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- He lived in Spring Valley, MN after 1870. He lived in Yankton, Dakota Territory after August 1879 to file on a homestead. He lived in De Smet, Dakota Territory after 1880.
He was ill with Diptheria after 1888. Had resumed work too soon, and suffered a relapse, causing an apparent stroke that left him partially paralyzed. Although he recovered from the paralysis, his legs and feet were permanently weakened, resulting in his needing a cane to walk. His inability to perform the hard physical labor associated with wheat farming in South Dakota, combined with a lengthy drought in the late 1880s, further contributed to the Wilders' downward spiral into debt and poverty.
He died on October 23, 1949 in Mansfield, MO of two heart attacks. He was buried on October 26, 1949 in Mansfield Cemetery, Mansfield, MO. He was English. He was also known as Manly Wilder.
He once saved his snowbound town from starving by driving 40 miles through a blizzard for wheat. He is the hero of his wife Laura Wilder's famous series of autobiographical novels, notably the story of his childhood in her second book, 'Farmer Boy' about his childhood in upstate New York. She writes about him, their relationship, and subsequent marriage in Little Town on the Prairie, The Long Winter, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years. He was characterized as a quietly courageous, hardworking man who loved horses and farming. The lead character of his daughter Rose Lane's homesteading novel 'Free Land' was based on him. He was also an accomplished carpenter and woodworker. He was a member of the Mansfield Blue Lodge of the Masons. Many of his possessions can be seen at the Rocky Ridge farm, as well as the Malone and Spring Valley sites.
Source: <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chatweb/sources.htm>
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1857 - 1949 (92 years)
