Once upon a time in the 1870’s, James and Angeline Wilder moved to Spring Valley, Minnesota with the four of their six children who had not already preceded them from Malone, NY. Upon their arrival, they became members of the Spring Valley Methodist Church, and contributed to the construction of the new church building in 1876. By 1879 their son Almanzo and two of his siblings were homesteading in DeSmet SD where he caught the eye of and married young Laura Ingalls who would decades later achieve fame as the author of The Little House books. For several months in the early 1890’s Almanzo, Laura, and their daughter Rose, lived in Spring Valley with his parents and worshiped at the church. Today the former church houses a museum that is open on select Saturdays but not this one so we didn’t linger but nonetheless learned a little more about an American icon.
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