Epilogue

Almanzo and Charles sent two wires to Currie, one to Eliza Jane and Nate and one to Minnie and Tom basically telling them the plan had been successfully carried out. That night, Laura and Almanzo had dinner at the Ingalls' place where everything was explained to them. They had a real feast with all the food that was heaped on them that afternoon in Currie. Caroline was all excited that the old window in the common room of the Ingalls household was finally going to come down. Charles was getting a picture window to replace it. It was to come in Thursday afternoon and Charles was going to replace that night.

Meantime tensions were mounting as Laura and Almanzo settled into every day married life in Walnut Grove. Laura was piled high with schoolwork and at the same time was trying to quiet Mrs. Oleson's constant complaints that she was too young and inexperienced to teach. Almanzo was equally having difficulty getting one of the fields ready for planting.

Things came to a head Wednesday night when Almanzo complained of having his least favorite dish, beef stew, for the third night in a row, not to mention that it was half cooked as well. Things didn't improve any when Brenda Sue Longworth, an old flame of Almanzo's, returned to Walnut Grove Thursday afternoon announcing to everyone she could find in town that her first song had been published. It was aptly named "My Only Love," and everyone seemed to know except for Laura and Caroline who didn't find out until two days later.

After the fourth time it broke, Charles gave up putting in the picture window. But things straightened itself that Saturday night at the Ingalls' place when Almanzo and Laura came to supper. Manly played his guitar all night while Charles nailed the old window back in its original place.

Ben, Jake and his three prisoners left on the morning stage to Springfield and would be headed toward the Minnesota Territorial Prison in St. Cloud where he learned a lot more than he bargained for.

Ben didn't know until Luke confessed that he was partly responsible for his sister's death. Luke had gotten drunk and Lizzie came out looking for him. They had an argument in the barn when Lizzie said that she was leaving him and taking the boys with her. He had thrown her on the ground with such force that she hit her head on a wooden post, knocking her out or so he thought. After that, he tripped over her lantern, setting the barn on fire. He had no recollection that he had even started a fire in the barn until he saw the ruins the next day and couldn't find Lizzie.

Ben had to concede that his parents had been right all along about him, but now it was too late. He also didn't know how far the elder McCall boys went to get a little excitement, beside stealing and setting fires. They also threatened men and women, sometimes even beating up the men if they got in their way. At the trial, all three were found guilty and sentenced to hang for their crimes.

Ben was awarded his sister's two youngest boys, Colin and Jessie. He would bring them up as if they were his own. Both became doctors.

Minnie and Tom Martin would enjoy their new ranch for fifteen long and happy years before Tom dies of a stroke at the age of seventy-eight. Minnie would follow a year later at seventy four. The ranch itself was left to their dear lifelong friends Almanzo James and Laura Ingalls Wilder who rented it continually until Manly's death in 1949. Laura sold the Martin's ranch to its current resident in 1950 and has been kept in the same family. It has become a working farm and has grown considerably since Tom Martin first built and purchased the land in 1884.

Nate and Eliza Jane Harcourt had promised Ben Weller that they'd wait in Currie until the McCall business had been settled. As it happened, the teaching position opened up in Minneapolis and, the two made plans to settle out there. At Nate's urging, Eliza Jane ended her assignment at Currie and moved to Minneapolis. Nate's death six months later would be devastating to Eliza and to help forget, she plunged into her teaching. She took several teaching seminars, one in Arizona with Laura and a few more without her. She continued to live and teach in Minneapolis however until her brother's stroke in the winter of 1886 when she stayed in Walnut Grove for almost six months before she decided to move down to Crowley, Louisiana.

Fact vs Fiction

There was no Minnie Trimble Martin or Thomas Martin. Minnie is taken from the Little House episode, "Sweet Sixteen" from Season Six. Thomas Martin is my creation only.

Luke McCall, his wife Lizzie and his four sons, Ben Weller and Jake Johnson are my creation only.

Nathan Jonas Harcourt is loosely based on Thomas Jefferson Thayer, a wealthy, twice married merchant with six children. Eliza Jane married Thomas at age 42. She gave birth to a baby boy in 1894 and would name him Walcott "Wilder" Thayer. Thomas Jefferson Thayer would die in 1897 and his entire estate would go to Etta, his daughter from a previous marriage.

In 1904, Eliza Jane married Maxwell Gordon. The two would separate later on. She died on June 1, 1930 and is buried in Lafayette, Louisiana.