5. Ibid., LIW to Frances Mason, October 1, 1948; LIW to Aubrey Sherwood, July 29, 1942, reprinted in De Smet News, August 6, 1942; LIW, Composite Letter, LIW File, Missouri State Historical Society, Columbia.
6. Hines, I Remember Laura, 223–24, 238; Society club reports in the Mansfield Mirror recorded Laura's presence at a number of meetings in 1945 and 1946. See issues for January 1, October 25, 1945, January 31, July 4, October 31, 1946. On religious revivals, see the Mirror for July 5, 1945, July 4, 1946, June 23, 1949, July 6, 1950, July 10, 1952, June 17, 1954.
7. Mansfield Mirror, May 10, July 5, 12, August 9, 1945; Caroline Fraser, “The Prairie Queen,” 38.
8. Mansfield Mirror, November 11, 1945, March 21, 1946, January 30, May 8, November 27, 1947, January 8, 1948, June 29, July 13, 1950, January 29, September 17, 1953, January 7, 1954, August 16, 1956, January 24, 1957.
9. Ibid., July 5, 1945, August 14, 1947, May 26, 1949, April 10, 1952, July 19, 1956, May 22, 1958.
10. Ibid., May 25, June 8, 1950; Richard S. Kirkendall, History of Missouri, chaps. 9–10.
11. Mansfield Mirror, January 31, July 25, August 1, 1946, May 5, 1952, January 20, 27, March 3, 1955, September 26, 1957, April 9, 1959.
12. LIW to D. L. Blocher, February 21, 1947, on display at LIW Museum, Walnut Grove, Minn.
13. Hines, I Remember Laura, 110–11; Nava Austin interview.
14. Clifford Cooper interview, by the author, Mansfield Mo., August 18, 1995; Peggy Dennis interview; Dan L. White and Robert F. White, Laura's Friends Remember (Hartville, Mo.: Ashley-Preston, 1992), 14, 34.
15. These comments are based on conversations that the author had with people in Mansfield in August 1995.
16. Hines, I Remember Laura, 128, 135, 144, 224.
17. Ibid., 134, 144, 220, 224; Peggy Dennis interview; Neta Seal interview.
18. Neta Seal interview; Peggy Dennis interview; Hines, I Remember Laura, 110–11.
19. Warranty Deed Record Book No. 126, 107–8, No. 113, 422, 618, No. 118, 273, No. 125, 466–67; Hines, I Remember Laura, 111.
20. Anderson, Story of the Wilders, 31; Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 221; Mansfield Mirror, December 23, 1948.
21. Anderson, Story of the Wilders, 32; White and White, Laura's Friends Remember, 30–31; Mansfield Mirror, October 27, 1949.
22. LIW to “Dear Friend,” November 19, 1949, displayed at LIW Museum, Mansfield, Mo.
23. Holtz, Ghost in the Little House, 315–18, 325–27.
24. Ibid., 335–37; Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 230; Mansfield Mirror, April 2, 1953; LIW, Last Will and Testament, February 6, 1952, on file at Wright County Courthouse, Hartville, Mo.; Anderson, Story of the Ingalls, 31.
25. Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 214–15; Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore 12 (spring–summer 1986): 3.
26. Mansfield Mirror, January 22, 1948, November 17, 1949, May 18, 1950, May 3, 1951. Two “Local Newsette” items in the Mirror noted such dinner visits, January 14, 1952, and February 12, 1953. Such local paragraphs about Laura and Almanzo were rare during the 1940s and 1950s.
27. Clifford Cooper interview; Amon Short interview; Carl Hartley interview, by the author, Mansfield, Mo., June 19, 1993; Peggy Dennis interview.
28. Clifford Cooper interview; Mansfield Mirror, June 6, 1940, January 9, June 12, 1947, December 28, 1948, July 19, 1951, October 30, 1952, February 10, 1955.
29. Kansas City Star, April 10, 1949, reprinted in Mansfield Mirror, May 5, 1949; see also Mirror issues of March 16 and August 10, 1950.
30. Kansas City Star, September 20, 1951; Mansfield Mirror, September 20, October 4, 1951, November 5, 1953, September 29, 1954.
31. Mansfield Mirror, November 13, 1952, October 15, November 19, 1953; see articles reprinted in William T. Anderson, ed., The “Horn Book's” Laura Ingalls Wilder (Horn Book, 1987); Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore 13 (spring-summer, 1987): 4–5 and 13 (fall–winter 1987–1988): 10.
32. Hines, I Remember Laura, 111–12, 120, 127, 141; Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 225–26.
33. Nava Austin interview; Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 228; Hines, I Remember Laura, 116, 229.
34. Carl Hartley interview; Virginia Hartley interview, by the author, Mansfield, Mo., August 19, 1995; Hines, I Remember Laura, 145; Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore 17 (spring–summer 1991): 1.
