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Mr. Anderson / Niels Kopperud

Hard Winter wheat settler

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John D. Peirson

Early De Smet liveryman.

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Charles Mead

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

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“Gentle Words and Loving Smiles”

Hymn 139 in Pure Gold for the Sunday School.

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cream of tartar / baking powder

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

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Quaker meeting

Parlor game in which players try to remain silent.

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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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Mr. and Mrs. Scott

Indian Territory neighbors of the Ingallses.

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Charles Lamson

Almanzo’s cousin.

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Young Pioneers

David and Molly Beaton.

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On the Banks of Plum Creek – historical perspective

Walnut Grove in the 1870s.

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oranges

Citrus fruit.

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“The Old Time”

Mr. Boast’s favorite song.

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Carrie Ingalls, Homesteader

W-NW & W-SW 9-4N-20E of Black Hills Meridian

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bear grease

Bear fat hair dressing.

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“Oh Boys, Carry Me Along”

Stephen Foster song.

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Willard Seelye

De Smet teacher, 1881-1882.

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pieplant

Rhubarb.

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The House that Jack Built

…for two pieces of money.

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birds’-nest pudding

Dessert made of apples baked in syrup and served with cream.

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Indian camps

Look! Beads!

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barrel

Round vessel or cask made of wooden staves.

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“Don’t Leave the Farm, Boys”

Song from The Conqueror.

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President George Washington

First President of the U.S.A.

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spoon holder / spoon-holder / spoonholder

Any vessel used to hold and display spoons.

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Congress

Legislative body of a country.

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“Jerusalem the Golden”

Hymn from Pure Gold for the Sunday School.

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John H. Carroll

Early De Smet banker.

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mummy

Put. that. back.

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powder horn / powder-horn

Animal horn in which gunpowder is carried.

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“Home of the Soul”

1865 E.M.H. Gates hymn.

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last

Mold of a foot, used in making shoes.

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huckleberry

Let’s have some pie!

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“all’s well that ends well”

A proverb.

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The Athenians

Hartville, Mo. study club.

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apple pie / dried apple pie

Just like Ma used to make.

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“Here’s to the Maiden”

1780 R.B. Sheridan drinking song.

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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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“Buffalo Gals”

1844 Virginia Minstrels song.

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“Darling Nellie Gray”

1856 Benjamin Hamby song.

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snowplow

Clears the tracks.

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William O’Connell

Fictional Bill O’Dowd.

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Thomas H. Ruth

President of Kingsbury County Bank in De Smet.

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Hiram Ingalls

Pa’s brother.

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“Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess”

Nursery rhyme wordplay on the name Elizabeth.

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bake oven / bake-oven

Coals on top and below.

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“The Girl I Left Behind Me”

17th century Irish tune.

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batten / lath

Thin, narrow board for fastening or joining.

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Peytona & Fashion

Currier & Ives print at Rocky Ridge Farm.

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Amos Whiting family

Superintendent of Schools, De Smet.

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De Smet Cemetery

Ma & Pa’s final resting place.

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President James Madison

4th President of the U.S.

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cameo

Aunt Docia’s pretty collar pin.

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mowing machine

Farm implement for cutting hay or grain.

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Belgian horse

A heavy draft horse originally from the Brabant region of...

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“For the Sake o’ Somebody”

1794 Robert Burns poem.

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picket rope / pin / line

n. A stake sharpened or pointed, used in fortification and...

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elevator

Warehouse for seed and grain.

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America / American

Pertaining to the United States of America.

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“What Shall the Harvest Be?”

1850 Emily Oakley poem.

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Adam / adam’s apple

The first man, the progenitor of the human race.

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Henry Hinz

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

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harvest moon

Full moon nearest autumnal equinox

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ice cream social

Laura and Almanzo didn’t enjoy it.

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Missouri Pool

Smoked a pipe & grew pretty flowers.

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De Smet bird’s-eye view

1883 Henry Wellge drawing of De Smet

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Hattie Dorchester

Jake Zickrick’s skating partner.

