Pa - Charles Phillip Ingalls
Charles Phillip Ingalls was born in Cuba, New York, on
January 10, 1836. Charles married Caroline Quiner and they had five
children Mary, Laura, Carrie, Charles Frederick, and Grace. Charles
always wanted to go out west and moved his family frequently, which
was documented by his daughter, Laura, in her Little House on
the Prairie book series.
This beloved pa and husband filled the hearts of his family with his wonderful fiddle
music. He died in De Smet, SD on June 8, 1902.
Here is a link to pa's fiddle music.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/1867/fiddle.html
Ma - Caroline Lake Quiner
Caroline taught two terms of school when she was only sixteen years old, and then married Charles Phillip Ingalls in Concord, Wisconsin, on February 1, 1860. They had five children, Mary, Laura, Carrie, Charles Frederick, and Grace.
Caroline was known as being kind, gentle, and full of wisdom. When her husband died, she continued to live in De Smet with her eldest daughter Mary. She died on April 20, 1924.
Mary
When Mary was fourteen years old, she became severely ill. Her illness, which is variously described as scarlet fever (in the books) and meningitis, resulted in a stroke, which caused Mary to go blind.
Laura then became Mary's "eyes", describing everything around them to her sister.
In 1881, the Dakota Territory paid for Mary to attend the Iowa School for the Blind in Vinton, Iowa (now known as the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School). She graduated in 1889, and returned to De Smet, SD to live with her parents. Like most blind women of the time, Mary never married and lived with her parents until their deaths. Mary then lived with Grace and her husband, in Keystone, SD until her death on October 17, 1928.
Carrie
After finishing school, Carrie worked for a newspaper in De Smet, SD. Carrie married David Swanzey, a widower with two young children in Rapid City, SD. Carrie raised David's children, and on June 2, 1946, she died, leaving her older sister Laura as the last surviving member of the Ingalls family.
Freddie
Grace
Being only eight years old when Laura married, Grace played a minor role in the last books of the Little House series. On October 16, 1901, Grace married Nathan William Dow in the Ingalls family home, in the front parlor.
She cared for her older sister, Mary, after her mother's death. Grace never had any children, and died in Manchester, SD, on November 10, 1941.
Laura
She and Almanzo had a daughter, Rose, who was born on December 5, 1886, and a son in early August 1889, who died.
After publishing many articles locally, Laura began to work on her memoirs, in a manuscript entitled Pioneer Girl. This manuscript became the inspiration of her beloved Little House on the Prairie series. The first book of the series, Little House in the Big Woods, was published by Harper and Brothers (now known as HarperCollins) in 1932.
Laura died on February 10, 1957 at her Rocky Ridge home, the last surviving member of her pioneering Ingalls family.
Almanzo
He and Laura had a daughter, Rose, who was born on December 5, 1886, and a son in early August 1889, who died.
Laura wrote the story of his childhood in her second book, Farmer Boy. Laura's book, The First Four Years, tells the story of their early years together when Almanzo was plagued with debts related to farming, as well as diphtheria, that resulted in his paralysis.
In 1890, Laura, Almanzo and Rose lived with Almanzo's parents in Spring Valley, Minnesota. Between 1891 and 1892, the three then moved to Westville, Florida in hoped the warmer climate would help Almanzo's legs. Laura hated living there so much, they returned to De Smet. In July, 1894 the three then left for Laura and Almanzo's final home, Mansfield, Missouri.
Almanzo lived out the rest of his life working on his beloved farm, until his death on October 23, 1949 from two subsequent heart attacks.
Rose Wilder Lane
Rose followed her mother's lead and became a prolific writer
of many article and
magazine serials, as well as many books, including
Let the Hurricane Roar, Old Home Town, Faces at the Window,
Home Over Saturday, and Free Land, a Story of Homesteading.
Rose married Claire Gillette Lane on March 24, 1909, and divorced in 1918. The Lane family had one son, who died at birth. Rose spent much of her time traveling to different parts of the world, and on the eve of another world tour she died in Danbury, CT on October 30, 1968.
Laura and Almanzo's home, Rocky Ridge Farm.
Notice the big
picture windows and the ivy that is changing colors on the fireplace.
The white house, pictured above, is a house that Almanzo built a piece at a time over a period of 15 years and was built of materials from the land. When they first moved there (in the fall) they built a log cabin and then the next year Almanzo added a room to the log cabin that was built with regular lumber instead of logs. Then when they could afford it they built a single square room on the site where the white house is, and then Almanzo using his horses and mules, rolled, on logs, the added on room from the log house over to their new home and then basically attached them to each other. These are a part of the house that is there now. He was quite the carpenter. I am not sure the house would meet building codes of today, but it was well done in my opinion. Laura was very short (only 4-11) and Almanzo was only 5-4. I knew she was short but always thought he would have been taller and Almanzo built all the cabinets and counter tops to be comfortable for them. They are very short as compared to the standard today. There is a corner of the house with big picture windows and the corner is built so that you can sit or lay down in the window. Laura never put heavy curtains over them or the rest of the house for that matter. She said she didn't want to cover her "pictures".
Other sites to visit about Laura Ingall's family:
Laura Ingalls Wilder http://www.lauraingallswilder.com
Walnut Grove, MN. on of the places Laura's family lived.