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cottonwood tree

Wetland plains tree, Populus fremontii.

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badger

Don’t poke it with a stick!

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cornmeal mush / hasty pudding

Cornmeal and water, cooked.

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J

jabot – Justice of the Peace

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D

daisy – dye

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Little Town on the Prairie – the fictional story

Homesteading and town life.

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Godey’s Lady’s Book

Women’s magazine, 1830-1898.

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snowplow

Clears the tracks.

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perforated paper embroidery

Stitched designs.

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“The Treadmill Song”

Oliver Wendell Holmes poem set to music.

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Little Georgie Dwight

He could not learn his letters!

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wintergreen

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

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Freddy Ingalls

Laura’s brother (1875-1876)

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Burr Oak during the Little House years

Town in Winneshiek County, Iowa.

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Florence Bell

Milliner and dressmaker in De Smet.

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garnet

Deep orange-red gemstone.

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black bird / blackbird

Name given to various American birds.

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mercury / thermometer

Used to measure air temperature.

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Big Sioux River / Sioux River

SD-IA tributary of Missouri River.

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bastion

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

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Turkey red

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

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Lewis Sasse

De Smet druggist

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Hiram Ingalls

Pa’s brother.

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lief

Gladly; willingly; freely.

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Thomas P. Power family

De Smet tailor.

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welcome!

who we are

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name card / name-card

Pasteboard identification.

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“The Heavens Declare the Glory”

From The Conqueror, page 144.

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Will Bennett

One of the younger De Smet schoolboys.

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twisting hay

makes a hot, quick fire

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watermelon-rind preserves

sugary jelly

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writ of attachment

Legal document requiring action.

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chestnut / horse chestnut

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

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President James Madison

4th President of the U.S.

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brakeman

Person who stops the train.

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“yell like a Comanche”

Imitated Indian battle cry.

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Charles Ely

Early lumber man in De Smet.

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grippe

influenza

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Thomas Huleatt family

Neighbors of Ingalls family in Pepin Co.

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coal / coal hod

Carbonized plant matter mined and used as fuel.

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“Jingle Bells”

1857 James Pierpont song.

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“Bean Porridge Hot”

Bean porridge cold…

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Belgian horse

They’d pull a barn, if hitched to it.

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claim shanty

Temporary dwelling.

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copper-toed shoes

Metal shoe protector.

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Q

quaker meeting – quinine

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Come Into the Garden, Maud

1855 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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last

Mold of a foot, used in making shoes.

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buckwheat pancakes

Seeds of the flowering plant Eriogonum used as a grain.

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cream of tartar / baking powder

Byproduct of wine-making process, used in baking as leavening agent.

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Perry School

April 28 – June 27, 1884

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tattoo

Sounds like beating drums!

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canvas

Coarse hemp or flax cloth.

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Reverend Edwin H. Alden

Walnut Grove Congregational minister and missionary in Dakota.

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pen / pen-wiper

An instrument used for writing. / Material used to clean it after writing.

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Hamlin Garland

…and his first Christmas tree!

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George C. Bradley

Early De Smet druggist.

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Alice & Arthur Whiting

Cousin Alice Ingalls Whiting’s family.

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On the Banks of Plum Creek – historical perspective

Walnut Grove in the 1870s.

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“Yankee Doodle”

Early song brought to America from Britain.

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X

xanthophyll

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Oscar Rhuel / Röhl

A romantic figure…

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Little House on the Prairie – the fictional story

The Ingallses in Indian Territory.

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scones

“Mamabess is growing fat.”

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Young Pioneers

David and Molly Beaton.

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Pioneer Girl

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoir.

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“The Whip-Poor-Will’s Song”

1865 Harrison Millard song.

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church

Place of Christian worship.

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N

nailer – nutmeg

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the children’s blizzard

January 12, 1888, blizzard.

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Reverend Stewart Sheldon

American Home Missionary Society Superintendent 1874-1886.

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milking-stool

Three legs (the cow has the udder).

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riot / Tracy railroad strike

Tracy in June, not De Smet in September

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fever ‘n’ ague / malaria

malaria

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Stories of the Moorland

1869 book by Lizzie Bates about a young boy growing up in Scotland.

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literature

Knowledge and fancy preserved in writing.

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accordion

musical instrument

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“all’s well that ends well”

A proverb.

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Charlotte Holbrook

Laura’s “Aunt Lotty”

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“Pop! Goes the Weasel”

Traditional American song.

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bacon

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

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Thomas Quiner

Ma’s brother and Laura’s uncle

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Great American Desert

Varying area of North America, believed at times to be uninhabitable by civilized man.

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Julia & Amasa Tower

Walnut Grove church friends.

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leap frog / leap-frog

Run and jump game.

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mummy

Put. that. back.

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handkerchief

Face and hand wiping cloth.

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Dr. Robert Hoyt

Husband of Mattie Masters.

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Supposed Speech of Regulus

From Independent Fifth Reader.

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Thomas H. Ruth

President of Kingsbury County Bank in De Smet.

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building paper / tar paper

Crude building paper used for covering.

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“The Gypsy’s Warning”

1864 Henry Coard song.

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Grace Pearl Ingalls

Youngest sister of Laura Ingalls; she lived 1877-1941.

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U

udder – upland

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America / American

Pertaining to the United States of America.

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Minnie Johnson

Laura’s schoolmate in De Smet

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Marshall, Minnesota

Almanzo Wilder farmed here in 1879-1880.

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Visscher Barnes

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

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latch / latch-string

It’s always out!

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candy hearts

Mary’s had a candy poem on it!

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what-not / whatnot

An étagère for books & ornaments.

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auk

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

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starry papers

Hand-made shelf edging.

