Laura Ingals Wilder Tombstone
Photo courtesy of
Harper Collins Publishers
Most of us are familiar with the name, Laura Ingalls, and associate her with the weekly TV series known as "Little House on the Prairie. What many of you may not know, is that Laura Ingalls was an actual person and the TV series was based on her memoirs in a manuscript entitled "Pioneer Girl."
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born on February 7, 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin, the second child of Charles and Caroline Ingalls.Laura married Almanzo James Wilder in South Dakota on August 25, 1885. They first met while Laura was teaching at a school located 12 miles from her home. James would pick Laura up each weekend and then return her before classes resumed the following week. Almanzo and Laura were the parents of two children, Rose and a baby boy who died in infancy. Almanzo and Laura both liked to travel and together with their daughter Rose, traveled to many different places. They finally settled in Mansfield, Missouri where Laura died on February 10, 1957, being the last surviving member of her pioneer Ingalls family.
Laura began writing her series of "Little House" books in 1932 and her main objective was to preserve the tales of a lost era in American history. She had no idea that her books would go on to be classics. These tales are about her years growing up on the mid-western frontier in the 1870's and 1880's and of her experiences while living in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota and South Dakota. Books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder include:
"Little House in the Big Woods"
"Little House on the Prairie"
"On the Banks of Plum Creek"
"Little Town on the Prairie"
"Farmer Boy"
"By the Shores of Silver Lake"
"The Long Winter"
"Happy Golden Years"
"The First Four Years"
"On the Way Home"
Located in Mansfield Cemetery, Mansfield, MO
Photos submitted by our friend Bob
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