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“Buy a Broom”

O Du Leiber Augustin.

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The House that Jack Built

…for two pieces of money.

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Almanzo Wilder

The Man of the Place

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quinine

Medicine used to treat malaria, made from cinchona bark.

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ice-house

Stores ice blocks in warm weather.

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forfeits

Game in which items are deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine.

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The Long Winter – historical perspective

The Hard Winter of 1880-1881.

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“The Silver Moon”

Sail on, silver moon…

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bear grease

Bear fat hair dressing.

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“My Jenny Jerusha Jane”

1868 A.G. Chase song.

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John Armstrong

Kingsbury Co. courthouse caretaker

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Supposed Speech of Regulus

From Independent Fifth Reader.

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“Beware!”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.

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Doxology

Old Hundred.

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Mrs. Jarley’s Wax Works

Rise! Come forward!

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awl

pokes holes

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bushel / peck

Dry quart measurements.

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batten / lath

Thin, narrow board for fastening or joining.

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Little Town on the Prairie – historical perspective

De Smet D.T. in the 1880s.

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muskrat

Their houses predict winter weather.

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candy hearts

Mary’s had a candy poem on it!

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Eskimo / igloo

Tribes of arctic America and Greenland. / Snow hut.

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flag, the flower

An aquatic flower, Iris versicolor.

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“Dakota Land”

1876 hymn, Beulah Land.

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Protected: James H. Clewett

De Smet teacher, January-March 1883

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“The Polish Boy”

Poem by Ann S. Stephens

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O

oak – oyster

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Bloody Benders

Serial killers in 1870s Kansas.

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Bibliography

LIW / RWL books & articles

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B

bachelor – “by the pale, silver light…”

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“Billy Boy”

English folk song.

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Will Knight

Walnut Grove revival singer.

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Peytona & Fashion

Currier & Ives print at Rocky Ridge Farm.

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George A. Williams

Superintendent of Schools, 1883.

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“The Evergreen Shore”

1861 William Hunter song.

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Kingsbury County, D.T.

County in eastern South Dakota, organized in 1879.

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sulky / sulky plow

One-seated conveyance.

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“Home of the Soul”

1865 E.M.H. Gates hymn.

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tableland

Elevated flat land; a plateau.

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cosy / cozy

snug and comfortable

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By the Shores of Silver Lake – historical perspective

Dakota Central comes to De Smet.

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accordion

musical instrument

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candle / tallow

Used to furnish light.

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“Paddle Your Own Canoe”

1850s Harry Clifton song.

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“Kitty Wells”

1858 Sloan & Atherton song.

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“Lilly Dale” / “Lily Dale”

1852 song by H.S. Thomson.

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Good Templars Lodge

International temperance fraternal organization.

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welcome!

who we are

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Charles H. Tinkham

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

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winnow

Drive off chaff by wind.

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Alice Maria Wilder

Older sister and playmate of Almanzo Wilder. She lived 1853-1892.

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clear, pure green sky

Sunlight separated into colored bands at sunset.

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Edelbert Harthorn family / Frank Harthorn & Mabel Burd

Father and son owners of early drygoods store in De Smet.

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Mother Goose

Fictionalized compiler of ancient nursery rhymes.

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elevator

Warehouse for seed and grain.

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Carrie Ingalls

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

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“There is a Happy Land”

Whoop! How those eggs do smell!

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beet

Succulent root vegetable.

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“Ben Bolt”

1842 Thomas Dunn English song.

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worm / angleworm

common soil worm

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Tennyson’s Poems

Christmas present for Laura

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Yankton, Dakota Territory

1879 land office town.

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De Smet bird’s-eye view

1883 Henry Wellge drawing of De Smet

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T

tableland – two-faced

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barrel

Round vessel or cask made of wooden staves.

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honey

Bee-made sweetness.

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auk

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

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sundogs

Bright spots on either side of the sun.

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freeze drying

sublimation!

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Waverly Novels

Sir Walter Scott books.

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hoity-toity snip

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

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Charles Ingalls: The Civil War Years

Charles Ingalls: the Civil War Years

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cant-hook / cant-pole

Instrument used by lumbermen to move logs.

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twilight

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

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Florence Bell

Milliner and dressmaker in De Smet.

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whip

A lash tied to a handle.

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hair receiver / hair-receiver

Container to save strands of hair in.

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George Wilmarth family

Owner of early grocery store in De Smet.

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turntable

Revolving railroad platform.

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door knob

Grab to open a door.

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Silas Rood

Rude by name & nature?

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Ernest & Minnie Green

This is not Mary & Edwin Sanford!

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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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“De Boatmen’s Dance”

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

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land office

Where sales of public lands are registered.

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trough

Stock-watering vessel.

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K

Kansas – knothole

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“Tubal Cain”

Charles McKay poem.

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Santa Claus / Santa Clause

Ho. Ho. Ho.

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“all’s well that ends well”

A proverb.

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Laura & Almanzo Wilder house in De Smet

Home of Almanzo, Laura, & Rose 1892-1894

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alley / alleyway

Narrow passageway, distinct from public street.

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mother-of-pearl

Hard, silvery, brilliant, internal layer of several kinds of shells, particularly oysters.

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Uncle Sam

Figure symbolizing the United States.

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roller skates / rink

Wheeled frame for the shoe.

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Declaration of Independence

Document renouncing U.S. subjection to Great Britain.

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swimming hole

Watch out for ankle grabbers!

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“The Rock of Ages”

Painting at Rev. Brown’s.

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copyright / permissions

Please do not plagiarize.

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cradle scythe

Blade and handle used to cut oats.

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Congress

Legislative body of a country.

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le cadeau du cheval

mosaic painting featuring Almanzo’s Morgan horses

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Brownsville, Texas 1906

Did Eliza Jane sell fruit to these soldiers?

