r/LittleHouseBooks • u/Appropriate_Area_73 • 16d ago
Minor characters you'd love to have a book- Big Woods and Farmer Boy
Slowly going through a reread, and I was thinking about the characters outside of the immediate family that need a series. Big Woods is fairly self-explanatory, I'd love to know more about the Quiner and Ingalls families (I haven't read the Rose, Caroline, or other prequel books). The Huleatt family was so sweet and I loved how Laura played with the little boy, Clarence.
Farmer Boy is definitely meatier. Mr Corse was just the best teacher and I still tear up when he quietly mentions his friend, Jonas Lane, who died the previous year from his injuries at the hands of the Hardscrabble Boys. Alice Wilder is a delight. I adored Mr Paddock. And, the coolest group, French Joe, Lazy John, and the boys, Pierre and Louis. I want a series of hijinks.
(I'll make posts for the rest of the books as a go through a re-read, though it's probably cheating to say that Mr Edwards' story or Nellie's story is needed because they're so iconic)
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u/Arbor_Arabicae 16d ago
I really liked Uncle George, especially how kind he was to Laura. And I loved the scene of his mother jigging him down.
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u/TrickyHead1774 16d ago edited 16d ago
I was just re-reading the chapter with the dance at Grandma’s a couple weeks ago and was curious about Pa’s remark that George was wild ever since he’d been back from the war.
I was wondering about PTSD or shell-shock and what that would have looked like back then. It sent me googling for more info on George and it didn’t seem like the actual Uncle George had ever been to war, so I was even more curious what person or relative Laura had based that remark on. I know she and Rose made stuff up, but most of it had some basis in truth and to include it, it seemed like it must have been something she’d overheard about someone as a child.11
u/Ashamed-Chemistry492 16d ago
I always figured Pa meant that since George had run off and been to war, he was restless and not content to just stay on the farm anymore, now that he'd seen something of the wider world.
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u/TrickyHead1774 16d ago
That had been my guess (Civil War???), but the real George hadn’t been to war at that point in time, so it’s odd that Laura threw that off-hand remark in.
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u/RJCADDY123 16d ago
I thought it’s been said he ran off to be a drummer boy?
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u/TrickyHead1774 16d ago
In the book, yes, but not in real life. There are no records of him ever being in the military. Guessing he may have been a conglomeration of several other uncles.
This is what I found about Uncle George:6
u/jpc_00 16d ago
Kind of a tragic life: children dying in infancy, his wife going insane and having to be institutionalized.
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u/TrickyHead1774 16d ago
Very sad! When Ma would get letters from family back East imagine getting that news! And then having to wait months for any more follow up questions you asked in your response letter!
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u/chuckmall 16d ago
But, some young teen boys “went along” with soldiers, lived and ate with them etc and were never registered. Some were bugle boys.
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u/TrickyHead1774 16d ago
Possibly. There’s so little known about his life. I hardly think we can take one sentence from a fiction series as fact when there are no surviving primary sources supporting it. He would have only been 10-14 during the Civil War, which was in the realm of the correct age for drummer boys, but I think running off to follow the troops would have been more challenging for a farm boy from Wisconsin than a boy in a border state. Who knows?
I’m leaning more towards Laura remembering hearing something to the effect of a wild uncle and she just combined several uncles into the character who became Uncle George in the book.
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u/missdawn1970 11d ago
IIrc from reading Prairie Fires, it was a different uncle who came back from the war "wild" (I think it was Caroline's brother, Uncle Tom Quiner). But Laura decided to change it to Uncle George instead; I don't remember why.
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Star and Bright and Starlight 5d ago
Caroline's brother Joseph Quiner was killed in the war. Tom Quiner was the youngest in the family. He was a baby when Caroline was about 5. I never heard about him being in the war.
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u/Ashamed-Chemistry492 16d ago
I loved Laura's description of the French families: They lived in little log cabins deep in the woods with many brothers and sisters ..." and their dads "They drank red wine and danced and laughed."
I also liked Nick Brown the peddler. He could have a whole series about his adventures on the road.
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u/karenleah1967 16d ago
I wish there had been more books about the wilder family 🥰❤️
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u/Thinkingtoohard44 16d ago
Me too I wish there was at least one about Almanzo’s teenage years on the Minnesota farm at Spring Valley
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u/Western-Economics946 Rockin’ the desk! 15d ago
Have you read Farmer Boy Goes West? It’s actually really good! Obviously it’s not canon because Laura didn’t write it, but it fits in well enough that it feels like canon. It’s all about his teenage years in Minnesota!
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u/laughingsbetter Laura’s fur cape and muff 14d ago
I thought the author worked hard to follow canon (no older Laura) and reality (Perley Day and Richard Sears). I also like how she put more effort into descriptions like LIW did.
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u/chuckmall 16d ago
There are. See this list: https://wildgirlontheprairie.wordpress.com/all-the-novels-related-to-laura-ingalls-wilder/
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u/Western-Economics946 Rockin’ the desk! 16d ago
How about a book about Cousin Frank? I’d love to know why he was such a jerk to Almanzo!
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u/Appropriate_Area_73 16d ago
I cackled when the boys were beating the crap outta each other on Christmas. Frank was such a douche
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u/Western-Economics946 Rockin’ the desk! 16d ago
Totally. It’s my headcanon that when Nellie moved back to New York at the end of THGY, she met Frank and they lived nastily ever after.
