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The Floweret

1842 book of verse by Anna Maria Wells.

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cabin / log house

A small cottage; a hut or small house.

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Mr. Clancy / Chauncey Clayson

Drygoods store owner, Chauncey Clayson

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hogshead

100-140 gallon cask.

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Jim River / James River

A tributary of the Missouri River.

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“My Sabbath Home”

Hymn #7, Pure Gold for the Sunday School.

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“Golden Years are Passing By”

1879 Will Thompson song.

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swimming hole

Watch out for ankle grabbers!

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gosh!

that wicked word

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bastion

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

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Quaker meeting

Parlor game in which players try to remain silent.

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“To a Girl”

Poem used to describe Beatrice Sorchan.

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Blanche Coday

Rose’s friend.

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twilight

Light when the sun is 0-18 degrees below the horizon.

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Peytona & Fashion

Currier & Ives print at Rocky Ridge Farm.

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Farmer Boy – historical perspective

1860s Burke / Malone NY.

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W

wage – writ of attachment

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“Hail Columbia”

1789 Philip Phile march.

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Silver Lake

Kingsbury County prairie pothole lake.

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welcome!

who we are

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lief

Gladly; willingly; freely.

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basque

Jacket-like part of a lady’s dress.

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Old Settler’s Day

De Smet annual reunion.

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beet

Succulent root vegetable.

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Mother Goose

Fictionalized compiler of ancient nursery rhymes.

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Timothy Johnson family

De Smet Wagon Shop.

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saleratus / soda

Leavening agents used in baking.

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Charles & Martha Harrison / Patterson

Charles and Elizabeth May Rundle.

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“The Silver Moon”

Sail on, silver moon…

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slate

Stone used as tablet for writing upon.

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Braille / New York Point

Used by Mary Ingalls.

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Young Pioneers

David and Molly Beaton.

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“Jesus Holds My Hand”

Hymn #85, Pure Gold for the Sunday Schools

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spring tonic

Bitter purifying medicine.

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whalebone

Baleen used in corsets.

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orthography

The art of spelling words correctly.

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hair receiver / hair-receiver

Container to save strands of hair in.

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Wilder feed store

Shhh. There’s wheat in the wall!

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depot / station

Railway station.

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Alice & Arthur Whiting

Cousin Alice Ingalls Whiting’s family.

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twisting hay

makes a hot, quick fire

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catechism

Question & answer book of religious doctrine.

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buffalo beans

Prairie ground plum.

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Robbins children

“froze stark stiff”

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“Camptown Races”

1850 Stephen Foster song.

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mowing machine

Farm implement for cutting hay or grain.

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Missouri Pool

Smoked a pipe & grew pretty flowers.

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birds in their little nests agree

Miss Wilder knew nothing about birds.

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Little Town on the Prairie – the fictional story

Homesteading and town life.

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apron

Garment protector.

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coal / coal hod

Carbonized plant matter mined and used as fuel.

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checkers

Game played on a board of 64 squares.

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President George Washington

First President of the U.S.A.

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copper-toed shoes

Metal shoe protector.

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“Uncle John”

Play song to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

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“Coming Through the Rye”

Robert Burns tune.

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satchel

Small, soft-sided handled luggage.

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Millbank

1871 novel by Mary Jane Holmes.

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Charles Trousdale

De Smet drayman and his performing sons.

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zenith

The point of the heavens directly overhead.

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“Old Folks at Home”

Way down upon the Swanee River!

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Mr. and Mrs. Scott

Indian Territory neighbors of the Ingallses.

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Bibliography

LIW / RWL books & articles

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china shepherdess / little china woman

Ingalls family figurine.

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Women’s Christian Temperance Union

W.C.T.U.

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Ida Belle Wright

Laura’s best friend in De Smet

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stanchion

Support frame.

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primer

Used to teach someone to read.

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Rev. Royal Gould Wilder

Almanzo’s uncle.

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wristlets

Knitted bands worn around the wrists for warmth.

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morning-glory

Climbing plant of the genus Ipomœa.

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lime / whitewash

Oxide of calcium mixed with water and used for whitening.

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locust

Buy this book.

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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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surveyors’ house

railroad section house occupied by the Ingallses in 1879-1880

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Horace / Homer Heath

Railroad-working brothers.

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birthday

As near as I can figure, E.J. was right.

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“Home, Sweet Home”

1823 Payne & Bishop song.

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Alfred N. Waters

Attorney and land agent in De Smet.

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Pure Gold for the Sunday School

Hymnal owned by the Ingalls family.

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chewing gum

Long white sticks of chewiness.

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“The Treadmill Song”

Oliver Wendell Holmes poem set to music.

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The House that Jack Built

…for two pieces of money.

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Reverend Edwin H. Alden

Walnut Grove Congregational minister and missionary in Dakota.

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Jerome Beardsley family

De Smet hotel keeper.

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mummy

Put. that. back.

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“Buffalo Gals”

1844 Virginia Minstrels song.

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“The Sleighing Glee”

Singing school song.

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Come Into the Garden, Maud

1855 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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tiger

Noah’s ark toy piece.

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Adam / adam’s apple

The first man, the progenitor of the human race.

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turnip

Cruciferous plant grown for root and greens.

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turntable

Revolving railroad platform.

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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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mustache

Hair above the lip.

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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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S

Sabbath – sycamore

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bank

financial institution

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“Irish Washerwoman”

Traditional Scottish and Irish song/dance song.

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herd

A number of large beasts assembled together.

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cat’s cradle

Game played with string twisted on the fingers.

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silver castor

Rotating condiment set.

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Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad

1793 Robert Burns poem.

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apprentice

One who is legally bound to another to learn a trade or art.

