Her Life Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born on Thursday, February 7th, 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin. Laura's first memories of the cabin in the woods, were of her parents and her sister, Mary. In the evenings, the sound of Pa's fiddle would lull her to sleep playing songs like, "Auld Lang Syne," and "Home Sweet Home". Laura's first memory of her father was his eyes, always so clear, sharp, and blue. While Laura recalled her Pa as strong, fearless, and jolly, she remembers her mother, Ma, as gentle, quiet, and comforting. When Laura was about 1 year old, the family decided to move to Kansas. Laura tells about this move in The Little House on the Prairie. It was not a easy move, but they finally arrived in Montgomery County, Kansas. While they were there, Ma gave birth to Laura's baby sister, Caroline Celestia Ingalls on Wednesday, August 3rd, 1870. Laura was 3 years old at the time. In the winter of 1871, Ma and Pa decided to go back to Wisconsin. They stayed here for another 3 years and those years are in the book called The Little House in the Big Woods. On Laura's seventh birthday, her family decided to move again and this time to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. This part of Laura's life is recorded in On the Banks of Plum Creek and with all of her adventures there. In 1876, Pa and Ma decided to move with another family to Burr Oak, Iowa to0 help them operate a hotel there. A little over a year, the family decided to move again but this time to who knows where! Pa didn't even know where they were going. He just said, "We'll know it when we get there!" Finally they settled down in De Smet, a pretty, little, and new town. This is where the Ingalls ended up staying for the rest of their lives. Laura met Almanzo, (her future husband), in 1880 when she was about 17 and even though he was 10 years older than her, she liked him at first sight. Then, about 5 years after courting her, Almanzo, (or Manly as she called him), married her August 25, 1885 when she was 22 years old. On the night of December 5, 1886, Laura's and Manly's daughter was born. Her name is Rose Wilder. Their next baby, a boy, did not live to see his home. In the summer of 1894, they decided to make a home in Mansfield, Missouri. On June 8,1902, Laura's Pa died with Ma and his four daughters nearby. The next important event in their lives was when their daughter, Rose, got married in 1909 to Gillette Lane. It was in the 1930's that Laura first starting writing her books. In 1949, Almanzo Wilder died of a severe heart attack on October 23. Three days after her ninetieth birthday, Laura died on February 10, 1957. The Little House books were her richest harvest. |