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dove-in-the-window / bear’s tracks

Patchwork pattern variations.

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“The Silver Moon”

Sail on, silver moon…

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honey

Bee-made sweetness.

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Pa’s red & white checked mittens

Fair Isle pattern.

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U

udder – upland

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Protected: Manchester, Dakota Territory

Railroad town west of De Smet

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accordion

musical instrument

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hair receiver / hair-receiver

Container to save strands of hair in.

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“Ben Bolt”

1842 Thomas Dunn English song.

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amen / amen corner

Expression used at the end of prayers.

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Adam / adam’s apple

The first man, the progenitor of the human race.

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beet

Succulent root vegetable.

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George A. Williams

Superintendent of Schools, 1883.

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Mary Blanche Howard

Mary’s roommate in Vinton.

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Spookendyke

Rose’s stubborn donkey

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On the Banks of Plum Creek – the fictional story

Farming struggles in Minnesota.

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“The Ninety and Nine”

Elizabeth Clephane poem.

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grippe

influenza

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“Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess”

Nursery rhyme wordplay on the name Elizabeth.

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harvest moon

Full moon nearest autumnal equinox

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“Rock of Ages”

1760s Augustus Toplady hymn.

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The Story of Art Smith

1915 Rose Wilder Lane serial about an aviator.

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swimming hole

Watch out for ankle grabbers!

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“A Shelter in the Time of Storm”

Ira Sankey hymn.

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Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Birthday

Happy Birthday, Laura!

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“Give us this day our daily bread”

The City, a Mc Kee plain glassware pattern.

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bushel / peck

Dry quart measurements.

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The Square in Malone

Where the band played.

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“Mary of the Wild Moor”

1845 song by Joseph W. Turner.

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last

Mold of a foot, used in making shoes.

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killdeer

Small aquatic bird.

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Alfred Thomas

He was MARRIED, people!!

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Burr Oak today

Only Ingalls home in original location.

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“The Campbells are Coming”

Traditional Scottish jig.

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silver castor

Rotating condiment set.

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smoke stack / smokestack

locomotive firebox chimney

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Hamlin Garland

…and his first Christmas tree!

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blacking / stove-blacking / boot blacking

Preparation used to make things black.

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Little Town on the Prairie – historical perspective

De Smet D.T. in the 1880s.

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Silas Rood

Rude by name & nature?

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cottage cheese

Curdled skim milk.

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Rev. Royal Gould Wilder

Almanzo’s uncle.

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“I Wish I Was Single Again”

1871 J.C. Beckel song.

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cabin / log house

A small cottage; a hut or small house.

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sheep sorrel

Tastes like lemon… or springtime?

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spelling / speller

The order of letters in a word. / A book of exercises on the order of letters.

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“Keep the Horse Shoe Over the Door”

1880 Joseph Skelley song.

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Alfred N. Waters

Attorney and land agent in De Smet.

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trough

Stock-watering vessel.

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Horace Woodworth family

Family of first depot agent in De Smet.

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mosquito bar / netting

Woven cloth bug barrier.

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Jack Frost

A popular personification of frost.

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“The Evergreen Shore”

1861 William Hunter song.

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crocheted rag rug

Crocheted floor covering made of strips of cloth.

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A Modern Musketeer

In which Rose becomes a great actress.

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“De Boatmen’s Dance”

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

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tableland

Elevated flat land; a plateau.

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poll

No horns.

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zenith

The point of the heavens directly overhead.

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“What Shall the Harvest Be?”

1850 Emily Oakley poem.

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Little House in the Big Woods – the fictional story

Once upon a time, 60 years ago…

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elephant

A very large quadruped.

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“Oft in the Stilly Night”

Song from Lalla Rookh.

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lief

Gladly; willingly; freely.

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sulky / sulky plow

One-seated conveyance.

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ambition

Act of obtaining an object of desire.

