This post and the previous one take us back in time to when Laura Ingalls Wilder lived as a child, had her first teaching position, met a beau and enjoyed being courted, got married, and her family moved from the farm to their house in town (the tour guides said Laura’s mother was tired of always moving around). These stories also give us a picture of what the country looked like after Lewis and Clark’s trip opened it up to people moving west past the Mississippi River. A young friend of ours loves these stories, so we enjoyed learning more about Laura and her family. Remember, Laura’s final home with Almanzo was in Missouri, and we saw it as we started out on this trip.
As Laura grew up, she took some training to be a teacher. The Brewster school was her first teaching assignment that was covered in These Happy Golden Years.
Brewster school
The Brewster school (also known as the Bouchie School) was located about 12 miles southwest of De Smet in an abandoned claim shanty that had thick wall boards with no battens [like caulk] so snow could blow through. Inside were 6 seats with a desk, a large heating stove, a small black board, and a little table and chair for the teacher.
Laura began teaching during a winter term for 2 months since this was all that the school district could afford at $20 a month. Laura was determined to finish the term of teaching as the money she earned would help send her sister Mary to the College of the Blind in Iowa
Here’s what Laura wrote about this school: “The board walls were not battened. Streaks of sunshine streamed through the crack upon a row of six homemade seats and desks that marched down the middle of the room. Beyond them on the studding of the opposite wall, a square of boards had been nailed and painted black to make a blackboard.”
“In front of the seats, stood a big heating stove, its round sides and top were cherry red from the heat of the fire and standing around it were the scholars that Laura must teach. They all looked at Laura. There were five of them, and two boys and one girl were taller than she was.”
good news
Almanzo Wilder journeyed the 12.5 miles to and from De Smet each weekend to pick up Laura and bring her back home. He rode in a cutter or sleigh that was about 5 feet long and 26 inches wide at the bottom, pulled by his 2 horses.
One cold day, Almanzo was challenged by Cap Garland to take the trip after reading the thermometer at Fuller’s Store. It showed the mercury in a ball below 40. Regardless, Laura and Almanzo set out to home, stopping every 2 miles to thaw the ice from the horses’ noses. To make sure Laura was alert on the cold ride, Almanzo would ask, “Alright?” With the temperatures below freezing, traveling was much more difficult.
Laura wrote about this story in These Happy Golden Years, and finished the story with her Ma’s reaction. “Almanzo lifted the robes and she tried to get out of the cutter, but she was too stiff. She could not stand up. The door flashed open, and Ma took hold of her exclaiming, ‘My goodness, are you frozen?'”
Laura and Almanzo began courting after many more sleigh and buggy rides. He was about 10 years older at 28 while Laura was 17. She said yes to marriage, and he gave her a 3-stone ring made of gold with a garnet and pearl stones. The couple was married on August 25, 1885. A white wedding dress that was only worn once wasn’t the fashion then. Laura had a black cashmere dress that wore well and was always dressy according to Ma.
Laura did not want to continue the homesteading lifestyle; this was a contentious time for them. However, Laura agreed to give him 3 years to make it as a farmer, with a year of Grace.
Pa and Ma’s house in town
These 2 rooms were original when Pa built the house, and Mary lived with them after she came home from college.
college for Mary
Becoming blind at age 14, Mary always wanted to be able to study and learn everything. The Ingalls family scrimped and saved to afford the tuition, and in 1881, she left her family in De Smet to start a new chapter of her life in Iowa. She received her education at the Vinton School for the blind, now called the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
She would of taken classes in everything from literature, geometry, zoology, or economics, as well as several music classes. Mary also took classes in sewing, bead work, broom-making, and making fly nets for horses. Of course she received a 100% in deportment, or good behavior, the highest out of anyone in her class.
rooms upstairs
The bedrooms upstairs had been rented out after Pa died and Ma needed some more money for bills. Today each room is decorated for each of the girls in the family with many of their personal possessions.
the last little house
Little did Pa know when he started digging the cellar hole for his De Smet home that he was preparing a home to be known as a literary landmark all over the globe. He was simply building a home for his family.
In June 1886, Caroline purchased 2 lots on Third Street in De Smet from Eliza Jane Wilder (Almonzo’s sister and Laura’s teacher) at the cost of $100 ($305.77 today). A year later Pa started digging on their ground. While the cellar was small, Pa was determined not to spend another winter in the country. The walls and roof went up quickly for such a small house. At first it was a 2-room home with 1 large bedroom overhead.
Pa, Ma, Carrie, Grace, and Mary (who spent that school year home from college) were making Christmas a busy time settling into their new little house, but Grace remembered that moving day as the “most pleasant day in a long while.” Grace remarked in her diary that the house was “better than the shanty,” but “not such a big house.”
A couple of years ago an RV couple we watch on YouTube went to Sioux Falls and said to their viewers if anyone ever had a chance, they should go there. We’ll show you what we saw in the next post.
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