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Rocky Ridge Farm

The Wilders’ Missouri farm east of Mansfield

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Hattie Dorchester

Jake Zickrick’s skating partner.

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Laura’s Sorosis Club speech

“My Work”

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Royal Wilder

Almanzo’s older brother.

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“The Pied Piper”

Robert Browning poem.

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Roman candle

Flaming stars and balls firework.

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August Hanson

The Ingallses’ next door neighbor in De Smet.

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“Highland Mary”

1799 Robert Burns songs, favorite of Mary Ingalls.

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Laura Speaks

Al-MAN-zo, Al-MAN-zo, Al-MAN-zo

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Henry Ford’s Own Story

Industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company.

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Dr. E. Gomer Davies

First doctor in De Smet.

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claim shanty

Temporary dwelling.

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“Buffalo Gals”

1844 Virginia Minstrels song.

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Walnut Grove during the Little House years

Village in Redwood County, Minnesota

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ante-over / anti-over / anteover

Game in which a ball is thrown over a structure.

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peddler’s cart / wagon

A little store on wheels.

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sewing machine

“Such beautiful stitching!”

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birds’-nest pudding

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

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Waverly Novels

Sir Walter Scott books.

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V

vain – vote

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prairie danglers

seventhwinter whimsey’s glass slide pendants!

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pasteboard / lambrequin

Paperboard used as base for decorative edging.

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canvas

Coarse hemp or flax cloth.

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“In the Starlight”

1878 Glover & Carpenter song.

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ice-house

Stores ice blocks in warm weather.

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the Cameron gang

fiat justitia, ruat caelum…

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Protected: bell

The noise-maker, not the milliner.

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George George

1874 Minnesota traveling companion of the Ingallses

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Yankton, Dakota Territory

1879 land office town.

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dictionary

The words of a language.

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vanity cakes

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

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“The Floating Scow of Old Virginia”

1847 Charles White song.

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The Floweret

1842 book of verse by Anna Maria Wells.

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blueberry

a kind of whortleberry

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By the Shores of Silver Lake – the fictional story

The railroad comes to Dakota.

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photographs

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

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“Uncle John”

Play song to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

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shoe pegs

A small, pointed piece of wood, used in fastening.

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bull dog / bulldog

All of him rested, except his ears.

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biscuits

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

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threshing

Beating to separate.

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picket rope / pin / line

animal tether

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copper-toed shoes

Metal shoe protector.

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Protected: trundle bed

Low bed stored under higher bed.

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Have you seen the comet?

Tebbutt’s Great Comet of 1881.

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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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hardtack

Unleavened hard bread made from flour and water.

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black-berry / blackberry

The berry of the bramble, Rubus fruticosous.

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Santa Claus / Santa Clause

Ho. Ho. Ho.

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Farmer Boy – the fictional story

Almanzo Wilder’s childhood in Burke NY.

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Protected: Alice & Arthur Whiting

Cousin Alice Ingalls Whiting’s family.

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Good Templars Lodge

International temperance fraternal organization.

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stone fences

Rock wall enclosure.

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“A Motto for Every Man”

1868 Harry Clifton song.

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Pittsburgh Courier

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

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L

lace – lynx

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“Old Folks at Home”

Way down upon the Swanee River!

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O

oak – oyster

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The New York Ledger

Weekly story paper, published 1855-1898.

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Thomas C. Wilkin family

Florence Wilkin’s father.

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Ida Belle Wright

Laura’s best friend in De Smet

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World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition

Destination of the Wilder brothers in the fall of 1884.

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“Keep the Horse Shoe Over the Door”

1880 Joseph Skelley song.

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“The Tides” / The moon is at its full

1860 William Cullen Bryant poem.

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bear grease

Bear fat hair dressing.

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scour / scouring brick

To rub hard for the purpose of cleaning.

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clinched nail

Bent at a right angle.

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“Mary of the Wild Moor”

1845 song by Joseph W. Turner.

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bushel / peck

Dry quart measurements.

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links

Helps you find what you’re looking for.

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James McKee family

Homesteader north of Manchester D.T.

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George A. Williams

Superintendent of Schools, 1883.

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Big Sioux River / Sioux River

SD-IA tributary of Missouri River.

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“The Girl I Left Behind Me”

17th century Irish tune.

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hulled corn

Hominy.

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Jerome Bisby

Burr Oak singing teacher

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Henry Hinz

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

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“Am I a Soldier of the Cross”

Isaac Watts hymn.

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Malone Hotels

Where the horse-buyer spent the night.

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poke bonnet / poke-bonnet

the lining matched Laura’s eyes

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roller skates / rink

Wheeled frame for the shoe.

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“Oft in the Stilly Night”

Song from Lalla Rookh.

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Little Town on the Prairie – historical perspective

De Smet D.T. in the 1880s.

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cornmeal mush / hasty pudding

Cornmeal and water, cooked.

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“Billy Boy”

English folk song.

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dug out / dugout

Dwelling built into the earth.

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“Wait for the Wagon”

Buckley and Knauff song.

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Bloody Benders

Serial killers in 1870s Kansas.

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Henry Burvee

One of the first settlers in Kingsbury Co.

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mummy

Put. that. back.

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“The Campbells are Coming”

Traditional Scottish jig.

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Mary & Samuel Ray / Ellen & Amos Leonard

Sisters feuding over a lovely homeplace…and a man.

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drop the handkerchief / drop-the-handkerchief

Circle game.

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geranium

Winter windowsill flowers.

