Royal Wilder
Eldest son of James and Angeline Wilder, and brother of Almanzo, Eliza Jane, Laura, Alice, and Perley Wilder.
“well, well, keep your shirt on, Manzo,” said Royal. “I am considerable older than you be and maybe I do know best.” -The Long Winter, Chapter 17, “Seed Wheat”
Royal Gould Wilder was born February 20, 1847 near Burke (Franklin County) New York, the second of six children of James Mason Wilder and Angeline Albina Day. Royal had sisters Laura (born 1844), Eliza Jane (born 1850) and Alice (born 1853), and younger brothers Almanzo (born 1857) and Perley (born 1869). Royal was named for his uncle, the Rev. Royal Gould Wilder, an evangelist and missionary who spent many years in India.
Royal was educated at the local Burke township school and at Franklin Academy in Malone, New York. In Farmer Boy, Royal Wilder is said to want to leave the farm and become a storekeeper (see Chapter 23, “Cobbler”), but at age 21, he was still living at home and working on his father’s farm. As recorded in Dorothy Smith’s The Wilder Family Story (1972), James Wilder was already considering moving to Fillmore County, Minnesota, where several of his relatives had relocated and done well. In 1871, Royal’s parents and some of his siblings left New York for Spring Valley, leaving Royal behind to run the farm, his father advising him in a letter that he felt Royal could do well on the farm, but if he’d rather go into business, he could rent the farm out to someone else. In 1874, Royal followed his family to Spring Valley (Fillmore County) Minnesota, and the New York farm was sold in April 1875. Royal purchased a 1-1/2 acre parcel of land in Spring Valley near his parents in August 1877; he lived and worked in Spring Valley until the summer of 1879, when he and Almanzo and Eliza Jane traveled to Yankton, Dakota Territory, to file on land claims.
Dakota Territory Homesteader and Merchant. August 21, 1879, Royal filed on a homestead (SE 21-111N-56W) and tree claim (SE 5-111N-56W)near the future townsite of De Smet in Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory. Royal’s homestead was only a half mile from both the townsite and the railroad, a most desirable location. When the town was platted, Royal purchased a lot on the west side of Calumet Avenue, Lot 17, Block 1, original town of De Set; here, he opened a feed store as described in The Long Winter. Royal purchased an additional business lot in Block 6; he also purchased a residential lot on Third Street, which he sold to Caroline Ingalls in May 1888. Like many homesteaders, Royal sometimes lived in and worked from his town building during the months he was not required to reside on his homestead (see The Long Winter, Chapter 10, “Three Days’ Blizzard”). Royal made final proof on his homestead in 1884 and on his tree claim in 1889.
Royal Wilder’s building on Calumet, photographed circa 1885.
Even though his homestead and tree claim were proved up on, Royal was soon behind in paying taxes on both his land and town properties, and he needed cash. In the summer of 1889, Royal stocked his De Smet building with notions and opened “Wilder’s Variety Store.” His store was mentioned in local newspapers extensively for about a year: Go to R.G. Wilders for notions cheap. An endless variety of goods. (June 15) / Royal Wilder has a neat stack of notions in his building. (June 22) / R.G. Wilder has a complete stock of notions for sale at prices which astonish the natives. Give him a call. (July 6) / Young pigs for sale. Apply at once. R.J. [sic] Wilder; To Trade. I have a horse to trade for a platform spring wagon. R.J. [sic] Wilder; The best bargains in Dakota at R.J. [sic] Wilder’s. (August 17) / Notions cheap. Endless assortment at R.G. Wilder’s. (August 24) / Gent’s gloves at Wilder’s variety store; 1,200 acres of land in Dakota and Minnesota, for cash or trade. Inquire at Wilder’s Variety Store. (September 28). Royal also sold his property in Spring Valley from De Smet in December 1889.
Royal ran the store through the winter of 1889-1890, and after a spring visit to Spring Valley, he left De Smet for an extended trip back east that fall. He wrote to Carter Sherwood that he was visiting scenes of his boyhood in New York, as well as visiting New Jersey, Virginia, Boston, Washington, and Philadelphia. He made another trip to Spring Valley in the fall of 1891, and in December, he opened “Wilder’s Variety Store” in Spring Valley. The December 17, 1891 Spring Valley Mercury reported: “Wilder’s Variety store was opened this week in the building lately vacated by Viall’s shoe store on the corner. They have a large variety of Christmas goods and novelties, as well as a complete stock of every day goods. Remember the place and give us a call.”