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chewing gum

Long white sticks of chewiness.

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swan

Cygnus Americanus

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ash withe / ash-withe

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

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mowing machine

Farm implement for cutting hay or grain.

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cottage cheese

Curdled skim milk.

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Charles Ingalls: The Civil War Years

Charles Ingalls: the Civil War Years

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Hide the Thimble

You’re getting warmer…

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Bibliography

LIW / RWL books & articles

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“Come In and Shut the Door”

Circa 1862 song by J.P.H.

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H. W. Cooledge

De Smet photographer.

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the Cameron gang

fiat justitia, ruat caelum…

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Samuel O. Masters / William J. Masters families

Walnut Grove, Burr Oak, and De Smet family known by the Ingallses.

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scour / scouring brick

To rub hard for the purpose of cleaning.

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bushel / peck

Dry quart measurements.

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blueberry

a kind of whortleberry

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trough

Stock-watering vessel.

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William H. Reed

Teacher in Burr Oak school, 1876-1877.

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Silver Lake

Kingsbury County prairie pothole lake.

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stockade

Enclosure of posts or sticks.

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Henry J. Stebbins

Railroad contractor who inspired a song.

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harvest moon

Full moon nearest autumnal equinox

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Jack Frost

A popular personification of frost.

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tax

A certainty, as is death.

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“Dakota Land”

1876 hymn, Beulah Land.

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emigrant car

Railroad car used to move a settler and/or a settler’s goods.

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killdeer

Small aquatic bird.

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“Paul Revere’s Ride”

Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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carved wooden bracket

Place for a china shepherdess.

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“A Motto for Every Man”

1868 Harry Clifton song.

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“Old Folks at Home”

Way down upon the Swanee River!

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I

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

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Frank Schaub

Early harness maker in De Smet.

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spring tonic

Bitter purifying medicine.

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“Irish Washerwoman”

Traditional Scottish and Irish song/dance song.

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velvet

Silk or blend fabric with short shag surface.

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Mr. Clancy / Chauncey Clayson

Drygoods store owner, Chauncey Clayson

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Laura’s Sorosis Club speech

“My Work”

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Dr. Alfred Starr

His wife wanted Laura.

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“Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess”

Nursery rhyme wordplay on the name Elizabeth.

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“When Johnny Comes Marching Home”

1863 Louis Lambert song.

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Mary Blanche Howard

Mary’s roommate in Vinton.

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Frank M. Cooley family

On the Way home travelers.

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Big Tracy Cut

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

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huckleberry

Let’s have some pie!

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dipper / ladle / skimmer

Used to remove foam when boiling maple sap.

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biscuits

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

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barber

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

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“Merry, Merry Christmas”

Hymn Number 150 in Pure Gold for Sunday Schools.

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Santa Claus / Santa Clause

Ho. Ho. Ho.

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fanning-mill

Machine for winnowing.

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Arthur Sherwood

Brother of Carter Sherwood.

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blueing bag

Whiter whites.

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John Ensign family

Quit crying, Howard.

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poultice

Applied to sores to help them heal.

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Poverty Flat

Early De Smet residential area.

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xanthophyll

I bet you can spell this word.

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“Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-Ay”

1891 Henry J. Sayers song.

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Joseph Bouchie family

Fictional Brewster family in THGY.

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Silliman Gilbert family

Kingsbury County farmer.

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Hattie Dorchester

Jake Zickrick’s skating partner.

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Horace / Homer Heath

Railroad-working brothers.

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whiffle-tree / whiffletree

Bar to attach traces to.

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Lost, between sunrise and sunset…

Horace Mann quotation from his Writings, published in 1872.

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Ella & Robert Boast

Friends of the Ingalls family in De Smet.

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turnip

Cruciferous plant grown for root and greens.

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Spin-offs and Adaptations of the Little House Books

Not by LIW, but kindred publications.

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“Sweet By and By”

Pa’s favorite hymn.

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Laura Remington

Mrs. Phillip Aubrey Lawrence

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mustache

Hair above the lip.

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worm / angleworm

common soil worm

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By the Shores of Silver Lake – the fictional story

The railroad comes to Dakota.

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sulky / sulky plow

One-seated conveyance.

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Pioneer Press

St. Paul newspaper read by Charles Ingalls in De Smet

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C

cabbage – cyclone

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“The Star of Bethlehem”

When Marshalled on the Nightly Plane

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De Smet during the Little House years

The Ingalls family moved here in 1879.

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“Give us this day our daily bread”

The City, a Mc Kee plain glassware pattern.

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Uncle Sam

Figure symbolizing the United States.

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William O’Connell

Fictional Bill O’Dowd.

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“Haste to the Wedding”

Traditional Irish fiddle tune.

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locust

Buy this book.

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bale

Specific bundle of goods packaged for transport.

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hatchet

A small ax with a short handle, to be used with one hand.

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tea

A man’s drink in cold weather.

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vanity cakes

Egg and flour batter fried in oil into golden brown puffs.

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cat’s cradle

Game played with string twisted on the fingers.

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“Money Musk”

Traditional American dance tune.

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ambition

Act of obtaining an object of desire.

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squirrel

Rodent mammal of the genus Sciurus.

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Little House on the Prairie – historical perspective

LHOP history

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Old Military Tract

Franklin Co. NY map reference

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carding-machine

Straightens fibers by combing.

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Ven Owen

Teacher and principal of the first graded school in De Smet

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William H. Steadman family

Proprietor of hotel in Burr Oak.

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Henry Burvee

One of the first settlers in Kingsbury Co.

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“nervous as a witch”

restless

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Rocky Ridge Farm

The Wilders’ Missouri farm east of Mansfield

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