Laura's engagement ring - Update

Half a million years ago in the old forum I had asked a question about Laura's engagement ring.

Quote :

In "These Happy Golden Years" is described that Laura wore her engagement ring on her first finger.
I've never heard about such a tradition before and when I searched for it in the internet, I only found the engagement ring worn on the third finger, which is also called the ring finger.

Do you know if it was usual to wear the ring on the first finger back then or why Laura did it?

We didn't come to any conclusion in the thread and a while ago I had thought, why not ask the people, who actually should know something about it. So I emailed the specialists of the LIW Memorial Society in DeSmet and the LIW-museum in Mansfield.

Here are the replies:

Quote :

LIW Historic Home & Museum Mansfield:
Thank you for your interest in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home & Museum. This question has been posed before, and no satisfactory reason could be found, other than perhaps a local tradition or one among her friends and contemporaries. I am sorry we are not able to help. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance.

Quote :

LIW Society DeSmet:
...I am sorry, but we do not know for sure what she meant by her "first finger". When we see pictures of Laura , it looks like a ring on the correct finger, so I am sorry, I can not answer that question for you.They expressed some things differently in those days, so perhaps she did not mean her first as we do. Maybe the finger next to her "pinky" would have been called the "first" finger. Sorry.

It's quite interesting that the speculation that the "first finger" meant the finger next to the pinky back then is the same, what ChristinaAL wrote in the old thread. So perhaps...

But as the question is still not answered properly, I thought it might brought up here as well. Who knows, perhaps we will make some sensational discovery...

thats kool

Thank you for sharing! I find this question very interesting.

Sadly, I can't answer it properly...However, I think it could be a Laura's decission to have the ring on her first finger. Of course, you know that she was very, but very personal. A girl that asked her future husband not to ask her to "obey" him during the Wedding Ceremony has a lot of personnality, no doubt. Maybe she has some personal reason to have the ring on her first finger. Nevertheless she MUST have told us WHICH these reasons were and WHY!!!

Vanesa.

I think your question is very interesting, and I do hope you'll find the asnwer. You could be a part of the LIW Society in the way of contributing new information.

Good luck!

Actually I'm thinking of a way to find it out. There must be some people, who could know something about it - somewhere, perhaps still in or near DeSmet. Perhaps they've heard from their grantparents about local customs about engagement rings or how things were expressed, or they knew somebody who lived at these old times and told them about it...
But how to find them? :think:
And the time is running... away

Uhmmm... Wouldn't this be an interesting project for students?

Good idea! But unfrotunately, I don't know anybody living near De Smet or having relatives there...

Vanesa.