Minor Characters in Little House books
A Word from Willie
“They can’t ride on my velocipede!”
The phrase springs into my head upon the mere mention of the name Willie Oleson.
Willie is a fun character, I think. Like the character of Nellie, Willie in the book series is a composite of more than one real boy. (Although the Plum Creek Willie was surely based on Willie
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First James, Then George, Then Grandpa
The story of “Grandpa’s Sled and the Pig” told in Little House in the Big Woods is a popular one. It’s interesting how stories about naughty children are so much more fun than stories about well-behaved ones.
But the story has puzzled me for a very long time — ever since I first became
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Grandpa's father
Lately, I’ve been thinking about Samuel Worthen Ingalls. Laura’s great-grandfather.
He interests me because he is the one ancestor Laura never met who makes it into one of her books as a minor character. As I wonder what kind of man he was, Garth Williams’ depiction of him flashes into my mind’s eye. You know the
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Whatever Happened to Mary Power?
This question has been a common one over the decades, with not much of an answer available until recent years. Gina Terrana, who has researched the life of Mary Power and published articles on her in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore and in The Homesteader, is now offering a print-it-yourself pamphlet including pictures and detailed
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Laura Ingalls Wilder Family Letters Go Online
We are pleased to share the following announcement from Michael Edmonds, head of Digital Collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The Wisconsin Historical Society has recently published on its website more than a dozen original letters written during the Civil War by relatives of Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), author of Little House on the Prairie and
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Laura's Cousin
Imagine picking up a copy of Little House in the Big Woods and reading it for the very first time. Imagine reading about the sugaring-off dance at Grandpa’s, and the jigging contest between Grandma and Uncle George.
And then imagine, just for a moment, that you are reading about your own family.
That’s how it was for
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Lazy? Lousy? Really?
Something that has always bothered me in the Little House books is the whole Eliza Jane debacle. I couldn’t figure out why Laura presented such a bleak picture of her sister-in-law.
Part of the reason for that is the timeline.
Let me back up. Through the eyes that Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author, allowed for us as
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Alice Wilder in Florida
I’m pretty good at finding a “Laura” connection in ordinary things, even vacations. My husband has a business trip to Rochester, NY – woo hoo, it’s only a short 5 hour drive to Malone! I need to visit my sister in southern Alabama – time to check out Westville, Florida, where Laura and Almanzo lived
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The Prairie House Manor
Among the earliest citizens of De Smet was its banker, Thomas Ruth. Banker Ruth receives several mentions in The Long Winter as having bought out the lumberyard and then the last bag of flour at costs higher than the Ingalls family could have afforded anyway. In 1894, the year that Almanzo and Laura left De
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