35. Cornelia Meigs et al., A Critical History of Children's Literature (New York: Macmillan, 1969), 414; Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 229–30.
36. Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 228; Hines, I Remember Laura, 117–18.
37. Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 230–31.
38. Ibid., 231.
39. RWL to Jasper Crane, January 5, 1957, Box 3, Lane Papers; Holtz, Ghost in the Little House, 337; Virginia Hartley interview.
40. New York Times, February 12, 1957, p. 27.
41. Mansfield Mirror, February 14, 1957; Virginia Hartley interview.
42. Probate Court Records in the Estate of Laura Ingalls Wilder, No. 2498, February 27, 1957, Wright County Courthouse, Hartville, Mo.; LIW to RWL, July 30, 1952, Box 14, Lane Papers.
Index
Adams, Franklin P., 182
African-Americans, 101, 206
Agricultural Adjustment Administration, 198–99
Albania, 4, 106, 140, 156, 165, 170, 171, 175, 190
Alden, Rev. Edwin H., 34, 62
Alger, Horatio, 129
American Home Missionary Society, 62
American Library Association, 259
Anderson, Andrew, 30
Anderson, J. H., 32
Anderson, William T., 5
Appalachian Mountains, 15
Arizona, 170, 226
Arkansas, 205
Associated Press, 158
Athenian Club, 4, 128, 159, 169, 227, 230, 256
Athens, 140
Atlantic Bookshelf, 188
Atlantic Monthly, 182
Aurora, Dakota Territory, 48, 51
Austin, Nava, 242, 257–58, 259
Autobiography, LIW's. See “Pioneer Girl”
Automobiles: Buick, 167–68; Ford, 208; Chrysler, 216, 218; Oldsmobile, 258; mentioned, 101, 158, 168, 169, 170, 229, 248
Ava, Mo.: railroad connection to Mansfield, 109, 117, 197; visited by LIW, 171, 204, 258; mentioned, 111, 205
Baghdad, 140, 155
Bank of De Smet, 77
Bank of Mansfield, 197
Baptists, 63, 102, 160
Barnes, Visscher V., 48, 52, 73
Barnum (horse), 67
Barry, Anna, 28
Barry Corner School, 28, 29
Barstow, Calif., 226
Bavaria, 27
Beaton, David, 221
Beatrice, Neb., 93
Beattie, Bessie, 138, 139
Becker, M. L., 208
Bedal, Elias, 32
Bedal, Lafayette, 32, 34
Beef Slough, 15, 20
Beirut, 140
Bell, Florence, 65
Bender, Kate, 218, 267n37
Benet, Stephen Vincent, 222
Berkeley, Calif., 125
Berlin, 140
Bermuda Onion Growers Association, 171
Better Homes and Gardens, 196
Beverly Hills, Calif., 226
Bible: read in Ingalls's home, 29, 33, 35, 56, 62; importance in LIW's life, 34, 57–58; verses memorized by LIW, 42, 131; LIW gives to Nava Austin, 259; mentioned, 160
Big Horn Mountains, 46
“Big Jerry,” 47
Big Sioux River, 45, 47, 48, 220
“Big Woods” of Wisconsin, 13, 15, 18
Bisby, Mr., 38, 39
Black Hills, 193, 226
Blind Boone, 111, 119
Blizzards, 52, 54–56, 193, 211
Bloomfield, Iowa, 37
Board of Indian Commissioners, 26
Boast, Ella, 50
Boast, Robert, 50, 61, 63, 74, 83, 224
Bohemians, 37
Bonnell, Charles, 111
Bonny Theater, 172
Books, 189, 202, 208
Boston, Mass., 16
Boston Transcript, 202
Bouchie, Louis, 63
Bouchie school, 63, 64, 67
Boylston, Helen (“Troub”): lives at Rocky Ridge, 167, 168, 177; friendship with RWL, 170, 171, 179; leaves Rocky Ridge, 189
Boy Scouts, 256
Bradley's drugstore, 56
Brandt, Carl, 176, 181, 182
Branson, Mo., 205, 249
Brentlinger, J. W., 133, 204
Brody, Catherine, 158, 159, 179
Brookfield, Wis., 1, 17
Brookings, Dakota Territory, 48, 49, 50, 51
Brookings County, Dakota Territory, 48, 73
Brookings County Press, 48
Broun, Heywood, 182
Brown, Ida, 59, 60, 66, 68, 70
Brown, John, 62
Brown, Mrs. Edward, 70
Brown, Nathan, 18
Brown, Rev. Edward, 59, 62, 70
Browning, Norma Lee. See Ogg, Norma Lee Browning
Brown's Book Store, 257
Brunner, Rev. Walter, 261
Bryan, William Jennings, 98, 99
Bucher, Julian, 204
Buck (horse), 199
Budapest, 140
Buffalo, 46, 47, 48, 101
Bunting, Mr. (dog), 201, 202
Burr Oak, Iowa, 36–39, 209