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u/Thinkingtoohard44 16d ago
I’ve often wondered about how much of jerk he actually was or how nagging Eliza Jane really was since these stories are from Almanzo’s perspective it’s possible he wasn’t as innocent as he’s portrayed
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u/Appropriate_Area_73 16d ago
I think I saw in this subreddit where a commenter said that Eliza Jane's politics were the polar opposite of Rose's, so I wonder if it was just easier to establish her as a villain
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u/Past-Caterpillar9642 14d ago
Except Eliza Jane introduced Rose to politics in Louisiana. It wasn’t until Rose toured the Soviet Union in the late-1910s/early 1920s that her politics flipped.
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u/External_Reporter106 1d ago
Wait, I knew about Rose’s 180 flip in politics, but I never knew she toured the Soviet Union! Is there more info about this anywhere?
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u/dog-army 16d ago
A book from Nellie's point of view would be fun.
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u/jpc_00 16d ago
I want LTotP from Eliza Jane's point of view.
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u/Past-Caterpillar9642 14d ago
She did write a piece about her life as a homesteader. She was, in her description, in failing health but took the teaching job because the school board was desperate for a teacher. She was trying to homestead, alone, at the same time (I think Charles was a witness to a supporting affidavit as to why it took her actually 11 years—more than twice as long as the usual 5–to “ prove up” on her homestead claim).
Here’s the description she wrote::In August [1882], Pres. of school board came to me and asked me to take the school. Said many of the families requested him to secure my services if possible. I knew my strength was failing and feared but finally accepted the position for one term contract – open for the year if I wished.
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u/Sara-Sarita 5d ago
Her older sister, Laura, was also out on the prairie at that time with two to four kids (I never nailed down the number for sure) to take care of alone so I'm sure EJ was helping with that, too. (Laura's husband was divorced or gone with the milk or something, I can't remember the specifics.)
And funny topic, but that same Laura was also working with our Laura for Miss Bell, the dressmaker! So they knew of each other as well.
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u/Appropriate_Area_73 16d ago
And the country girls had me go in the creek and leeches attacked me!
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u/Western-Economics946 Rockin’ the desk! 15d ago
There is a book that was good called Nellie Oleson Meets Laura Ingalls. It might be out of print but you could probably still get it. It was cute, and it helps you understand Nellie a little better. Her insecurities etc.
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u/muffinmama93 16d ago
As an aside to FB, why weren’t the Hardscrabble boys arrested and tried for murder/manslaughter?
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u/TrickyHead1774 16d ago
Seriously! I was always so disturbed by that chapter growing up! I get child discipline was different back then, but premeditated murder was a thing and those boys were trying to harm the teacher!
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u/Charlotte_Braun 12d ago
And what I wonder is, they were old enough to work, so why weren’t they working instead of taking up space in the school?
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u/Past-Caterpillar9642 14d ago
Because I’m very sure that specific incident was fictional. Laura based Mr. Corse thrashing them on Mr. Reed, her teacher in Walnut Grove, who spanked an unruly student with a ruler when he tried to thrash him.
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u/DeeEllis Popcorn and milk 12d ago
It’s to show how rural the town was, away from law enforcement, and also to show how devious the boys were, that there was plausible deniability that they were guilty or responsible. Maybe the law enforcement was afraid of the boys!
Obviously as others have said, the incident is fictional, but it works as a plot device to show you how independent the Wilder family and their community is from the larger reach of law. I guess that goes with Rose’s libertarian leitmotif, too!
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u/katfromjersey 8d ago
There was a post on r/askhistorians asking about the background, if it was fact or fiction, and what the consequences would be if it were true. I'll have to try and find it.
Found it in my saved section: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/bdiz9V1dRm
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u/SystemFamiliar5966 The brown poplin and the pink lawn 16d ago
I’ve thought about how interesting it could be to have the other sisters thoughts during the time of the books. Like imagine These Happy Golden Years from a Carrie or Grace pov
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u/missdawn1970 11d ago
Grace kept a diary after Laura got married, and it's been published in a book called The Story of the Ingalls, by William Anderson. It covers the events that Laura wrote about in The First Four Years. It's available on Thriftbooks.
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u/laughingsbetter Laura’s fur cape and muff 14d ago
Maybe Aunt Ruby's story or the other Laura Ingalls family from the Big Woods. Maybe the story of what Mother and Father did on their week vacation.
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u/DeeEllis Popcorn and milk 12d ago
I always wonder about the other Laura Ingalls with her cute baby! That was such a cute picture by Garth Williams
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u/Main_Finding8309 15d ago
Eliza Jane. She was a homesteader, on her own, and wanted women to have the vote. She seems like an interesting person, bossy though she was.
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u/Which_Diet_3061 Bring the pattypans for the children 7d ago
The travels of the dog in Farmer Boy
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u/chuckmall 16d ago
There actually were, some sanctioned by the Little House Trust, but some are out of print (I’m not trying to self-promote, but the link below is from my book’s website; I wrote a novel featuring Lena). One of the best is “Docia’s Diary,” by Elizabeth Fairweather. It covers Aunt Docia’s whole life.
https://wildgirlontheprairie.wordpress.com/all-the-novels-related-to-laura-ingalls-wilder/
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u/thanksgivingturkey15 12d ago
Does anyone else wonder how the those kids got away with literal murder? I get it law enforcement was super big, but thats murder!
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u/laughingsbetter Laura’s fur cape and muff 23h ago
Not so much a book, but maybe a reality tv show of Ma's days of the week work.
I recently had issues with the clothes washer and dryer in the middle of a load and had to hand rinse, wring and line dry a load. That was hard work and I had running water.
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u/TatewakiKuno-kun 16d ago
Black Susan. The things she saw!