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Almanzo Wilder
Almanzo James Wilder (February 13, 1859 – October 23, 1949) was an American farmer as well as the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the father of Rose Wilder Lane, both noted authors.
Wilder was born on his family's homestead in rural Burke, New York, a few miles from the town of Malone. Most sources give Wilder's birth date as February 13, 1857. However, federal and New York state census records support a birth year of 1859; Wilder may have given his birth year as 1857 when claiming land in the Dakota Territory in 1879 under the Homestead Act, which required claimants to be at least 21 years of age.
Wilder was the fifth of six children born to farmers James Mason (1813–1899) and Angelina Albina (née Day) Wilder (1821–1905). His siblings included Laura Ann (1844–1899), Royal Gould (1847–1925), Eliza Jane (1850–1930), Alice Maria (1853–1892), and Perley Day Wilder (1869–1934). As part of her Little House series of semi-autobiographical novels, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote a book titled Farmer Boy about Wilder's childhood in upstate New York; he would subsequently become a recurring character in the later Little House books in which his wife wrote about their courtship and subsequent marriage, in The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years, respectively. He also appears briefly in chapter 28 ('Moving Day') of By the Shores of Silver Lake. Almanzo is characterized as a quietly courageous, hardworking man who loves horses and farming, and is also described as an accomplished carpenter and woodworker.
Farmer Boy recounts events of Wilder's childhood, starting when he was weeks shy of his ninth birthday in 1868. Among other things, he begins attending school when not needed at home for farm work, learns to train and drive a team of oxen, attends a county fair, and enjoys a mid-19th century Fourth of July celebration in the town of Malone. Almanzo also learns to deal with being bossed around by his older siblings, particularly his strong-willed sister Eliza Jane, who would later become a schoolteacher of his future wife.
Farmer Boy was the second book published in the Little House series. Hitting bookstore shelves in 1933, it was followed by Little House on the Prairie in 1935. The original order of publication was changed by publisher Harper with the subsequent release of the illustrated 1953 and 1971 editions.
The Wilder family left Burke in 1870 due to crop failures. Moving west, they settled in Spring Valley, Minnesota, where they established a farm. In 1879, Wilder, his older brother Royal, and older sister Eliza Jane moved to the Dakota Territory, taking claims near what would later become the town of De Smet, South Dakota. Wilder settled on his homestead with the intent of planting acres of seed wheat which he had cultivated the previous summer on rented shares in Marshall, Minnesota. It was in De Smet that he first met Laura Ingalls. The Ingalls family had been one of the first settlers in the area, before the town was formally organized. They moved to the Dakota Territory from Walnut Grove, Minnesota, when Charles Ingalls took a temporary job with the railroad.
Wilder is portrayed as a hero in his wife's book The Long Winter. Along with Ed "Cap" Garland, Wilder risked his life to save the citizens of De Smet from starvation during the long, hard winter of 1880–81. In between storms of a winter of unusually frequent and severe blizzards, which prevented trains from bringing food and supplies to the town, they went 12 miles (19 km) into the open prairie in search of wheat that a farmer was said to have harvested somewhere to the southwest of De Smet. The two men found the farmer and, after a difficult negotiation, persuaded him to sell them sixty bushels of wheat. Hauling the life-saving grain on sleds that continually broke through the snow into slough grass, they just made it back to De Smet before another four-day blizzard hit the area.
When Wilder was 23 years old and Ingalls was 16, the two began courting. Wilder would drive Ingalls back and forth between De Smet and a new settlement 12 miles (19 km) outside town, where she was teaching school and boarding. Then, when spring arrived, the couple would go for long buggy rides. Three years later, on August 25, 1885, Wilder and Ingalls were married in De Smet by the Reverend Edward Brown. They settled on Wilder's claim and began their own small farming operations. The Wilders' daughter, Rose, was born December 5, 1886. Rose Wilder later became known as the author Rose Wilder Lane, a noted political writer and philosopher.
