Biographical Sketch

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilderâs eight books in the Little House series are classified as autobiographical historical fiction. Although shelved in the fiction category, I was convinced that they were very much the truth. As a child, I couldnât for the life of me figure out why they werenât placed in the biography section. Research shows that Laura used her biography for a framework, but didnât include certain elements. In her book fair speech of 1937 at the J.L. Hudson department store in Detroit she explained, "Every story in this novel, all the circumstances, each incident are true. All I have told is true but it is not the whole truth. There were some stories I wanted to tell but would not be responsible for putting in a book for children, even though I knew them as a child."

Part of a pioneer family growing up in the mid-West Laura had a rich background from which to tell her stories. Her family packed things up into a covered wagon and moved six times before settling for good. Pepin, Wisconsin; Indian Territory in Kansas; Plum Creek, Minnesota; Walnut Grove, Minnesota; Burr Oak, Iowa; and De Smet, South Dakota were all places that Laura called home before the age of 13.

Laura Ingalls was born on February 7, 1867 at Lake Pepin, Wisconsin. The second child of Caroline Lake (Quiner) Ingalls and Charles Philip Ingalls, she started life with one sister, Mary Amelia, born in 1865. In 1870 a third sister, Caroline Celestia “Carrie,” was born. In 1875 a brother, Charles Fredrick “Freddie” was born. Sadly, he died at 9 months of age. The Ingalls family was complete with the birth of baby Grace Pearl, born in 1877.

Laura’s family of origin was a happy one and even through the challenges of travel, homesteading, crop failure, infant death, and malaria the overall tone of her upbringing was positive. She thought her Pa had hung the moon and his storytelling and fiddle playing remained fixed in her memory throughout her long life.

At age 15 another man came into Laura’s life. Almanzo Wilder was another homesteader in the DeSmet area. He and Laura fell in love, married when she was 18 years old and moved to his homestead on the other side of town. In 1886 she gave birth to her daughter, Rose, just in time for her to be declared, “a grand Christmas present.” Three years later Laura gave birth to a son, who died before he could be named. Just a few weeks later their home was destroyed by a kitchen fire, leaving Laura, Manly and Rose with only a kitchen platter that Laura managed to throw out the window of the house.

In 1894 the Wilder three moved to Mansfield, Missouri. There they purchased Rocky Ridge Farm with $100.00 that Laura had saved. Almanzo’s health had suffered when he contracted diphtheria and he lived the rest of his life with a limp and weakness that kept him for working as hard as he had in his early years. Laura sold eggs and potatoes in the first year and they worked hard to improve their land and home. Laura also supplemented their farm income by writing magazine articles from 1915 on.

Rose by now, had grown up to become a writer of newspaper articles and she encouraged her mother to write a novel about her years growing up. Laura wanted to write down some of the stories that her Pa had told to preserve them for Rose. Laura submitted her first draft, “Pioneer Girl,” but it was rejected. With editing and helpful advice from Rose her second attempt, Little House in the Big Woods, was submitted to Harpers and accepted. Laura was 65 years old.

Following the success of Little House in the Big Woods Laura was encouraged to write more stories of her childhood. She wrote a total of 8 novels that followed Laura and Almanzo’s childhood (mostly Laura’s) from age 3 to their marriage. A diary of The First Four Years of their marriage was discovered after her death and subsequently published. It is not as polished as the other 8 stories and really does not fit into the “Little House” series.

Almanzo died at age 92 in 1949. Laura at age 90 in 1957. Both are buried in Mansfield, Missouri.

Sources:

Irby, Rebecca LeeAnn & Greetham, Phil. The Real Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Life. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Frontier Girl. http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/frames.html. Accessed: November 12, 2004

Giff, Patricia Reilly, Laura Ingalls Wilder Growing Up In the Little House. Viking Penguin. New York. 1987

Hannaway, Kimberly & Mohn, Kathleen A. J. Laura Ingalls Wilder 1867-1957. http://www.umkc.edu/imc/wilder.htm. Accessed: November 12, 2004

Miller, John E. Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder; The Woman behind the Legend. University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO. 1998

Something About the Author. Commire, Anne, Editor. Volume 15. Gale Research Company, Detroit MI. 1979. p. 301

Wilder, Laura Ingalls & Lane, Rose Wilder. A Little House Sampler. Edited by William T. Anderson. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE. 1988