James and Angeline Wilder

James Mason Wilder, known as "Father" in the second "Little House" book Farmer Boy, was born on January 26, 1813, to Abel and Hannah Wilder near Milton, Vermont. Four years later, the family moved two miles from Malone, New York, where James met and married Angeline Albina Day of nearby Chateaugay on August 6, 1843. Angeline, born in 1821, was the daughter of Justin and Diadema Day.

James and Angeline Wilder had six children, four of whom play a role in one or more of the "Little House" books. Their first child, Laura Ann, was born on June 15, 1844, and was therefore grown by the time of the events of Farmer Boy, which took place around 1866. Laura married Harrison Howard in 1874, had four children, and died in Crowley, Louisiana, in 1899.

The next four Wilder children, Royal, Eliza Jane, Alice, and Almanzo, are the main characters of Farmer Boy. Only Alice does not appear in the later books. She was born September 3, 1853, and married Albert Baldwin in 1879 in Spring Valley, Minnesota. Albert and Alice had two children, Myrtle and Leland. Alice died in Georgiana, Florida, in 1892.

The sixth child of James and Angeline Wilder was Perley Day, born June 13, 1869, in Malone, New York. Perley grew up in Spring Valley, Minnesota, and moved to Crowley, Louisiana, in 1895. He married Elsie Merritt in 1897 and had six children. He later opened a general store in Kinder, Louisiana, and died in 1934.

James and Angeline left their Malone farm around 1875, and moved to Spring Valley, Minnesota. In 1898, they moved to Crowley, Louisiana, at the insistence of Eliza Jane, where they failed at rice farming. James died in 1899, and Angeline died in 1905.