Almanzo Wilder

Almanzo James Wilder (February 13, 1859 – October 23, 1949) was an American farmer who was the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the father of Rose Wilder Lane, both noted authors. A dramatized version of his childhood was portrayed in his wife's novel Farmer Boy.

Biography

Early life

Wilder was born on his family's homestead in rural Burke, New York, a few miles from the town of Malone. While Wilder gave his birth date as February 13, 1857, federal and New York state census records consistently support a birth year of 1859. In 1879, Wilder likely stated his age as two years older when claiming land in the Dakota Territory under the Homestead Act, which required claimants to be at least 21 years of age. His unusual given name stemmed from family lore, which held that a Wilder's life was saved by an Arab named Almanzor during the Crusades, resulting in a line of sons named for him.

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.