23 Facts About Almanzo Wilder

Almanzo James Wilder was an American farmer as well as the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the father of Rose Wilder Lane, both noted authors.

However, federal and New York state census records support a birth year of 1859; Almanzo Wilder may have given his birth year as 1857 when claiming land in Dakota Territory under the Homestead Act in 1879, which required claimants to be at least 21 years of age.

Almanzo Wilder was the fifth of six children born to farmers James Mason and Angelina Albina Almanzo Wilder.

Almanzo Wilder's siblings included Laura Ann, Royal Gould, Eliza Jane, Alice Maria, and Perley Day Wilder.

Almanzo Wilder appears briefly in chapter 28 of By the Shores of Silver Lake.

Almanzo Wilder is characterized as a quietly courageous, hardworking man who loves horses and farming, and is described as an accomplished carpenter and woodworker.

Farmer Boy recounts events of Almanzo Wilder's childhood, starting when he was weeks shy of his ninth birthday in 1866.

Almanzo Wilder 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.

The Almanzo Wilder family left Burke in 1870 due to crop failures.

Almanzo 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.

Almanzo Wilder is portrayed as a hero in his wife's book The Long Winter.

Almanzo Wilder would drive Ingalls back and forth between De Smet and a new settlement 12 miles outside town, where she was teaching school and boarding.

Areas of Almanzo Wilder's legs were temporarily paralyzed, and after the paralysis had resolved, he needed a cane to walk.

In 1890, the Almanzo Wilder family moved to Spring Valley, Minnesota, to stay with his parents on their farm.

Laura Ingalls Almanzo Wilder worked as a seamstress in a dressmaker's shop, while Almanzo Wilder found work as a carpenter and day laborer.

Almanzo Wilder lived out the rest of his life on his farm, and both he and his wife were active in various community and church pursuits during their time in Missouri.

Almanzo Wilder learned to drive an automobile, which greatly improved their ability to leave the farm.

Almanzo Wilder spent his last years happily tending small vegetable and flower gardens, indulging his lifetime love of woodworking and carpentry and tending his goats.

Almanzo Wilder aided his wife in greeting the carloads of Little House fans who regularly found their way to Rocky Ridge Farm.

Almanzo Wilder died on October 23,1949, after suffering two heart attacks.

Laura Ingalls Almanzo Wilder died eight years later, on February 10,1957.

My folks have got a notion there always has to be an Almanzo in the family, because 'way back in the time of the Crusades there was a Wilder went to them, and an Arab or somebody saved his life.

Laura Ingalls Wilder published in 1933 the novel Farmer Boy, a mostly fictional account based on one year from Almanzo's childhood.