On February 13, 1857, Almanzo James Wilder was born in Burke, New York. Almanzo had a happy childhood growing up on the family farm. Later, he met and married Laura Ingalls and they eventually settled in Mansfield, Missouri, where she would write the Little House series of books, including Farmer Boy, which describes a year in Almanzo's life on the Burke homestead. Today, the homestead is open to the public. Come visit and get an idea of what life was like on a rural farm family in 1870. Tour the homestead museum, house, and barns, as well as a traditional 1800s one-room schoolhouse.