garland

Family living behind the Ingallses in De Smet.

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milking-stool

Three legs (the cow has the udder).

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breast-pin / brooch / bar pin

Ornament worn on clothing.

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Ida Belle Wright

Laura’s best friend in De Smet

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Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography

Laura’s handwritten manuscript.

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claim jumper / Mr. Hunter / Jack Hunt

One who ousts another from their land.

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“The Gypsy King”

Young Laura and Mary’s favorite song!

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lief

Gladly; willingly; freely.

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Dolly Varden

NIckname of Edith Ingalls, Laura’s cousin.

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xanthophyll

I bet you can spell this word.

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snowplow

Clears the tracks.

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Charles Barker

Early De Smet grocer.

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“Mary of the Wild Moor”

1845 song by Joseph W. Turner.

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mother-of-pearl

Hard, silvery, brilliant, internal layer of several kinds of shells, particularly oysters.

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Docia Ingalls / Hiram Forbes

Sister of Charles Ingalls married to railroad contractor.

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Congress

Legislative body of a country.

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catechism

Question & answer book of religious doctrine.

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Laura’s Sorosis Club speech

“My Work”

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Charles Trousdale

De Smet drayman and his performing sons.

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South Troy / Zumbro Falls during the Little House years

Ingallses lived here with Uncle Peter.

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“Rock of Ages”

1760s Augustus Toplady hymn.

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zebra

Part of Willie Oleson’s Noah’s Ark toy.

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Dr. William H. York

Bender victim

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Little Town on the Prairie – the fictional story

Homesteading and town life.

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clove apple / clove-apple

Spice-preserved fruit decoration.

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claim

The land to which one has a right.

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poor man’s fertilizer

Snow plowed into a field.

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Protected: bell

The noise-maker, not the milliner.

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black-berry / blackberry

The berry of the bramble, Rubus fruticosous.

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twisting hay

makes a hot, quick fire

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Old English letters

Variety of printing type.

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barber

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

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“Uncle Sam’s Farm”

1848 Jesse Hutchinson, Jr. song.

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Mary Amelia Ingalls

First child of Caroline and Charles Ingalls, 1865-1928; she lost her sight at age 15.

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“The Campbells are Coming”

Traditional Scottish jig.

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“Down in Alabam'” / “The Old Gray Mare”

1858 J. Warner song.

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wall-paper

Wall covering.

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“Sing a Song of Sixpence”

Mother Goose rhyme.

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U

udder – upland

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Mr. Anderson / Niels Kopperud

Hard Winter wheat settler

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mustache

Hair above the lip.

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beet

Succulent root vegetable.

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“Oft in the Stilly Night”

Song from Lalla Rookh.

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Ella & Robert Boast

Friends of the Ingalls family in De Smet.

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Thanksgiving

Public celebration of divine goodness.

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The Story of Art Smith

1915 Rose Wilder Lane serial about an aviator.

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geranium

Winter windowsill flowers.

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“Miller Boy”

“Grab!”

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“Marching Through Georgia”

Union song from American Civil War.

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gloves / mittens / mitts

fingerless hand and wrist cover

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“Here’s to the Maiden”

1780 R.B. Sheridan drinking song.

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huckleberry

Let’s have some pie!

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blueing bag

Whiter whites.

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fascinator

Pretty, light head covering.

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ostrich tips / feathers

Short bobbing feather used for hat decoration.

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Marshall, Minnesota

Almanzo Wilder farmed here in 1879-1880.

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“Paul Revere’s Ride”

Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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button lamp

Improvised grease lamp.

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Hattie Dorchester

Jake Zickrick’s skating partner.

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The Long Winter – historical perspective

The Hard Winter of 1880-1881.

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Peter Riley Ingalls family

Uncle Peter & Aunt Eliza.

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John H. Carroll

Early De Smet banker.

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Rev. Royal Gould Wilder

Almanzo’s uncle.

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Willard Seelye

De Smet teacher, 1881-1882.

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Ven Owen

Teacher and principal of the first graded school in De Smet

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“Coming Through the Rye”

Robert Burns tune.

