This week, we're learning about the three inspirations for Laura Ingalls Wilder's infamous "Nellie Oleson" character. Here's a short biography of the second person, Genevieve Masters, from the Wikipedia article on Nellie Oleson.
The second girl, Genevieve Masters, was the spoiled daughter of a former teacher of Laura's. Genevieve wore beautiful tailored clothes and had striking blonde hair (in curls), just as "Nellie Oleson" had. Genevieve was originally from New York and boasted about the city. With her superior attitude, Genevieve was far nastier than Nellie Owens had been, and Laura and Genevieve became keen rivals, both academically and socially. Gennie's family moved to De Smet not long after the Ingalls family, but the Owens family did not move. Therefore, the "Nellie" of Little Town on the Prairie is Genevieve Masters. In her "Letter to Children" written late in her life (a sort of form letter sent to the hundreds of children who wrote her monthly), Laura states that "Nellie Oleson . . . moved back East, and did not live many years". She was evidently referring to Genevieve Masters in this letter. Genevieve died of pneumonia in 1909. She had one daughter.
Alas, a quick Google image search doesn't reveal any photographs of Genevieve Masters. I wonder if any exist in archives? It would be fascinating to find out.
Come back on Friday for the conclusion to this three-part series on the real-life "Nellie Olesons!"
Elizabeth
Found four webpages with this story, each a word-for-word replica of the others. Did they clone, or is there some plagiarism. Who started it?
ReplyDeleteNellie and the poor girl lived into the 1940s--didn't anyone who was featured in these books brag about it? The books were all caldecott winners or honored. Doesn't SOMEONE out there know "my great aunt was Ida Wright!". You'd think so.
Thank you for pointing out the apparent non-originality of the bio paragraph. I used text from the Wikipedia article on Nellie Oleson, which states, "Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply." In accordance with the terms of this license, I attempted to attribute the article to its original authors by providing a hyperlink to the Nellie Oleson article. I will try to be clearer in the future about my sources. I appreciate your pointing this out, as Internet plagiarism, piracy, information sharing, and security are such important issues right now.
DeleteWhat you said about the people featured in the books is so interesting. I agree it's odd that we never hear about anyone stepping forward and claiming their minor fame. I should research this further... It would make for an interesting future post. Haha thanks for the idea!
I believe I have found the ancestors of Genevieve Masters, through some online sleuthing. Would it be strange to reach out to them? Part of me thinks they probably already know, given that everything about Laura Ingalls Wilder is so well-documented. But maybe they don't! What do folks think I should do?
ReplyDeleteIt would be VERY strange in you reached out to her "ancestors". You might have better luck reaching out to her descendants! ;-)
DeleteI say...do it! Write it up and post it as many places as you have the energy for. People love LIW...
ReplyDelete