Read more

barber

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

Read more

Read more

bison / “The Bison Track”

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

Read more

Read more

Frank M. Cooley family

On the Way home travelers.

Read more

Read more

I

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

Read more

Read more

Stories of the Moorland

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

Read more

Read more

Laura Remington

Mrs. Phillip Aubrey Lawrence

Read more

Read more

Pittsburgh Courier

Widely-circulated black newspaper, which Rose Wilder Lane wrote a column for in the 1940s.

Read more

Read more

President James Madison

4th President of the U.S.

Read more

Read more

ground-cherry

Variety of husk tomato.

Read more

Read more

Amos Whiting family

Superintendent of Schools, De Smet.

Read more

Read more

Indian camps

Look! Beads!

Read more

Read more

turnip

Cruciferous plant grown for root and greens.

Read more

Read more

mantel-shelf

Shelf above a fireplace.

Read more

Read more

twine

A strong twisted thread.

Read more

Read more

“The Girl I Left Behind Me”

17th century Irish tune.

Read more

Read more

Hamlin Garland

…and his first Christmas tree!

Read more

Read more

Little House in the Big Woods – the fictional story

Once upon a time, 60 years ago…

Read more

Read more

Big Tracy Cut

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

Read more

Read more

catechism

Question & answer book of religious doctrine.

Read more

Read more

emigrant car

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

Read more

Read more

fever ‘n’ ague / malaria

malaria

Read more

Read more

Lost, between sunrise and sunset…

Horace Mann quotation from his Writings, published in 1872.

Read more

Read more

William H. Steadman family

Proprietor of hotel in Burr Oak.

Read more

Read more

ice cream / ice-cream

Sweetened cream, congealed by freezing.

Read more

Read more

P A T

one seven seven ought

Read more

Read more

A Modern Musketeer

In which Rose becomes a great actress.

Read more

Read more

windrow

Line of hay raked together.

Read more

Read more

“Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-Ay”

1891 Henry J. Sayers song.

Read more

Read more

Roman candle

Flaming stars and balls firework.

Read more

Read more

Missouri Pool

Smoked a pipe & grew pretty flowers.

Read more

Read more

“Three Blind Mice”

Popular nursery song, sung in rounds.

Read more

Read more

braid / plait

Entwined strands.

Read more

Read more

The Long Winter – historical perspective

The Hard Winter of 1880-1881.

Read more

Read more

Silliman Gilbert family

Kingsbury County farmer.

Read more

Read more

gopher

Four don’t go fur…

Read more

Read more

“Keep the Horse Shoe Over the Door”

1880 Joseph Skelley song.

Read more

Read more

Old English letters

Variety of printing type.

Read more

Read more

Charles & Martha Harrison / Patterson

Charles and Elizabeth May Rundle.

Read more

Read more

pokeberry

For rosy doll cheeks.

Read more

Read more

“Hail Columbia”

1789 Philip Phile march.

Read more

Read more

photographs

There’s a little birdie in the camera, Rose.

Read more

Read more

crow

Large black bird of genus Corvus.

Read more

Read more

lief

Gladly; willingly; freely.

Read more

Read more

Almanzo Wilder

The Man of the Place

Read more

Read more

“The Ninety and Nine”

Elizabeth Clephane poem.

Read more

Read more

Osage Indian Treaty

Legal agreement between nations or sovereigns.

Read more

Read more

“The Treadmill Song”

Oliver Wendell Holmes poem set to music.

Read more

Read more

wall-paper

Wall covering.

Read more

Read more

George Wilmarth family

Owner of early grocery store in De Smet.

Read more

Read more

“The Battle-Cry of Freedom”

We’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!

Read more

Read more

Eskimo / igloo

Tribes of arctic America and Greenland. / Snow hut.

Read more

Read more

Joseph Bouchie family

Fictional Brewster family in THGY.

Read more

Read more

Little House Songs

Prairie Song Companion

Read more

Read more

K

Kansas – knothole

Read more

Read more

crocheted rag rug

Crocheted floor covering made of strips of cloth.

Read more

Read more

orthography

The art of spelling words correctly.

Read more

Read more

Blanche Coday

Rose’s friend.

Read more

Read more

post office / post-office

Where you send and receive mail.

Read more

Read more

Hattie Dorchester

Jake Zickrick’s skating partner.

Read more

Read more

Ella & Robert Boast

Friends of the Ingalls family in De Smet.

Read more

Read more

tomahawk

War hatchet used by American Indians.

Read more

Read more

Thomas Huleatt family

Neighbors of Ingalls family in Pepin Co.

Read more

Read more

“Uncle Ned”

One of the earliest Stephen Foster songs.

Read more

Read more

milk pan / milk-pan / milkpan

Where cream rises.

Read more

Read more

How well do you know the Little House books?

a quiz for you!

Read more

Read more

H. W. Cooledge

De Smet photographer.

Read more

Read more

Millbank

1871 novel by Mary Jane Holmes.

