Little Dog on the “Grassy Place"

    On our way from Mansfield, Missouri to Memphis, Tennessee, we found out in finishing The First Four Years that the big dog Shep was jealous of baby Rose! He couldn’t be helpful to them, and Laura got a new dog named Nero.  Even Nero could not help them face the hardships to come – hail, diptheria, drought, death of their baby son, and fire.  We had heard of these when we went to Spring Valley where Laura, Almanzo and Rose went to live with his parents until they could get back on their feet.

Rosie at the church in Spring Valley, water that reflects the sky

    After Spring Valley they traveled to Mansfield by covered wagon.  This would be home for the rest of their days. They went 650 miles over hot, dry, dusty prairies.  Last night we began reading Laura’s diary that she kept during that journey.  Each day she recorded the temperature – 100-degree days were common, just like we have been having.  We can get relief in our car, but they had to face the relentless heat.
     All the towns where Laura stopped are recorded in her diary.  We thought it would be interesting to list all of the 16 states that we went to. Laura wrote where the settlers were from - Norway, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Scotland, Ireland, and many other places. All of the Midwestern states we went to have Indian names.  This is ironic, Amanda says, because the Indians were kicked off this land where the white man came to settle, but they kept the Indian names of the places.  The meanings of the names are beautiful, and reflect the geography of the plains.  We looked up the meanings of the Indian names on the web, and this is what we found:

Virginia
Maryland
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
Ohio – Iroquois word means “great river”
Indiana – English word means “land of the Indians”
Illinois – French spelling for Peoria word “ilinwok,” perhaps means “warrior”
Iowa – Sioux word means “member of the Sioux”

Rosie at Masters Hotel in Burr Oak, member of the Sioux

Wisconsin - "grassy place" Chippewa
     or English spelling of "Ouisconsin", a French version of    
     "Mesconsing", a Miami Indian name for the Wisconsin River

Rosie at little house in the big woods in Pepin, grassy place

Minnesota - Dakota word minisota, means "water that reflects the sky"

Sod house on Plum Creek in Walnut Grove, water that reflects the sky

Dakota - Sioux name means "friend"

shanty in DeSmet, friend

Nebraska - Otos Indian word means "flat water"
Kansas – Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indian means “south wind”
 

Rosie at the little house on the prairie near Independence, south wind

Missouri – Sioux word means "muddy water,” "town of the large canoes," "wooden canoe people" or "he of the big canoe."

Rosie at Rocky Ridge in Mansfield, muddy water

Arkansas – Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indian means “south wind”
Tennessee - Cherokee variant of a Creek word, meaning uncertain
Or Yuchi word that means "meeting place".

     Rose published Laura’s diary, and titled it On the Way Home.  That is what we are, on the way home.

Rosie on the way home