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Mr. Anderson / Niels Kopperud

Hard Winter wheat settler

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Mother Goose

Fictionalized compiler of ancient nursery rhymes.

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Wilder feed store

Shhh. There’s wheat in the wall!

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I

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

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wheelwright

One who makes wheels and carriages.

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John H. Carroll

Early De Smet banker.

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Mr. and Mrs. Scott

Indian Territory neighbors of the Ingallses.

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telegraph

Don’t let Jimmie shock you with it!

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the children’s blizzard

January 12, 1888, blizzard.

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Supposed Speech of Regulus

From Independent Fifth Reader.

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David Thorp

Walnut Grove teacher 1877-78.

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bison / “The Bison Track”

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

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galumphing

To move in a clumsy, ponderous, or noisy manner.

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Mrs. Jarley’s Wax Works

Rise! Come forward!

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Missouri Pool

Smoked a pipe & grew pretty flowers.

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Frank M. Cooley family

On the Way home travelers.

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“Song of the Grass”

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

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“Great is the Lord”

Singing school song from The Conqueror.

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New England Supper

Fund-raising communal pot-luck meal.

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spider

Legged cooking vessel.

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Laura’s Sorosis Club speech

“My Work”

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cranberry

Good ones bounce!

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“Bean Porridge Hot”

Bean porridge cold…

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gable

Triangular end of a building under the roof.

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“Money Musk”

Traditional American dance tune.

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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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Indian camps

Look! Beads!

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Henry Ford’s Own Story

Industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company.

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Nellie Oleson Meets Laura Ingalls

Heather Williams book.

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“Jingle Bells”

1857 James Pierpont song.

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Timber Culture Act / tree claim

Passed by Congress, March 3, 1873.

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By the Shores of Silver Lake – historical perspective

Dakota Central comes to De Smet.

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G

gable – “Gypsy’s Warning”

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cat’s cradle

Game played with string twisted on the fingers.

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muskrat

Their houses predict winter weather.

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freeze drying

sublimation!

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links

Helps you find what you’re looking for.

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Christopher Columbus

A native of Genoa, in Italy.

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Laura’s wedding silver

Wm. Rogers’ “Crown” silverplate.

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“The Big Sunflower”

Pa’s trouble song.

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nubia

A light scarf worn about the head and neck.

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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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The New York Ledger

Weekly story paper, published 1855-1898.

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“On Jordan’s Stormy Banks”

Long Winter song

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“The Pied Piper”

Robert Browning poem.

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orthography

The art of spelling words correctly.

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“Nellie was a Lady”

…last night she died

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Syndicate Hotel

Laura & Almanzo stayed there!

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These Happy Golden Years – the fictional story

Laura teaches and falls in love.

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pieplant

Rhubarb.

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leap frog / leap-frog

Run and jump game.

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“Lend a Helping Hand”

Hymn #22, Pure Gold for Sunday School.

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Farmer Boy – the fictional story

Almanzo Wilder’s childhood in Burke NY.

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Horace / Homer Heath

Railroad-working brothers.

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Ingalls office / store in De Smet

NW and SE corners of Calumet and Second.

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Volga, Dakota Territory

Town on the Dakota Central R.R. between Brookings and Arlington, platted in 1879.

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Laura, the Prairie Girl

1975-76 animated series.

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quinine

Medicine used to treat malaria, made from cinchona bark.

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canvas

Coarse hemp or flax cloth.

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willow-ware

Blue-and-white tableware with Chinese story paintings.

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badger

Don’t poke it with a stick!

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April Fool’s Day

Sticking with salt in the sugar bowl from now on.

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Tennyson’s Poems

Christmas present for Laura

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Charles Barker

Early De Smet grocer.

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W

wage – writ of attachment

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X

xanthophyll

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Millbank

1871 novel by Mary Jane Holmes.

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Missouri Ruralist

The Missouri Ruralist. A twice-monthly Missouri farm periodical...