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Almanzo Wilder
Almanzo James Wilder (February 13, 1859 – October 23, 1949) was an American farmer as well as the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the father of Rose Wilder Lane, both noted authors.
Wilder was born on his family's homestead in rural Burke, New York, a few miles from the town of Malone. Most sources give Wilder's birth date as February 13, 1857. However, federal and New York state census records support a birth year of 1859; Wilder may have given his birth year as 1857 when claiming land in the Dakota Territory in 1879 under the Homestead Act, which required claimants to be at least 21 years of age.
Wilder was the fifth of six children born to farmers James Mason (1813–1899) and Angelina Albina (née Day) Wilder (1821–1905). His siblings included Laura Ann (1844–1899), Royal Gould (1847–1925), Eliza Jane (1850–1930), Alice Maria (1853–1892), and Perley Day Wilder (1869–1934). As part of her Little House series of semi-autobiographical novels, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote a book titled Farmer Boy about Wilder's childhood in upstate New York; he would subsequently become a recurring character in the later Little House books in which his wife wrote about their courtship and subsequent marriage, in The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years, respectively. He also appears briefly in chapter 28 ('Moving Day') of By the Shores of Silver Lake. Almanzo is characterized as a quietly courageous, hardworking man who loves horses and farming, and is also described as an accomplished carpenter and woodworker.
Farmer Boy recounts events of Wilder's childhood, starting when he was weeks shy of his ninth birthday in 1868. Among other things, he begins attending school when not needed at home for farm work, learns to train and drive a team of oxen, attends a county fair, and enjoys a mid-19th century Fourth of July celebration in the town of Malone. Almanzo also learns to deal with being bossed around by his older siblings, particularly his strong-willed sister Eliza Jane, who would later become a schoolteacher of his future wife.
Farmer Boy was the second book published in the Little House series. Hitting bookstore shelves in 1933, it was followed by Little House on the Prairie in 1935. The original order of publication was changed by publisher Harper with the subsequent release of the illustrated 1953 and 1971 editions.
The Wilder family left Burke in 1870 due to crop failures. Moving west, they settled in Spring Valley, Minnesota, where they established a farm. In 1879, Wilder, his older brother Royal, and older sister Eliza Jane moved to the Dakota Territory, taking claims near what would later become the town of De Smet, South Dakota. Wilder settled on his homestead with the intent of planting acres of seed wheat which he had cultivated the previous summer on rented shares in Marshall, Minnesota. It was in De Smet that he first met Laura Ingalls. The Ingalls family had been one of the first settlers in the area, before the town was formally organized. They moved to the Dakota Territory from Walnut Grove, Minnesota, when Charles Ingalls took a temporary job with the railroad.
Wilder is portrayed as a hero in his wife's book The Long Winter. Along with Ed "Cap" Garland, Wilder risked his life to save the citizens of De Smet from starvation during the long, hard winter of 1880–81. In between storms of a winter of unusually frequent and severe blizzards, which prevented trains from bringing food and supplies to the town, they went 12 miles (19 km) into the open prairie in search of wheat that a farmer was said to have harvested somewhere to the southwest of De Smet. The two men found the farmer and, after a difficult negotiation, persuaded him to sell them sixty bushels of wheat. Hauling the life-saving grain on sleds that continually broke through the snow into slough grass, they just made it back to De Smet before another four-day blizzard hit the area.
When Wilder was 23 years old and Ingalls was 16, the two began courting. Wilder would drive Ingalls back and forth between De Smet and a new settlement 12 miles (19 km) outside town, where she was teaching school and boarding. Then, when spring arrived, the couple would go for long buggy rides. Three years later, on August 25, 1885, Wilder and Ingalls were married in De Smet by the Reverend Edward Brown. They settled on Wilder's claim and began their own small farming operations. The Wilders' daughter, Rose, was born December 5, 1886. Rose Wilder later became known as the author Rose Wilder Lane, a noted political writer and philosopher.
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