About Laura Ingalls-Wilder....
Laura Ingalls, My Ninth Cousin
Lansford Whiting Ingalls(my 7th cousin 5x removed) was born in Canada and was a descendant of Henry Ingalls(Lansford’s 5th great grandfather), who was born in Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, England in 1927 (died in 1714) and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Lansford's mother was Margaret Delano, of the famed Delano family, and was a descendant of Mayflower passenger, Richard Warren.
His wife, Laura Louise Colby was born in Vermont and was a descendant of Edmund Rice, an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Lansford Ingalls and Laura Colby gave birth to Charles Phillip Ingalls, the second of nine children, born in Cuba, New York on January 10, 1836.
In the 1840s, when Charles was a young boy, his family moved from New York to the prairies of Illinois at Campton Township, just west of Elgin, Illinois.
While Lansford Ingalls was settling in the Elgin, Illinois area, eighty-one miles to the southeast, his 7th cousin (my 3rd great grandfather), Ephraim Pray had moved from New York to settle in Beaverville, Illinois. There, they gave birth to my 2nd great grandfather, William Pray on February 20, 1851.
On February 1, 1860, at the age of 21, Charles married Caroline Lake Quiner, a local school teacher and together, they moved to Pepin County, Wisconsin. Caroline was born 15 miles west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in Brookfield, Waukesha County, the fifth of seven children of Henry Quiner and Charlotte (Tucker) Quiner. Her father was killed in an accident when she was five and her mother remarried Fredrick Holbrook, a local widowed farmer with one daughter.
Their first daughter, Mary Amelia Ingalls was born on January 10, 1865 in the “Big Woods” near Pepin, Wisconsin.
She was followed by the birth of 2nd daughter, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls in February 7, 1867, also in the “Big Woods” near Pepin, Wisconsin.
When Laura was two years old, the family moved to Rothville, Missouri and eventually to an area near Independence, Kansas from 1868 to 1870. 3rd daughter, Carrie Celestia Ingalls was born there in August 3, 1870.
After Carrie’s birth, they lived in Wisconsin from 1871 to 1872. From 1873 to 1874, they moved back to the Kansas prairie.
A 4th child and only son, Charles Frederick Ingalls was born on November 1, 1875, in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and died August 27, 1876, in South Troy, Minnesota, of undetermined causes. In Walnut Grove, Charles served as the Justice of the Peace and Town butcher. They traveled next to Burr Oak, Iowa where their 5th child, Grace Pearl Ingalls was born on May 23, 1877.
In the spring of 1879, Charles took a job as a clerk and bookkeeper with the railroad in Dakota Territory and moved to De Smet.
In October of 1880, the Dakotas territories experienced the worst snow storm of the century throughout the United States. Beginning in October, the blizzard conditions continued throughout the winter with a second major blizzard hitting on February 2, 1881 and lasting for 9 straight days. Trains stopped running until the spring thaw leaving many townships in starvation conditions. Snow drifts as high as the second story of many buildings trapped people indoors for weeks on end. Many farmers, caught off guard by the earliness of the storms, had not yet brought in their crops for harvest. Tunnels were dug for farmers to be able to reach their cattle in snow covered barns. By late spring, the winter thaw caused huge sections of flat farmland to flood and caused massive ice jams along the creeks and rivers. Whole cities in the South Dakota areas were washed away completely by rivers overflowing their banks. This was also true of the township of DeSmet and the Ingalls family.
During 1881, Laura began to court local homestead owner and farmer, Almonzo James Wilder and in December 10, 1882, Laura began teaching two months before her 16th birthday. Between 1883 and 1885, she taught three terms of school, worked for a local dressmaker, and attended high school in De Smet, although she never graduated.
On August 5, 1885, Laura and Almonzo were married and settled on Wilder’s claim to begin farming.
On December 5, 1886, Laura gave birth to her daughter, Rose Wilder. Almonzo became partially paralyzed following a bout of diphtheria. Eventually, bad weather, drought and family illness cause the family farm to fail.
Three years later, in August of 1889, Laura gave birth to a son who died at 12 days of age before being named. The unnamed child was buried at De Smet, Kingsbury County, in South Dakota. Their farmhouse burns down and their crops fail. They decide to relocate to Spring Valley, Minnesota to stay with Almonzo’s parents, but the harsh winters are hard on Almonzo’s health and in October of 1891, the Wilder Family move to Westville, Florida hoping that the warm weather will help Almonzo’s recovery.
The Wilder Family eventually move back to DeSmet, South Dakota in August of 1892 to buy a small home in town near Laura’s parents, Charles and Caroline and their now blind daughter, Mary.
By July of 1894, the family moves to Mansfield, Missouri by covered wagon and put $100 down on 40 acres of rocky soil. They decide to name the farm Rocky Ridge Farm. They planted apple trees, but it takes a few years for the trees to mature and yield a crop. During that time, they live in a small cabin just outside of Mansfield, Missouri.
On June 8, 1902, Charles Ingalls (my 8th cousin) dies at the age of 66 in DeSmet, South Dakota.
In 1910, Laura and Almonzo build the farmhouse on the property at Rocky Ridge Farm and move in. They now earn money with their poultry, the apple orchard and dairy farming. In 1911, Laura is asked to submit an article to the Missouri Ruralist which leads to her permanent position as a columnist and editor.
On April 20, 1924, Caroline Ingalls passes away at the age 84 in De Smet, South Dakota. Daughter Mary, who had been living with her parents decides to move in with her sister, Grace, and following Grace’s death on November 10, 1941 at age 64 of diabetes, she moves in with another sister, Carrie.
Mary Ingalls never married. She died on October 20, 1928 at the age of 63, because of pneumonia and complications from a stroke. She is buried at De Smet Cemetery.
The stock market crash of 1929 wipes out the investments of the Wilders and their daughter Rose, is now an author. In 1930, Rose asks her mother to look at some articles she has written about her mother’s childhood on the prairie and this along with the passing of several family members causes Laura to start writing all her childhood stories for herself. By 1932, with editing help from her daughter, Laura was written Little House in the Big Woods and the rest is history.
Carrie Ingalls-Swanzey died on June 2, 1946 at the age of 75 in Keystone, South Dakota.
Almonzo Wilder died Rocky Ridge Farm at the age of 92 on October 23, 1949 following two heart attacks. Laura followed him eight years later, on February 10, 1957. Their daughter, Rose Wilder Lane lived until 1968. All three of them are buried in Mansfield, Missouri.
