About Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder
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This article is about the author. For the aviatrix, see Laura Ingalls (aviator).
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Wilder c. 1894[1] (age approximately 27)
Born Laura Elizabeth Ingalls
February 7, 1867
Pepin County, Wisconsin, US
Died February 10, 1957 (aged 90)
Mansfield, Missouri
Occupation Writer, teacher, journalist, family farmer
Nationality American
Period 1911–1957 (as writer)
Genre Diaries, essays, family saga(children's historical novels)
Subject Midwestern & Western
Notable works

Little House on the Prairie
Little House series
Notable awards Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
est. 1954

Spouse Almanzo Wilder (1857–1949) (his death)

Signature


Laura Ingalls Wilder[2] (/ˈɪŋɡəlz/; February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, most notably the author of the Little House series of children's novels based on her childhood in a pioneer family.[3] Her daughter, Rose, encouraged her to write and helped her to edit and publish the novels.

A popular 1974–84 TV series loosely based on the Little House books starred Melissa Gilbert as Laura.



Contents [hide]
1 Birth and ancestry
1.1 Family on the move
1.2 De Smet
1.3 Young teacher
2 Marriage
2.1 Children
2.2 Early trials
3 Move to Mansfield, Missouri
4 Writing career
4.1 Little House books
4.1.1 Authorship controversy
4.1.2 Enduring appeal
5 Later life and death
6 Estate
7 Autobiography: Pioneer Girl
8 Works
8.1 Little House books
8.2 Other works
9 Legacy
9.1 Historic sites and museums
9.2 Wilder Medal
9.3 Other
10 Portrayals on screen and stage
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links


Birth and ancestry[edit]

Laura was born February 7, 1867, seven miles north of the village of Pepin in the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin,[4] to Charles Phillip Ingalls and Caroline Lake (Quiner) Ingalls. She was the second of five children, following Mary Amelia, who went blind in her teens.[a] Their three younger siblings were Caroline Celestia, Charles Frederick (who died in infancy), and Grace Pearl. Her birth site is commemorated by a replica log cabin, the Little House Wayside.[9] Life there formed the basis for her first book, Little House in the Big Woods.[4]

Laura was a descendant of the Delano family, relatives of the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,[10] whose progenitor emigrated on the Mayflower in 1620, and of Edmund Rice, who emigrated in 1638 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[11] One paternal ancestor, Edmund Ingalls, was born on June 27, 1586, in Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, England, and emigrated to America, where he died in Lynn, Massachusetts, on September 16, 1648 [12]
Family on the move[edit]

The Ingalls family moved from the Big Woods of Wisconsin in the year 1869, before Laura was two years old. They stopped in Rothville, Missouri, and settled in Kansas, in Indian Country near what is nowIndependence. Her younger sister, Carrie, (1870–1946) was born there in August 1870, soon before they moved again. According to her, Charles had been told that the location would soon be open to white settlers but that was incorrect; their homestead was actually on the Osage Indian reservation and they had no legal right to occupy it. They had only just begun to farm when they were informed of their error, and they departed in 1871. Several neighbors stayed and fought eviction.[13]

From Kansas they returned to Wisconsin where they lived the next four years. Those experiences formed the basis for Little House on the Prairie and Little House in the Big Woods, although the fictional chronology does not match the fact: Laura was about one to three years old in Kansas and four to seven in Wisconsin; in the novels she is four to five in Wisconsin (Big Woods) and six to seven in Kansas (Prairie). According to a letter from Rose to biographer William Anderson, the publisher had her change her age in Prairie because it seemed unrealistic for a three-year-old to have memories so specific as her story of life in Kansas.[14] To be consistent with her already established chronology, she made herself six to seven years old in Prairie and seven to nine years old in On the Banks of Plum Creek, the third volume of her fictionalized history, which takes place around 1874.

On the Banks of Plum Creek shows them moving from Kansas to an area near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and settling in a dugout "on the banks of Plum Creek".[15] They really lived there beginning in 1874 when Laura was about seven. That year Charles' restless spirit led them to Lake City, Minnesota, and then on to a preemption claim in Walnut Grove, where they lived for a time with relatives near South Troy, Minnesota. Laura's little brother, Freddie, was born there on November 1, 1875; he died only nine months later on August 27, 1876. They next moved to Burr Oak, Iowa, where they helped run a hotel. Laura's youngest sibling,Grace, was born there on May 23, 1877.

They moved from Burr Oak back to Walnut Grove, where Charles served as the town butcher and justice of the peace. He accepted a railroad job in the spring of 1879, which took him to eastern Dakota Territorywhere they joined him that fall. Laura did not write about 1876–1877 when they lived near Burr Oak, but skipped directly to Dakota Territory, portrayed in By the Shores of Silver Lake. Thus the fictional timeline caught up with her real life.
De Smet[edit]

Charles filed for a formal homestead over the winter of 1879–1880. De Smet, South Dakota became his, Caroline's, and Mary's home for the rest of their lives. After spending the mild winter of 1879–1880 in the surveyor's house, they watched the town of De Smet rise up from the prairie in 1881. The following winter, 1880–1881, one of the most severe on record in the Dakotas, was later described by Laura in her book,The Long Winter. Once they were settled in De Smet, she attended school, worked several part-time jobs, and made many friends—most importantly the bachelor homesteader Almanzo Wilder (1857–1949), whom she later married. This time in her life is well documented in the books Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years. (Almanzo's childhood is featured in her second book, Farmer Boy.)
Young teacher[edit]