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Santa Claus / Santa Clause

Ho. Ho. Ho.

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pasteboard / lambrequin

Paperboard used as base for decorative edging.

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“The Battle-Cry of Freedom”

We’ll Rally Round the Flag, Boys!

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“The Good Old Way”

Hymn 18, Pure Gold for the Sunday School.

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tax

A certainty, as is death.

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copper

Cu

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“My Old Kentucky Home”

1853 Stephen Foster song.

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Hide the Thimble

You’re getting warmer…

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Mary & Samuel Ray / Ellen & Amos Leonard

Sisters feuding over a lovely homeplace…and a man.

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“The Evergreen Shore”

1861 William Hunter song.

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Little House in the Big Woods – historical perspective

Pepin Twp., Pepin Co. Wisconsin

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Supposed Speech of Regulus

From Independent Fifth Reader.

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“The Swan’s Nest”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem.

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“There is a Happy Land”

Whoop! How those eggs do smell!

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“The Mulligan Guard” / “The Skidmore Guard”

Harrigan & Hart minstrel show.

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snow-fort

“Holler ’nuff!”

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hoity-toity snip

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

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“Wait for the Wagon”

Buckley and Knauff song.

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Western Reserve

Land in Ohio, given to Connecticut upon agreement to give up claim to lands in Pennsylvania.

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“Three Blind Mice”

Popular nursery song, sung in rounds.

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isinglass

mica for stove windows

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New Ulm, Minnesota

Town in Brown Co., MN.

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Johnny Johnson

“Wake up and watch the cattle!”

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ground-cherry

Variety of husk tomato.

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“The Ninety and Nine”

Elizabeth Clephane poem.

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“Jesus Holds My Hand”

Hymn #85, Pure Gold for the Sunday Schools

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George Whiting Ingalls

Bugle-blowing, jigging uncle.

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William H. Steadman family

Proprietor of hotel in Burr Oak.

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gopher

Four don’t go fur…

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Timothy Johnson family

De Smet Wagon Shop.

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“A Motto for Every Man”

1868 Harry Clifton song.

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“Uncle John”

Play song to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

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yeast / yeast cakes

Bread-leavening organism.

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“Give us this day our daily bread”

“The City, a Mc Kee plain glassware pattern.

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“The Campbells are Coming”

Traditional Scottish jig.

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quinine

Medicine used to treat malaria, made from cinchona bark.

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quarter section / quarter-section

One-fourth of a square mile, consisting of 160 acres.

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

1793 Robert Burns poem.

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Yankton, Dakota Territory

1879 land office town.

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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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“Pop! Goes the Weasel”

Traditional American song.

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basket

Woven container.

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writ of attachment

Legal document requiring action.

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Frank Schaub

Early harness maker in De Smet.

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“The Big Sunflower”

Pa’s trouble song.

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“The May Queen”

Poem in three parts by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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Silliman Gilbert family

Kingsbury County farmer.

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The Youth’s Companion

Weekly instructional magazine for children, first published in 1827.

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tea

A man’s drink in cold weather.

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Charles H. Tinkham

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

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surveyors’ house

railroad section house occupied by the Ingallses in 1879-1880

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ambition

Act of obtaining an object of desire.

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wild prairie rose

RWL was their namesake, my dear.

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photographs

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

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Blanche Coday

Rose’s friend.

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black bird / blackbird

Name given to various American birds.

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flag

the banner

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spinning wheel / spinning-wheel

Turns wool into yarn.

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jumping jack / jumping-jack

Jointed acrobat toy.

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Rev. Royal Gould Wilder

Almanzo’s uncle.

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Ella & Robert Boast

Friends of the Ingalls family in De Smet.

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“nervous as a witch”

restless

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“The New Year’s Come”

1842 “Why chime the bells so merrily?”

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“All the Blue Bonnets are Over the Border”

1829 Sir Walter Scott air.

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gaiters

Cloth ankle covering.

