Laura Ingalls Wilder

I didn’t “discover” the Little House books until I was in college. Of course, I was aware of them before that, but I didn’t have an interest in history when I was a child, so I wrote them off as boring.

I think those books were where my love of history began. For the first time I saw actual people living lives that in some way set the stage for my own life, rather than a series of boring events to be memorized.

My interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder goes beyond her Little House books. I have done research into her life and have even been to the home she lived in as an adult in Mansfield, Missouri and visited her grave. William Anderson has written a number of books that tell us the details of Laura’s life that she didn’t include in her books. Here are some interesting facts I have learned:

Laura’s “Pa,” Charles Ingalls, was married to “Ma,” Caroline Quiner in 1860, but did you know that 2 of Charles' siblings also married Caroline’s siblings?

The Ingalls had a son, Charles Frederick, between Carrie and Grace in age. He lived for 9 months.

Laura’s parents have no surviving descendants.
- Mary never married.
- Laura married Almonzo Wilder. They had a daughter, Rose and also had a son who died in infancy. Rose married and later divorced. She too lost a son in infancy and had no other children.
- Carrie married David Swanzey, but not until she was nearly 42. They had no children, though Carrie did help raise 2 step-children, David’s son and daughter.
- Grace married Nathaniel Dow. They had no children.

It is believed that Carrie’s husband David named Mount Rushmore, and his son was one of the workers who helped carve the figures there.

Pa died in 1902 at age 64. Ma died in 1924 at age 84. They both lived in DeSmet, South Dakota, until their deaths.

The family attended a Congregationalist church when Laura was growing up, and she and Almonzo later attended a Methodist church in Missouri. She kept a Bible on a table near a favorite rocking chair, and in it was a list she had written out of chapters to read during various times of trouble.

Laura’s daughter Rose was grown and had made a name for herself as an author before Laura began writing the Little House books.

Laura wrote all of her books out in pencil on school-type tablets.

She intended for “These Happy Golden Years” to be the last book in the series. She wrote the manuscript of “The First Four Years” but felt it was too tragic to publish. It was found and published in 1971, after both Laura and Rose had died.

Laura’s books were well-loved from the time they were published. She received many honors during her lifetime, but it is said she was always humble and gracious. She personally wrote back all of her “fans” and attended as many of the ceremonies in her honor as her health would allow. She was the last surviving Ingalls daughter and died in 1957, three days after her 90th birthday.