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Thomas P. Power family

De Smet tailor.

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braid / plait

Entwined strands.

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Young Pioneers

David and Molly Beaton.

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Wilkin School

April 20 – July 10, 1885.

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parsnip

Pastinaca edulis, a white, spindle-shaped root vegetable.

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“To a Girl”

Poem used to describe Beatrice Sorchan.

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composition

The act of forming a written piece.

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Farmer Boy – the fictional story

Almanzo Wilder’s childhood in Burke NY.

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“The Lotos Eaters”

Tennyson poem.

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mummy

Put. that. back.

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herd

A number of large beasts assembled together.

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yeast / yeast cakes

Bread-leavening organism.

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basket

Woven container.

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brakeman

Person who stops the train.

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John Anderson

Walnut Grove store clerk & more

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Noah’s ark toy

Willie’s toy boat with animals.

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bison / “The Bison Track”

Bayard Taylor poem about Bos Americanus, found in Independent Fifth Reader.

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button

who’s got one?

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copyright / permissions

Please do not plagiarize.

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literature

Knowledge and fancy preserved in writing.

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Pa’s red & white checked mittens

Fair Isle pattern.

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Albert Quiner

Laura’s cousin.

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A

aboveboard – axle

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Henry Ford’s Own Story

Industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company.

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Verdigris River

River that runs through Montgomery County, Kansas.

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Charleton Fuller / Gerald Fuller

Hardware store owner, partnered with his brother Gerald.

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dovekie

Arctic aquatic bird, Alle alle.

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Mr. Edwards / Edmund Mason

Was he Edmund Mason?

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Frank Schaub

Early harness maker in De Smet.

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Protected: trundle bed

Low bed stored under higher bed.

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census taker

Statistical registration of members of a country.

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Caroline Ingalls

Mother of Laura Ingalls. She lived 1839-1924.

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biscuits

A kind of un-fermented bread, formed into flat cakes, and baked.

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railroad cut / fill

How you level a railroad grade.

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auger

hand drill

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Will Barnes

Walnut Grove laborer

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Jacob Hopp

Printer and De Smet newspaper owner.

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Old Settler’s Day

De Smet annual reunion.

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garnet

Deep orange-red gemstone.

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Pa’s “big green book”

George Hartwig’s The Polar and Tropical Worlds: A Description of Man and Nature.

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“Jingle Bells”

1857 James Pierpont song.

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isinglass

mica for stove windows

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These Happy Golden Years – the fictional story

Laura teaches and falls in love.

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cat’s cradle

Game played with string twisted on the fingers.

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Turkey red

Durable red color, dyed with madder upon calico or woolen cloth.

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Jack Frost

A popular personification of frost.

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cottage cheese

Curdled skim milk.

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icicle

Conical mass of ice, formed by water freezing as it flows downward.

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blacking / stove-blacking / boot blacking

Preparation used to make things black.

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wild prairie rose

RWL was their namesake, my dear.

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welcome!

who we are

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Osage Indian Treaty

Legal agreement between nations or sovereigns.

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justice / Justice of the Peace

Limited jurisdiction magistrate.

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Doxology

Old Hundred.

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“Sweet By and By”

Pa’s favorite hymn.

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worm / angleworm

common soil worm

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sulky / sulky plow

One-seated conveyance.

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Frank M. Cooley family

On the Way home travelers.

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whiskey

Spirits distilled from grain.

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“The Whip-Poor-Will’s Song”

1865 Harrison Millard song.

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flag

the banner

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“Uncle John”

Play song to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

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windlass

Device to move water or dirt from the bottom of a well to ground level.

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Daniel Loftus

Early drygoods store owner in De Smet.

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Silver Lake

Kingsbury County prairie pothole lake.

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“Money Musk”

Traditional American dance tune.

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“Darling Nellie Gray”

1856 Benjamin Hamby song.

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Eskimo / igloo

Tribes of arctic America and Greenland. / Snow hut.

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Peytona & Fashion

Currier & Ives print at Rocky Ridge Farm.

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