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Thomas Quiner

Ma’s brother and Laura’s uncle

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churn

Cream agitator.

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“Rock Me to Sleep”

Elizabeth Allen poem.

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hogshead

100-140 gallon cask.

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depot / station

Railway station.

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stockade

Enclosure of posts or sticks.

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bale

Specific bundle of goods packaged for transport.

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fichu

Light pointed cape worn by ladies, usually made of lace.

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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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Dr. Alfred Starr

His wife wanted Laura.

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mud hen / mudhen

American coot.

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“Keep the Horse Shoe Over the Door”

1880 Joseph Skelley song.

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Charles Trousdale

De Smet drayman and his performing sons.

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George A. Williams

Superintendent of Schools, 1883.

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Laura’s Sorosis Club speech

“My Work”

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Noah’s ark toy

Willie’s toy boat with animals.

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Lizzie

the child bride

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bison / “The Bison Track”

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

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udder

Where the milk is before milking.

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Mr. Edwards / Edmund Mason

Was he Edmund Mason?

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“I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land”

1860 Daniel Decatur Emmett song.

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Henry O. Quiner family

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

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fever ‘n’ ague / malaria

malaria

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“The Gum-Tree Canoe”

1847 Steele & Winnemore song.

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“Paddle Your Own Canoe”

1850s Harry Clifton song.

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St. Lawrence River

A streak of silver on the horizon.

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fanning-mill

Machine for winnowing.

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Governor of Orleans / The American Remount Association

Registered stallion leased to Almanzo Wilder 1923-1925.

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silver castor

Rotating condiment set.

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wintergreen

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

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“In the Starlight”

1878 Glover & Carpenter song.

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poultice

Applied to sores to help them heal.

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Have you seen the comet?

Tebbutt’s Great Comet of 1881.

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consumption

A wasting disease, pulmonary tuberculosis.

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“Jingle Bells”

1857 James Pierpont song.

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Nellie Oleson Meets Laura Ingalls

Heather Williams book.

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scour / scouring brick

To rub hard for the purpose of cleaning.

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Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Birthday

Happy Birthday, Laura!

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zebra

Part of Willie Oleson’s Noah’s Ark toy.

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“Coming Through the Rye”

Robert Burns tune.

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Little Georgie Dwight

He could not learn his letters!

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Will Bennett

One of the younger De Smet schoolboys.

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bracket lamp

Affixed lighting fixture.

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“The Star-Spangled Banner”

Our National Anthem; words by Francis Scott Key.

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“Irish Washerwoman”

Traditional Scottish and Irish song/dance song.

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cornice

Roof overhang.

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Ingalls office / store in De Smet

NW and SE corners of Calumet and Second.

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buttonhook

Curved metal tool for fastening shoes.

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bacon

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

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dumpling

Dough cooked in liquid.

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Reverend Edward Brown

Minister of the First Congregational Church of De Smet, 1880-1884.

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“The Silver Moon”

Sail on, silver moon…

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“Am I a Soldier of the Cross”

Isaac Watts hymn.

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Roman candle

Flaming stars and balls firework.

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equinoctial storm

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

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“Come In and Shut the Door”

Circa 1862 song by J.P.H.

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Frogs at School

“Twenty froggies went to school…”

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nubia

A light scarf worn about the head and neck.

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Uncle Sam

Figure symbolizing the United States.

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sheep sorrel

Tastes like lemon… or springtime?

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“The Lotos Eaters”

Tennyson poem.

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By the Shores of Silver Lake – the fictional story

The railroad comes to Dakota.

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“Bonny Doon”

1792 Robert Burns song.

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Kingsbury County, D.T.

County in eastern South Dakota, organized in 1879.

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“Nobody Ask’d You”

In the frosty mornings and the chilly evenings when they went...

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twisting hay

Pioneer method by which dried grass is formed into compact...

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dovekie

Arctic aquatic bird, Alle alle.

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literature

Knowledge and fancy preserved in writing.

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