Who is The Thin, Scraggly Workingman from On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 and what is their importance?

Shortly after arriving at their newly-purchased property, the Wilder family is greeted by a thin and haggard looking man that asks for work. When informed that no work is available, he is persistent. He haltingly informs the Wilder family that he, his wife, and their five children, are homeless, penniless, destitute, and verging on starvation—and he does not think he can make the one-mile journey into town.