Silliman N. Gilbert Family
Some people named Gilbert lived on a farm north
and east of town. There were Pa and Ma Gilbert, Al
and Fred and Stella and Leona Gilbert.
-Pioneer Girl
Silliman Nathaniel Gilbert was born in 1833 in New Haven,
Connecticut. Silliman and his wife Emily had eight children:
Lafayette (1859), David Allison (born April
1862), Estella M. (1864), Fred W. (1867), Charles (1871), Elizabeth (1874),
Ada (1876), and Luella (1881). The Gilbert
family lived in Wabasha County,
Minnesota, before settling near De Smet, Dakota
Territory. They were wealthy and quite
prominent in Lake City, owning thousands of
dollars in real estate. The area where they
lived was known as "Gilbert Valley" long after
the family left Minnesota.
On October 20, 1879, Silliman Gilbert filed on a
homestead northeast of the townsite of De Smet,
the NW 23-111-56. That same day, he filed on a
tree claim six miles southwest of De Smet in
Manchester Township, the SE 15-110-57. On May 10,
1880, son Lafayette filed on a homestead just
south of Lake Preston, the SE 6-110-54.
In her handwritten Pioneer Girl memoir,
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that the Gilberts lived
north and east of town and had arrived during the
spring after the Hard Winter. Laura became acquainted
with Stella at Sunday School and visited the
family at their homestead. When a dancing club was
started in town, Fred Gilbert asked Laura to go
with him, but she refused, thinking that she
didn't want to spend quite so much time with Fred.
Later, though, Laura confessed that she had been
quite smitten with Fred, who was exactly her age.
Fred Gilbert died young; he and his wife are buried in the De
Smet Cemetery near the Ingallses.
Silliman Gilbert became a prosperous fruit farmer
in Washington, with all of
his children except Al settling nearby. Silliman
Gilbert died in 1921 at age 88; Emily Gilbert died
in 1929.
David Allison Gilbert
Gilbert, the mail carrier, is leaving here for Preston in the morning. He's making a sled now. - The Long Winter, Chapter 16, "Fair Weather"
Oral history records that David Allison (called
"Al") Gilbert was the mail boy of the Hard Winter
of 1880-1881, walking to Lake Preston and back
with the mail. Laura Ingalls Wilder mentioned
"Gilbert" as the mail boy in The Long
Winter (see Chapter 18, "Merry
Christmas").
May 22, 1883, David Gilbert filed on a preemption
claim in Manchester Township, southwest of De Smet.
In September and October of the same year, he
filed on an adjoining homestead and tree claim in
the Bouchie school district. He built a shanty
close to the home of Joseph Bouchie. In his final
homestead papers, Gilbert wrote that the only time
he was away from his claim was during the winter
of 1883-1884, which was when Laura Ingalls taught
in the Bouchie District. David Gilbert's claim
shanty was used for the schoolhouse that term.
David Gilbert married Sarah Lyngbye,
whose family came from Denmark in the 1870s and
homesteaded near David's preemption claim. They had
three children: Hazel (born 1897), Ana (born
1890), and Guy (born 1892). Many items belonging
to the Gilbert family are on display in the
Surveyors' House in De Smet, South Dakota, part of
the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society. David
Gilbert is buried in the De Smet Cemetery. To read David Gilbert's obituary, click HERE.
Estella M. Gilbert
"There will be Mary Power and Ida Brown, perhaps Stella Gilbert, though I think I'll combing Gennie Masters and Stella in Nellie Oleson." - Laura Ingalls Wilder, letter to Rose Wilder Lane, August 17, 1938
Estella M. Gilbert (Stella) was born in May 1864
in Lake City (Wabasha County) Minnesota. She was
sixteen when she came to Kingsbury County with her
parents and siblings.
Laura Ingalls Wilder used memories of Stella
Gilbert as part of the fictional composite "Nellie
Oleson" character in the published "Little House"®
books. Because Nellie Owen never lived in De Smet,
and because Wilder didn't want to introduce
multiple characters with similar traits, Genevieve
Masters and Stella Gilbert provided the
inspiration for the Nellie Oleson character in the
De Smet "Little House"® books. In Pioneer
Girl, Wilder included both the Masters and
Gilbert families. Although in These Happy
Golden Years, Wilder wrote that Nellie's
family had lost everything and was quite poor
while living near De Smet, this was not the case
with the Gilbert family.
Wilder wrote that Stella was trying to "edge her out" of Almanzo's attentions and she wanted no part of it. On one afternoon ride, Laura chose the path of the buggy, maneuvering it so that Almanzo dropped Stella off before taking Laura home. She then informed Almanzo that if he wanted Stella, to take her buggy riding. The next week, only Almanzo showed up, and Stella was never included again. A similar story appears in These Happy Golden Years (see Chapter 20, "Nellie Oleson").
Stella Gilbert married John Drury in De Smet and they had one son, Fred, born in 1894. Stella and John's marriage was all too brief; John died young and is buried in the De Smet cemetery near Stella's brother, Fred. In 1903, all of the Gilbert family except Al moved to Yakima County, Washington. Here, Stella married Alva Merrill; the couple had no children. Stella died in Washington in 1944.
Gilbert family