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poultice

Applied to sores to help them heal.

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Robbins children

“froze stark stiff”

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pen / pen-wiper

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

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stanchion

Support frame.

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bake oven / bake-oven

Coals on top and below.

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“The Good Old Way”

Hymn 18, Pure Gold for the Sunday School.

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Henry Hinz

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

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“The Floating Scow of Old Virginia”

1847 Charles White song.

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Freddy Ingalls

Laura’s brother (1875-1876)

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catechism

Question & answer book of religious doctrine.

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Mary Power & Edwin Sanford

Laura’s friend and the new clerk at Ruth’s bank.

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“The Heavens Declare the Glory”

From The Conqueror, page 144.

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Peter Riley Ingalls family

Uncle Peter & Aunt Eliza.

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railroad cut / fill

How you level a railroad grade.

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chestnut / horse chestnut

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

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“When I Can Read My Title Clear”

1700s Isaac Watts hymn.

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C

cabbage – cyclone

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Old Settler’s Day

De Smet annual reunion.

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quarter section / quarter-section

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

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“My Old Kentucky Home”

1853 Stephen Foster song.

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button

who’s got one?

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apple pie / dried apple pie

Just like Ma used to make.

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herd

A number of large beasts assembled together.

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cottonwood tree

Wetland plains tree, Populus fremontii.

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links

Helps you find what you’re looking for.

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Commentators on the Ac’s

Pa’s charade pun.

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“What Shall the Harvest Be?”

1850 Emily Oakley poem.

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“yell like a Comanche”

Imitated Indian battle cry.

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Morocco leather

Fine goat leather.

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breast-pin / brooch / bar pin

Ornament worn on clothing.

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Pure Gold for the Sunday School

Hymnal owned by the Ingalls family.

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John Ensign family

Quit crying, Howard.

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“In the Starlight”

1878 Glover & Carpenter 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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Lansford James Ingalls family

Pa’s brother and Laura’s uncle.

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Eleck Nelson family

Neighbors of the Ingalls family when living on their preemption claim north of Walnut Grove.

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Horace / Homer Heath

Railroad-working brothers.

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Volga, Dakota Territory

Town on the Dakota Central R.R. between Brookings and Arlington, platted in 1879.

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Lost, between sunrise and sunset…

Horace Mann quotation from his Writings, published in 1872.

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dragon-fly / dragonfly

Mosquito hunter.

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blacking / stove-blacking / boot blacking

Preparation used to make things black.

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cottage cheese

Curdled skim milk.

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cameo

Aunt Docia’s pretty collar pin.

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N

nailer – nutmeg

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dumpling

Dough cooked in liquid.

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railroad camp / Silver Lake camp

Temporary dwellings for workers during surveying or construction.

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fanning-mill

Machine for winnowing.

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Spat them Out

Clapping (and kissing) game.

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building paper / tar paper

Crude building paper used for covering.

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Alfred Thomas

He was MARRIED, people!!

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willow-ware

Blue-and-white tableware with Chinese story paintings.

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mummy

Put. that. back.

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“Great is the Lord”

Singing school song from The Conqueror.

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bastion

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

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tiger lily

Native spotted flower of tallgrass prairie.

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elephant

A very large quadruped.

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turnip

Cruciferous plant grown for root and greens.

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Charleton Fuller / Gerald Fuller

Hardware store owner, partnered with his brother Gerald.

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“Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-Ay”

1891 Henry J. Sayers song.

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Malone Hotels

Where the horse-buyer spent the night.

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The Youth’s Companion

Weekly instructional magazine for children, first published in 1827.

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cannon

Military engine used for throwing balls and other instruments of death by the force of gunpowder.

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“Jesus Holds My Hand”

Hymn #85, Pure Gold for the Sunday Schools

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S

Sabbath – sycamore

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chewing gum

Long white sticks of chewiness.

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buckwheat pancakes

Seeds of the flowering plant Eriogonum used as a grain.

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killdeer

Small aquatic bird.

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patent / title

official property ownership document

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“Money Musk”

Traditional American dance tune.

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X

xanthophyll

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“By Lo, Baby Bunting”

Mother Goose rhyme.

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Kitty

the Ingallses’ cat in Dakota Territory

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“The Gypsy’s Warning”

1864 Henry Coard song.

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Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography

Laura’s handwritten manuscript.

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“Darling Nellie Gray”

1856 Benjamin Hamby song.

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“The Burial of Sir John Moore”

1817 poem by Charles Wolfe.

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The Floweret

1842 book of verse by Anna Maria Wells.

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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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Thomas C. Wilkin family

Florence Wilkin’s father.

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claim shanty

Temporary dwelling.

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Adam / adam’s apple

The first man, the progenitor of the human race.

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china shepherdess / little china woman

Ingalls family figurine.

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Willard Seelye

De Smet teacher, 1881-1882.

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roller towel

Long towel with ends sewn together, hung on a rod.

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Ross family

Neighbors in the Perry District.

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water alcove

Railroad car water for drinking.

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jumping jack / jumping-jack

Jointed acrobat toy.

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Laura’s Bible references

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s hand-written list of Bible verses to be read in times of trouble or stress.

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bison / “The Bison Track”

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

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Little Georgie Dwight

He could not learn his letters!

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“Highland Mary”

1799 Robert Burns songs, favorite of Mary Ingalls.

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checkers

Game played on a board of 64 squares.

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Jerome Beardsley family

De Smet hotel keeper.

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album

Blank booklet for collecting autographs or photos.

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mosquito bar / netting

Woven cloth bug barrier.

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“nervous as a witch”

restless

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The Advance

Weekly family newspaper of the Congregational church.

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