Read more

Read more

nubia

A light scarf worn about the head and neck.

Read more

Read more

watermelon-rind preserves

sugary jelly

Read more

Read more

ice-house

Stores ice blocks in warm weather.

Read more

Read more

Charles Barker

Early De Smet grocer.

Read more

Read more

Farmer Boy – the fictional story

Almanzo Wilder’s childhood in Burke NY.

Read more

Read more

bank

financial institution

Read more

Read more

mercury / thermometer

Used to measure air temperature.

Read more

Read more

Jim River / James River

A tributary of the Missouri River.

Read more

Read more

Laura, the Prairie Girl

1975-76 animated series.

Read more

Read more

pumpkin

The plant and fruit of Curcubita pepo

Read more

Read more

muskrat

Their houses predict winter weather.

Read more

Read more

“Bean Porridge Hot”

Bean porridge cold…

Read more

Read more

scones

“Mamabess is growing fat.”

Read more

Read more

“Polly Wolly Doodle”

Daniel Decatur Emmett song.

Read more

Read more

willow-ware

Blue-and-white tableware with Chinese story paintings.

Read more

Read more

New England Supper

Fund-raising communal pot-luck meal.

Read more

Read more

“The Campbells are Coming”

Traditional Scottish jig.

Read more

Read more

“Mountain of the Lord”

Hymn #52, Pure Gold for the Sunday School

Read more

Read more

“A Motto for Every Man”

1868 Harry Clifton song.

Read more

Read more

ambition

Act of obtaining an object of desire.

Read more

Read more

Wilkin School

April 20 – July 10, 1885.

Read more

Read more

Wilder feed store

Shhh. There’s wheat in the wall!

Read more

Read more

sulky / sulky plow

One-seated conveyance.

Read more

Read more

John Armstrong

Kingsbury Co. courthouse caretaker

Read more

Read more

“My Sabbath Home”

Hymn #7, Pure Gold for the Sunday School.

Read more

Read more

galluses / suspenders

Straps worn for holding up pants.

Read more

Read more

“De Boatmen’s Dance”

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

Read more

Read more

Bloody Benders

Serial killers in 1870s Kansas.

Read more

Read more

hatchet

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

Read more

Read more

“Nobody Ask’d You”

“Where are you going, my pretty maid?”

Read more

Read more

latch / latch-string

It’s always out!

Read more

Read more

Laura’s wedding silver

Wm. Rogers’ “Crown” silverplate.

Read more

Read more

Marshall, Minnesota

Almanzo Wilder farmed here in 1879-1880.

Read more

Read more

surveyor

One who measures land and delineates the same on paper.

Read more

Read more

T

tableland – two-faced

Read more

Read more

satchel

Small, soft-sided handled luggage.

Read more

Read more

buck / buckskin

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

Read more

Read more

twilight

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

Read more

Read more

tattoo

Sounds like beating drums!

Read more

Read more

swimming hole

Watch out for ankle grabbers!

Read more

Read more

drop the handkerchief / drop-the-handkerchief

Circle game.

Read more

Read more

Syndicate Hotel

Laura & Almanzo stayed there!

Read more

Read more

cupola

Dome-like vault on a public building.

Read more

Read more

“nervous as a witch”

restless

Read more

Read more

Y

“Yankee Doodle” – Youth’s Companion

Read more

Read more

World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition

Destination of the Wilder brothers in the fall of 1884.

Read more

Read more

“The Silver Moon”

Sail on, silver moon…

Read more

Read more

Henry Hinz

Owner of first saloon in De Smet and boarder at the Ingallses’.

Read more

Read more

Bibliography

LIW / RWL books & articles

Read more

Read more

Malone Hotels

Where the horse-buyer spent the night.

Read more

Read more

Have you seen the comet?

Tebbutt’s Great Comet of 1881.

Read more

Read more

surveyors’ house

railroad section house occupied by the Ingallses in 1879-1880

Read more

Read more

Martha Perry / Mrs. White

Laura helped her sew shirts.

Read more

Read more

copper

Cu

Read more

Read more

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

1793 Robert Burns poem.

Read more

Read more

“For the Sake o’ Somebody”

1794 Robert Burns poem.

Read more

Read more

“Nellie was a Lady”

…last night she died

Read more

Read more

depot / station

Railway station.

Read more

Read more

Florence Bell

Milliner and dressmaker in De Smet.

Read more

Read more

Christopher Columbus

A native of Genoa, in Italy.

Read more

Read more

George George

1874 Minnesota traveling companion of the Ingallses

Read more

Read more

winnow

Drive off chaff by wind.

Read more

Read more

buttonhook

Curved metal tool for fastening shoes.

Read more

Read more

Hotel keeper’s family struck by lightning

E.P. LeSuer of Canby, Minnesota.

Read more

Read more

Turkey red

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

Read more

Read more

honey

Bee-made sweetness.

