Went with parents to Spring Valley MN in 1870. After he came of age in 1879 he took a homestead in South Dakota where he met Laura Ingalls and married. The family later moved to Missouri.118

According to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s account in “The Long Winter,” Almanzo lied on his claim application, saying he was 21 when he was actually 19. That would put his and Royal’s move to DeSmet in 1876.474

Almanzo explains the origins of his “outlandish” name in Little Town on the Prairie: “It was wished on me. 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. El Manzoor, the name was. They changed it after awhile in England, but I guess there’s no way to improve it much.”281

Famous author of the “Little House on the Prairie” books. See Chicago Sunday Tribune 2 Feb 1947, Who’s Who in America 1948-49, and American Women Vol. IIII939040.118