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spinning wheel / spinning-wheel

Turns wool into yarn.

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bangs / lunatic fringe

hair across the forehead

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windrow

Line of hay raked together.

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“Uncle Ned”

One of the earliest Stephen Foster songs.

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Carrie Ingalls

Younger sister of Laura Ingalls; she lived 1870-1946.

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cosy / cozy

snug and comfortable

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emigrant car

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

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F

Fair Grounds – furrow

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Jerome Beardsley family

De Smet hotel keeper.

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Jesse French

Butchered oxen during the Hard Winter.

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quinine

Medicine used to treat malaria, made from cinchona bark.

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Charles Barker

Early De Smet grocer.

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Albert Quiner

Laura’s cousin.

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lief

Gladly; willingly; freely.

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nutmeg

Myristica moschata, used as a spice.

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locust

Buy this book.

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Almanzo Wilder

The Man of the Place

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cat’s cradle

Game played with string twisted on the fingers.

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apprentice

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

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George Wilmarth family

Owner of early grocery store in De Smet.

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“De Boatmen’s Dance”

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

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candle / tallow

Used to furnish light.

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“Ben Bolt”

1842 Thomas Dunn English song.

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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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“Oh! Susanna”

Stephen Foster song.

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Thomas Huleatt family

Neighbors of Ingalls family in Pepin Co.

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Reverend Edwin H. Alden

Walnut Grove Congregational minister and missionary in Dakota.

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isinglass

mica for stove windows

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Protected: private post

Go away AI; you are not welcome here.

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R

rabbit – rye

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Quiner graves

Abandoned cemetery off Playhouse Road.

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awl

pokes holes

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beet

Succulent root vegetable.

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W

wage – writ of attachment

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ambition

Act of obtaining an object of desire.

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chilblain

Cold sores on hands and feet.

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William H. Steadman family

Proprietor of hotel in Burr Oak.

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“Rock Me to Sleep”

Elizabeth Allen poem.

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china shepherdess / little china woman

Ingalls family figurine.

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huckleberry

Let’s have some pie!

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Y

“Yankee Doodle” – Youth’s Companion

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“Here’s to the Maiden”

1780 R.B. Sheridan drinking song.

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John Ensign family

Quit crying, Howard.

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

Quilt block pattern.

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ash withe / ash-withe

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

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antelope

Antilocapra cervicapra of North America.

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Come Into the Garden, Maud

1855 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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Dr. Alfred Starr

His wife wanted Laura.

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Rev. Royal Gould Wilder

Almanzo’s uncle.

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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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twin lakes

Lake Henry & Lake Thompson

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“Come In and Shut the Door”

Circa 1862 song by J.P.H.

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gable

Triangular end of a building under the roof.

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“Arkansas Traveler”

Traditional American folk song.

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stockade

Enclosure of posts or sticks.

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Lizzie

the child bride

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“The Lotos Eaters”

Tennyson poem.

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Wilkin School

April 20 – July 10, 1885.

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Introspections of an Individualist

Norma Lee Browning article about Rose Wilder Lane.

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carved wooden bracket

Place for a china shepherdess.

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“Captain Jinks”

1868 comedic opera song.

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Burke / Malone during the Little House years

Almanzo Wilder birthplace.

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Thomas Quiner

Ma’s brother and Laura’s uncle

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mowing machine

Farm implement for cutting hay or grain.

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buffalo beans

Prairie ground plum.

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M

Ma – “My Sabbath Home”

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“My Old Kentucky Home”

1853 Stephen Foster song.

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Oscar Rhuel / Röhl

A romantic figure…

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leap frog / leap-frog

Run and jump game.

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bracket lamp

Affixed lighting fixture.

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The House that Jack Built

…for two pieces of money.

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auger

hand drill

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bureau

A dresser / chest of drawers.

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galluses / suspenders

Straps worn for holding up pants.

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De Smet today

Where I would like to be right now.

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poll

No horns.

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Christopher Columbus

A native of Genoa, in Italy.

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E

ear flap – expelled

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census taker

Statistical registration of members of a country.

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the children’s blizzard

January 12, 1888, blizzard.

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“I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land”

1860 Daniel Decatur Emmett song.

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“The Old Time”

Mr. Boast’s favorite song.

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“All the Blue Bonnets are Over the Border”

1829 Sir Walter Scott air.

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Lansford James Ingalls family

Pa’s brother and Laura’s uncle.

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Carrie Ingalls, Homesteader

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

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Mr. Hanson

Walnut Grove land trader.

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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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P A T

one seven seven ought

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cupola

Dome-like vault on a public building.

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“Hail Columbia”

1789 Philip Phile march.

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“Gaily Now Our Boat is Sailing”

Singing school exercise

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“For the Sake o’ Somebody”

1794 Robert Burns poem.

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I

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

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mustache

Hair above the lip.

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Nellie Oleson Meets Laura Ingalls

Heather Williams book.

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Adam / adam’s apple

The first man, the progenitor of the human race.

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zebra

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

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“Dakota Land”

1876 hymn, Beulah Land.

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Tennyson’s Poems

Christmas present for Laura

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Will Bennett

One of the younger De Smet schoolboys.

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A Tribute to the Early Day Teachers

Neva Whaley Harding tribute.

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crocheted rag rug

Crocheted floor covering made of strips of cloth.

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Marvin Hughitt

Officer and President of the Chicago & NorthWestern Railway Company.

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pork-pickle

Salt and sugar pork brine.

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snow-fort

“Holler ’nuff!”

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