Burr Oak House, 37
Business Men's Club, 231
Bye, George T., 182, 185, 195, 202, 213, 242
By the Shores of Silver Lake (LIW), 6, 47, 49, 51, 221, 222–26, 227, 228, 234, 236, 237
Cabool, Mo., 258
Cairo, Egypt, 140
Cairo, Ill., 86
California: visited by LIW, 122, 167, 170, 248; mentioned, 4, 121, 123, 127, 157, 158, 255
Calumet Avenue (De Smet's Main Street), 51, 52, 57, 62, 70, 77
Cambridge University, 140, 190
Canada, 16, 27, 61
Capital to Capital Association, 169
Capper, Arthur, 115
Carmel, Calif., 170
Carpenter, Charles, 28
Carpenter, Grant, 170
Carpenter, Joe, 86
Carpenter, Martha, 28, 164–65
Carroll, John H., 48, 51, 61, 73, 77
Carroll's Addition, 74
Carson, Pirie Scott Department Store, 250
Case, John, 96, 137
Catholics, 58, 63, 102
Cedar Gap, Mo., 92, 101, 102, 204
Census, Federal: 1870, 23, 27; 1880, 33, 44, 61, 64
Chamber of commerce, 232, 255
Chariton County, Mo., 22
Chase, Stuart, 220
Cherokee Indians, 24–25
Cherokee Neutral Tract, 24–25
Chess, 179, 204
Cheyenne Indians, 31
Chicago, Ill., 16, 31, 48, 82, 83, 203, 250
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, 45, 46
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 31, 44, 45, 73, 195. See also Dakota Central Railroad
Chicago Inter-Ocean, 56
Children's Book Week, 257
Chinatown (San Francisco), 124, 125
Chinese, 124, 125
Chippewa Indians, 18
Chippewa River, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20
Choctawhatchee River, 87
Churches, 34, 35, 133, 164. See also specific religions
Cindy (RWL), 176
Civil War: impact on Wisconsin, 15, 17; and Ingalls family, 18; veterans, 62, 76, 77, 101; in Missouri, 206; mentioned, 13, 14, 20, 22, 36, 102
Civil Works Administration, 198
Clayson, Chauncy, 57, 58
Cleveland, Grover, 275n20
Coday, Blanche, 105
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 226
Colorado, 170, 229
Columbia, Mo., 133, 208, 209, 219, 220
Commercial club, 118, 232
Committee on Public Information, 134
Company E, Dakota National Guard, 76
Concord, Wis., 16, 17
Congregationalists: influence on frontier, 16; and Ingalls family, 35, 41, 42; in De Smet, 59, 62, 63, 68; mentioned, 39, 102
Congress, U. S., 26, 73, 132, 197, 198
Connecticut, 17, 27, 62, 243
Constantinople, 140
Cooley, Emma, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98, 99
Cooley, Frank, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98, 99
Cooley, George, 96
Cooley, Paul, 93, 96
Cooper, James Fenimore, 98
Council Bluffs, Iowa, 229
Council of Defense, 133, 134
Country Gentleman: LIW publishes in, 140, 161; mentioned, 158, 169, 178, 179
Country Home, 182
Couse, Edward H., 52, 61, 76
Couse Opera House, 76–77
Coxey's Army, 99
Craig, J. E., 198
Craig, Mrs. N. J., 106, 134, 178, 230, 255
Craig, N. J.: friend of LIW and AJW, 109, 158, 160, 171, 204, 229; as road booster, 169; plays golf, 173; and Democratic party, 199; executor of LIW's estate, 261
Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., 161
Crowley, La., 89, 100, 108
Crystal Lake, 205
Cuba, N.Y., 16
Custer, George Armstrong, 46
Custer Battlefield, 226
Dakota Central Railroad, 46, 49, 51
Dakota Indians (Sioux), 19, 46, 47, 72
Dakota Territory: migration to, 16, 43, 61, 62, 72; railroad building in, 31, 45; Ingalls family moves to, 44; becomes a state, 82; as fictional subject, 190, 191, 192, 193, 195, 203, 219, 221, 222–26
Danbury, Conn., 227, 254, 259
Dartmouth College, 34
Davis, Mrs. O. B., 171, 230
Davis, Mrs. Warren, 230
Davis, O. B., 171, 239
Day, Clarence, 175, 176
Day, George, 72
Decatur, Ala., 86
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Gibbon), 108
Decorah, Iowa, 36, 37
Delaware Indians, 101
Democratic Party: in Missouri, 99, 197, 198; LIW's affiliation with, 164, 199, 234, 275n20