Read more

Read more

Charles H. Tinkham

Early undertaker and owner of the first furniture store in De Smet.

Read more

Read more

“Give us this day our daily bread”

The City, a Mc Kee plain glassware pattern.

Read more

Read more

“The Old Time”

Mr. Boast’s favorite song.

Read more

Read more

bale

Specific bundle of goods packaged for transport.

Read more

Read more

“Yankee Doodle”

Early song brought to America from Britain.

Read more

Read more

De Smet Cemetery

Ma & Pa’s final resting place.

Read more

Read more

“Great is the Lord”

Singing school song from The Conqueror.

Read more

Read more

“Money Musk”

Traditional American dance tune.

Read more

Read more

Braille / New York Point

Used by Mary Ingalls.

Read more

Read more

water alcove

Railroad car water for drinking.

Read more

Read more

literary society

Instructional and entertaining gathering.

Read more

Read more

fascinator

Pretty, light head covering.

Read more

Read more

Henry O. Quiner family

Ma’s brother, married to Pa’s sister Polly.

Read more

Read more

harvest moon

Full moon nearest autumnal equinox

Read more

Read more

Noah’s ark toy

Willie’s toy boat with animals.

Read more

Read more

dove-in-the-window / bear’s tracks

Patchwork pattern variations.

Read more

Read more

Spookendyke

Rose’s stubborn donkey

Read more

Read more

“Gaily Now Our Boat is Sailing”

Singing school exercise

Read more

Read more

sundogs

Bright spots on either side of the sun.

Read more

Read more

“Old Grimes”

1822 Albert Gorton Greene poem.

Read more

Read more

“All the Blue Bonnets are Over the Border”

1829 Sir Walter Scott air.

Read more

Read more

Henry Burvee

One of the first settlers in Kingsbury Co.

Read more

Read more

South Troy / Zumbro Falls today

Little town along the Zumbro River.

Read more

Read more

“Sweet By and By”

Pa’s favorite hymn.

Read more

Read more

Quaker meeting

Parlor game in which players try to remain silent.

Read more

Read more

gosh!

that wicked word

Read more

Read more

“Buffalo Gals”

1844 Virginia Minstrels song.

Read more

Read more

Brownsville, Texas 1906

Did Eliza Jane sell fruit to these soldiers?

Read more

Read more

yoke

Frame worn on the neck for lifting or drawing.

Read more

Read more

“Beware!”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.

Read more

Read more

Dolly Varden

NIckname of Edith Ingalls, Laura’s cousin.

Read more

Read more

buffalo / bison

bison

Read more

Read more

“Uncle John”

Play song to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

Read more

Read more

D

daisy – dye

Read more

Read more

building paper / tar paper

Crude building paper used for covering.

Read more

Read more

De Smet today

Where I would like to be right now.

Read more

Read more

James Glover family

Students in the Wilkin School.

Read more

Read more

spinning wheel / spinning-wheel

Turns wool into yarn.

Read more

Read more

President George Washington

First President of the U.S.A.

Read more

Read more

wintergreen

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

Read more

Read more

Jerome Bisby

Burr Oak singing teacher

Read more

Read more

land office

Where sales of public lands are registered.

Read more

Read more

“America”

1832 Reverend Samuel F. Smith song.

Read more

Read more

coal / coal hod

Carbonized plant matter mined and used as fuel.

Read more

Read more

Julia & Amasa Tower

Walnut Grove church friends.

Read more

Read more

wheelwright

One who makes wheels and carriages.

Read more

Read more

elephant

A very large quadruped.

Read more

Read more

equinoctial storm

Severe wind and heavy rain that occurs at or near the time of an equinox.

Read more

Read more

rubber

Used for waterproofing.

Read more

Read more

gaiters

Cloth ankle covering.

Read more

Read more

mowing machine

Farm implement for cutting hay or grain.

Read more

Read more

cornice

Molded roof or window projection.

Read more

Read more

mosquito bar / netting

Woven cloth bug barrier.

Read more

Read more

poor man’s fertilizer

Snow plowed into a field.

Read more

Read more

welcome!

who we are

Read more

Read more

axle grease

Lubricant for wagon wheels and other machinery.

Read more

Read more

George A. Williams

Superintendent of Schools, 1883.

Read more

Read more

butter

Edible fatty substance made by churning cream.

Read more

Read more

wonderful house / frame house

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

Read more

Read more

Silas Rood

Rude by name & nature?

Read more

Read more

buckwheat pancakes

Seeds of the flowering plant Eriogonum used as a grain.

Read more

Read more

pieplant

Rhubarb.

Read more

Read more

“Mary of the Wild Moor”

1845 song by Joseph W. Turner.

Read more

Read more

Lansford James Ingalls family

Pa’s brother and Laura’s uncle.

Read more

Read more

Supposed Speech of Regulus

From Independent Fifth Reader.

Read more

Read more

Eliza Jane Wilder

Almanzo’s sister.

Read more

Read more

awl

pokes holes

Read more