On December 10, 1882, two months before her sixteenth birthday, Laura accepted her first teaching position. She taught three terms in one-room schools when not attending herself in De Smet. (In Little Town on the Prairie she receives her first teaching certificate on December 24, 1882, but that was an enhancement for dramatic effect.[citation needed]) Her original "Third Grade" teaching certificate can be seen on page 25 of William Anderson's book Laura's Album (Harper Collins, 1998). She later admitted she did not particularly enjoy teaching, but felt the responsibility from a young age to help her family financially; and wage-earning opportunities for women were limited. Between 1883 and 1885, she taught three terms of school, worked for the local dressmaker, and attended high school, although she did not graduate.
Marriage[edit]

Laura's teaching career and studies ended when she married Almanzo Wilder, whom she called Manly, on August 25, 1885. As he had a sister named Laura, his nickname for her became Bess (for her middle name of Elizabeth).[16] She was eighteen and he was twenty-eight. He had achieved a degree of prosperity on his homestead claim, and their prospects seemed bright. She joined him in a new home there, north of De Smet.
Children[edit]

On December 5, 1886, she gave birth to Rose (1886–1968) and in 1889 to a son who died before he was named.
Early trials[edit]

Their first few years of marriage were frequently difficult. Complications from a life-threatening bout of diphtheria left Almanzo partially paralyzed. While he eventually regained nearly full use of his legs, he needed a cane to walk for the remainder of his life. This setback, among many others, began a series of disastrous events that included the death of their newborn son; the destruction of their barn along with its hay and grain by a mysterious fire;[17] the total loss of their home from a fire accidentally set by Rose;[18] and several years of severe drought that left them in debt, physically ill, and unable to earn a living from their 320 acres (129.5 hectares) of prairie land. The tales of their trials can be found in Laura's book The First Four Years. Around 1890, they left De Smet and spent about a year resting at Almanzo's parents' prosperous Spring Valley, Minnesota farm before moving briefly to Westville, Florida. They sought Florida's climate to improve Almanzo's health; but being used to living on the dry plains, they wilted in the Southern humidity and heat, and felt out of place among the locals. In 1892, they returned to De Smet and bought a small house.
Move to Mansfield, Missouri[edit]

In 1894 they moved to Mansfield, Missouri, and used their savings to make the down payment on an undeveloped property just outside town. They named the place Rocky Ridge Farm and moved into a ramshackle log cabin. At first they earned income only from wagonloads of firewood Almanzo sold in town for fifty cents. Financial security came slowly. Apple trees they planted did not bear fruit for seven years. Laura's parents visited around that time and gave them the deed to the house they had been renting in Mansfield, which was the economic jump start they needed. They added to the property outside town, eventually owning nearly 200 acres (80.9 hectares). Around 1910 they sold the house in town, moved back to the farm and completed the farmhouse with the proceeds. What began as about forty acres (16.2 hectares) of thickly wooded, stone-covered hillside with a windowless log cabin became in twenty years a relatively prosperous poultry, dairy, and fruit farm and an impressive ten-room farmhouse.[citation needed]

Laura and Almanzo Wilder, 1885

The Wilders had learned a hard lesson from cultivating wheat as their sole crop in De Smet. They diversified Rocky Ridge Farm with poultry, a dairy farm, and a large apple orchard. Laura became active in various clubs and was an advocate for several regional farm associations. She was recognized as an authority in poultry farming and rural living, which led to invitations to speak to groups around the region.[citation needed]
Writing career[edit]

An invitation to submit an article to the Missouri Ruralist in 1911 led to Laura's permanent position as a columnist and editor with that publication, which she held until the mid-1920s. She also took a paid position with the local Farm Loan Association, dispensing small loans to local farmers.

Laura's column in the Ruralist, "As a Farm Woman Thinks," introduced her to a loyal audience of rural Ozarkians, who enjoyed her regular columns. Her topics ranged from home and family to World War I and other world events, and to the fascinating world travels of Rose and her own thoughts on the increasing options offered to women during this era. While they were never wealthy until the "Little House" books began to achieve popularity, the farming operation and Laura's income from writing and the Farm Loan Association provided a stable living.

"[By] 1924," notes professor and scholar John Miller, "[a]fter more than a decade of writing for farm papers, Laura had become a disciplined writer, able to produce thoughtful, readable prose for a general audience." At this time, Rose helped her publish two articles describing the interior of the farmhouse, in Country Gentleman magazine.[19]

It was also around this time that Rose began intensively encouraging Laura to improve her writing skills with a view toward greater success as a writer such as Rose had already achieved.[20] The Wilders, according to Professor Miller, had come to "[depend] on annual income subsidies from their increasingly famous and successful daughter." They both had concluded that the solution for improving their retirement income was for Laura to become a successful writer herself. However, the "project never proceeded very far."[21]

In 1928, Rose hired out the construction of an English-style stone cottage for her parents on property adjacent to the farmhouse they had personally built themselves and still lived in. She remodeled and took it over.[22]