Royal left Charles Ingalls in charge of the De Smet store after opening the one in Spring Valley. The De Smet Leader dated December 18, 1891, reported: Ingalls & Co. — C.P. Ingalls & Co. are successors to the store and business of R.G. Wilder. Mr. Ingalls has sorted up the stock, which was pretty well run down, and will be glad to have would-be-purchasers call and see him before buying. Royal Wilder married Electa Hutchinson in Spring Valley on March 16, 1893. Electa Maria Averill was born in 1857 Eden, Wisconsin, to George and Eliza Averill. In 1880, Electa married Sherburn Hutchinson in Eden. The couple had four children: Ethel (1882), Clyde (1883), and twins Ray and May (1889). In the 1880s, the Hutchinsons settled in Spring Valley, and Sherburn died there in July 1891.
A daughter, Angeline Bernice Wilder, was born to Royal and Electa on September 4, 1894. Another daughter was stillborn (1897); a third daughter, Susan, was born in August 1898 and lived for about five months. Royal returned to De Smet in 1896 and reopened a variety store in his old building for a while, and he often sold his wares across the county from a peddler’s cart, but in 1900, Royal had moved back to Spring Valley for good.
Royal Wilder died August 21, 1925, at the age of 78; he is buried in Spring Valley. The following year, Electa Wilder died in Los Angeles County, California, where she is buried. Bernice Wilder was married twice, to Arlow Laging in 1917 (they were divorced in 1923) and to George Granger in 1929. Bernice died in 1957.
What happened to Royal’s store building on Calumet Avenue? From 1886 tp 1900, Royal rented out his store building between stints of conducting business there himself; at various times, it housed a general store, harness shop, barber shop, butcher shop and meat market, none of them run by Royal Wilder. When Royal left De Smet for good in 1900, he still owned his original store building and lot, but it began to fall into disrepair and often stood empty. In the November 17, 1905 issue of the Kingsbury County Independent, it was noted that “the old Wilder building on Calumet avenue stands with door open and window glass out. Whoever has charge of the building should see to it that all openings are boarded up and the building made secure against entrance by tramps or children. A vacant building standing open always collects a lot of rubbish and becomes a fire trap as well as unsanitary. This building is old and dilapidated, not fit for occupancy, and, as a matter of fact, it would be no loss to the owner or to the town if it was condemned and torn down.”
Four years later, Royal’s building was still standing in ruin. He still owned the lot and building, but Royal had simply walked away from his obligations in De Smet in 1900. In April 1909, the De Smet City Council ordered that the building be torn down or repaired, as it was a fire trap. The April 16, 1909 De Smet News reported that “The old Wilder building on the west side of main street is not only unsightly, but it is a fire trap. The city council has ordered that it be either removed or repaired.” The lot and building was sold at auction in June; it was purchased by George Burd, the father-in-law of Little House character Frank Harthorn. The lot and building was almost immediately sold by Burd to Thomas Mears (1849-1937), who had recently sold the old John Peirson livery barn on Calumet and was retiring from farming his place north of Bancroft in northwest Kingsbury County. Mears had the building torn down in July 1909, and he built a two-story cement block building in its place, in which he ran an automobile sales floor, garage, and repair shop. The Mears building appears in many photos of the west side of Calumet and it’s often mistaken for Royal Wilder’s store building, but it’s not.
Roy / Royal Wilder (FB 1-8, 10-11, 13-23, 26, 29; SSL 28; TLW 7, 9-11, 17, 20, 23, 25, 29; LTP 6, 8; THGY 24-26; PG)
Royal and Almanzo go home to Minnesota for Christmas (THGY 24)
plowing “poor man’s fertilizer” on his father’s farm (FB 22)
storekeeper (FB 23, 29; TLW 17)
Wilder boys / brothers (SSL 28; TLW 2, 8, 10, 19, 22, 26, 28, 31; LTP 11; THGY 16; PG)
Wilder feed store (TLW 9-10; LTP 6)