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James Glover family

Students in the Wilkin School.

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roller skates / rink

Wheeled frame for the shoe.

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“A Shelter in the Time of Storm”

Ira Sankey hymn.

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“De Boatmen’s Dance”

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

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“The Campbells are Coming”

Traditional Scottish jig.

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Little Georgie Dwight

He could not learn his letters!

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fever ‘n’ ague / malaria

malaria

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clove apple / clove-apple

Spice-preserved fruit decoration.

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Charles Ely

Early lumber man in De Smet.

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barber

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

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links

Helps you find what you’re looking for.

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Mr. Edwards / Edmund Mason

Was he Edmund Mason?

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buck / buckskin

Male of the fallow deer, and leather made from its skin.

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The New York Ledger

Weekly story paper, published 1855-1898.

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bison / “The Bison Track”

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

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“A Life on the Ocean Wave”

1847 Epes Sargent poem put to music.

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New England States

ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, & CT.

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U

udder – upland

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wintergreen

Aromatic, creeping evergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, having bright red berries.

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Henry Burvee

One of the first settlers in Kingsbury Co.

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milk pan / milk-pan / milkpan

Where cream rises.

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scones

“Mamabess is growing fat.”

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Marshall, Minnesota

Almanzo Wilder farmed here in 1879-1880.

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Lizzie

the child bride

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poke bonnet / poke-bonnet

the lining matched Laura’s eyes

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Will Knight

Walnut Grove revival singer.

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cant-hook / cant-pole

Instrument used by lumbermen to move logs.

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Thomas C. Wilkin family

Florence Wilkin’s father.

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Poverty Flat

Early De Smet residential area.

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pieplant

Rhubarb.

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cottonwood tree

Wetland plains tree, Populus fremontii.

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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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“Lilly Dale” / “Lily Dale”

1852 song by H.S. Thomson.

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Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Birthday

Happy Birthday, Laura!

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“When I Can Read My Title Clear”

1700s Isaac Watts hymn.

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clear, pure green sky

Sunlight separated into colored bands at sunset.

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ambition

Act of obtaining an object of desire.

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freeze drying

sublimation!

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greenhorn / greeny

Immature, raw, awkward.

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Uncle Sam

Figure symbolizing the United States.

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Peter Riley Ingalls family

Uncle Peter & Aunt Eliza.

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“Paul Revere’s Ride”

Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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mud hen / mudhen

American coot.

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Little House in the Big Woods – historical perspective

Pepin Twp., Pepin Co. Wisconsin

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“Pop! Goes the Weasel”

Traditional American song.

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“Dakota Land”

1876 hymn, Beulah Land.

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“Give us this day our daily bread”

The City, a Mc Kee plain glassware pattern.

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nine-patch / Laura’s double nine-patch Irish chain quilt

Quilt block pattern.

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Mary Power & Edwin Sanford

Laura’s friend and the new clerk at Ruth’s bank.

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handcar

Don’t be left behind!

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post office / post-office

Where you send and receive mail.

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“The High Tide”

Jean Ingelow poem.

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xanthophyll

I bet you can spell this word.

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“Oh Boys, Carry Me Along”

Stephen Foster song.

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George A. Williams

Superintendent of Schools, 1883.

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Big Tracy Cut

“100 feet deep & tapering off for 1/4 mile”

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“America”

1832 Reverend Samuel F. Smith song.

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watermelon-rind preserves

sugary jelly

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Pioneer Press

St. Paul newspaper read by Charles Ingalls in De Smet

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Little House on the Prairie – historical perspective

LHOP history

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“By Lo, Baby Bunting”

Mother Goose rhyme.

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Charles Mead

Proprietor of the Exchange Hotel in De Smet, 1880-1882.

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Baby Boy Wilder

Son of Laura and Almanzo Wilder

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spoon holder / spoon-holder / spoonholder

Any vessel used to hold and display spoons.

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powder horn / powder-horn

Animal horn in which gunpowder is carried.

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tea

A man’s drink in cold weather.

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Commentators on the Ac’s

Pa’s charade pun.

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poultice

Applied to sores to help them heal.

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composition

The act of forming a written piece.

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Daniel Loftus

Early drygoods store owner in De Smet.

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swan

Cygnus Americanus

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lantern

A light meant to be carried.

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“Lend a Helping Hand”

Hymn #22, Pure Gold for Sunday School.

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Ross family

Neighbors in the Perry District.

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St. Lawrence River

A streak of silver on the horizon.

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buffalo / bison

bison

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H

hack – hypocrite

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flag, the flower

An aquatic flower, Iris versicolor.

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“Keep the Horse Shoe Over the Door”

1880 Joseph Skelley song.

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“The Ninety and Nine”

Elizabeth Clephane poem.

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The Advance

Weekly family newspaper of the Congregational church.

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wonderful house / frame house

Wooden house built on Charles Ingalls’ Plum Creek preemption claim.

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The Story of Art Smith

1915 Rose Wilder Lane serial about an aviator.

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L

lace – lynx

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leap frog / leap-frog

Run and jump game.

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tomahawk

War hatchet used by American Indians.

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butter tester

Instrument used to remove core sample from a vat of butter, for the sake of testing.

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milking-stool

Three legs (the cow has the udder).

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“When Johnny Comes Marching Home”

1863 Louis Lambert song.

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land office

Where sales of public lands are registered.

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garnet

Deep orange-red gemstone.

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Freddy Ingalls

Laura’s brother (1875-1876)

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chestnut / horse chestnut

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

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“On Jordan’s Stormy Banks”

Long Winter song

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“Arkansas Traveler”

Traditional American folk song.

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copyright / permissions

Please do not plagiarize.

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