Denmark, 61
Dennis, Ezra, 112
Dennis, J. Lon, 232
Dennis, Lawrence, 220
Dennis, Oral, 112
Dennis, Peggy, 248
Denver, Colo., 124
Department of Agriculture, 199
Department of the Interior, 89
Description of Man and Nature in the Polar and Equatorial Regions of the Globe, A, 29
De Smet, Dakota Territory and S. Dak.: development of town, 49, 51–52, 193; home of Ingalls family, 50–51; during the hard winter, 54–57, 195; population of, 61; social life, 64; economic activity, 66; homesteading nearby, 73–74; hard times in, 85; LIW and AJW live in, 88–90; visited by LIW and AJW, 111, 185, 191, 192–93, 226, 228–29, 234
de Smet, Pierre-Jean, 49
De Smet cemetery, 84, 254
De Smet Clippers, 76
De Smet High School, 63, 69, 271n45
De Smet News, 111, 191, 215, 244
De Smet White Stockings, 76
Des Moines, Iowa, 169
Detroit, Mich., 215, 216, 248
Detroit Book Fair, 215–18, 219, 222
Detroit Public Library, 250
Discovery of Freedom, The (RWL), 254
Divan, Mrs. W. M., 134
“Diverging Roads” (Frost), 175
Dow, Nate, 111, 189, 226, 229, 234, 254
Drifting Goose, 47
Durand, Wis., 20
Durand Times, 18, 28
Durant, Will, 182
Eastern Star Lodge, 101, 111, 159–60, 230–1
Eaton, A. T., 239
Eau Claire, Wis., 28
Edith (boat), 86
Ely, Charles E., 62
Emporia, Kan., 222
Endecott, John, 16
England, 16, 23, 24, 61, 140, 157, 177
English, 37
Ensign, Anna, 40
Ensign, Howard, 40, 41
Ens
ign, Willard, 40
Farmer Boy (LIW), 190, 193, 194–95, 196, 200–201, 202, 203, 217
Farmers’ Alliance, 83, 242
Farmers and Merchants Bank, 109, 197
Farmers Shipping Association, 83
Farm Loan Association, National. See National Farm Loan Association
Farm machinery, 66, 74, 80, 85
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 254
Federal government, 25, 26, 130, 132, 197, 206, 221, 234
Fiddle: of Charles Ingalls, 255
Fiery, Marion, 183, 184–86, 188, 189
First Four Years, The (LIW), 71, 74, 75, 79, 83, 240, 242–43
First National Bank, 77
Florida, 86–87, 89, 91, 207
Fly (horse), 75
Food Administration, 133
Forbes, Ladocia Ingalls, 42, 44
Forbes, Hiram, 44
Ford, Henry, 216
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., 245
Fort Madison, Iowa, 18
Fort Scott, Kan., 94
Fort Sumter, S.C., 18
Fountain, Dakota Territory, 48, 52
“Four Minute Men,” 134
Fourth of July, 35, 46, 100, 102, 204, 238
Fox hunting, 160, 279n13
Fox Indians, 36
France, 27
Franklin Academy, 72
Fraser, Caroline, 5
Frederick's Restaurant, 258
Free Land (RWL), 195, 203, 220–22, 227, 272n6
Freeman, Daisy, 258
Freeman, M. A., 255
Freeman, Mrs. G. C., 134
Friday Afternoon Book Club, 230
Frisco Railroad, 117, 133
Frontier: depicted by LIW, 1; and dispossession of Indians, 14, 24, 47; Wisconsin, 15, 17, 29, 165; movement westward of, 17; Minnesota, 31; roughness of, 34, 49; Dakota Territory, 44, 92; society on, 60, 71; population, 61, 64; as fictional subject, 188, 191, 192, 194, 195–96, 203, 206, 217, 218, 234, 235, 256; Turner thesis, 220; mentioned, 18, 52, 247
Frost, Robert, 175
Fruit Growers Association, 171
Fuller's hardware, 56
Fuson, Dr. John, 255
Fuson, Mrs. J. A., 134
Gale, Zona, 222
GAR Hall, 111
Garland, Edmund (“Cap”): gets wheat during hard winter, 62; LIW attracted to, 64; mentioned, 53, 56, 221, 236, 237
“Gem City of the Ozarks,” 117, 119
George, Milton, 83
German-Russians, 93
Germans, 37
Germany, 27, 61, 245
Gettysburg, Battle of, 62
Gilbert, Fred, 64
Gilbert, Melissa, 1
Gilbert, Stella, 67
Gilmore, Mary, 23
Gilmore, Robert, 23
Good Housekeeping, 182, 190
Good Templars, 19, 42
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), 62, 77, 101
Grand Canyon, 170, 171, 226
Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder Page 36