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Joseph Bouchie family

Fictional Brewster family in THGY.

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Thomas C. Wilkin family

Florence Wilkin’s father.

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dickcissel / dickie-bird

A semi-nomadic finch, Spiza americana.

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Governor of Orleans / The American Remount Association

Registered stallion leased to Almanzo Wilder 1923-1925.

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xanthophyll

I bet you can spell this word.

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twine

A strong twisted thread.

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ticket

All aboard!

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nickel

The metal. Or five-cent piece.

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George Whiting Ingalls

Bugle-blowing, jigging uncle.

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candy hearts

Mary’s had a candy poem on it!

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“Nobody Ask’d You”

“Where are you going, my pretty maid?”

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William H. Steadman family

Proprietor of hotel in Burr Oak.

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Chariton County, Missouri

Location of land purchased in 1868 by Charles Ingalls, Henry Quiner, and Tom Quiner.

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Little House Songs

Prairie Song Companion

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Little House on the Prairie – historical perspective

LHOP history

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churn

Cream agitator.

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Wilkin School

April 20 – July 10, 1885.

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lone cottonwood / lone tree

The big one between the lakes.

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sewing machine

“Such beautiful stitching!”

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“My Jenny Jerusha Jane”

1868 A.G. Chase song.

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blueing bag

Whiter whites.

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Hill-Billy

1926 Rose Wilder Lane book.

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Pure Gold for the Sunday School

Hymnal owned by the Ingalls family.

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whiffle-tree / whiffletree

Bar to attach traces to.

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button lamp

Improvised grease lamp.

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mustache

Hair above the lip.

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Army bugle

Brass military horn.

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bobolink

On Mary Power’s name card.

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pork-pickle

Salt and sugar pork brine.

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ice-house

Stores ice blocks in warm weather.

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South Troy / Zumbro Falls today

Little town along the Zumbro River.

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“Home of the Soul”

1865 E.M.H. Gates hymn.

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Willard Seelye

De Smet teacher, 1881-1882.

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literature

Knowledge and fancy preserved in writing.

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“Wait for the Wagon”

Buckley and Knauff song.

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V

vain – vote

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Lansford James Ingalls family

Pa’s brother and Laura’s uncle.

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stockade

Enclosure of posts or sticks.

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Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography

Laura’s handwritten manuscript.

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icicle

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

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Reverend Stewart Sheldon

American Home Missionary Society Superintendent 1874-1886.

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pullaway

Outdoor tagging game.

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custard / ice-cream

Sweetened milk and eggs, cooked.

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lime / whitewash

Oxide of calcium mixed with water and used for whitening.

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hoity-toity snip

Thoughtless, giddy, haughty, flighty, gay, and noisy.

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chestnut / horse chestnut

A large nut, the fruit of a species of Æsculus.

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Home Missionary Society

Group organized to raise money to start churches and Sunday schools in the west where there were none.

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bastion

A part of a main enclosure which projects toward the exterior.

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windlass

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

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T

tableland – two-faced

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“The Rock of Ages”

Painting at Rev. Brown’s.

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Dr. E. Gomer Davies

First doctor in De Smet.

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biscuits

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

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black bird / blackbird

Name given to various American birds.

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missionary barrel

Collection of items distributed to the needy.

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spinning wheel / spinning-wheel

Turns wool into yarn.

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checkers

Game played on a board of 64 squares.

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M

Ma – “My Sabbath Home”

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Little Town on the Prairie – the fictional story

Homesteading and town life.

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coal / coal hod

Carbonized plant matter mined and used as fuel.

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“Here’s to the Maiden”

1780 R.B. Sheridan drinking song.

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land office

Where sales of public lands are registered.

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stanchion

Support frame.

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Thomas H. Ruth

President of Kingsbury County Bank in De Smet.

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whip

A lash tied to a handle.

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“Barbary Allen”

Old Scotch tune.

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