Laura's Early Life This website is dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder, the original Prairie Girl. Laura inspired me to become a Teacher, Mother and Taught me the meaning of adventure and Perseverance.

                   From left, Carrie, Mary and Laura Ingalls in the 1870s

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was born in Pepin, Wisconsin to parents Charles Phillip and Caroline Lake (Quiner) Ingalls. Charles' paternal grandmother was Margaret Delano, of the famed Delano family, and was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. Laura was the second of their five children: Mary, who later in her life became blind, Laura, Caroline, whom they called Carrie, Freddy, who died at nine months old, and Grace.

 Many details of Laura's family life through adolescence chronicled in her semi-autobiographical "Little House" book series. She and her family moved extensively throughout the Midwestern United States during her childhood. Although she was a bright student, her education was rather sporadic, a result of her family often living in isolated areas where schools were not yet established, or the family's finances resulting in Laura interrupting her schooling to earn money. 

The family eventually settled in De Smet, Dakota Territory, where she attended school more regularly and worked as a seamstress and teacher. Laura ended her teaching career in 1885 when she married homesteader Almanzo Wilder (1857–1949). At that time, married women were not permitted to teach. She had two children: the novelist, journalist and political theorist Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968), and an unnamed son, who died soon after birth in 1889.

In the late 1880s, complications from a life-threatening bout of diphtheria left Almanzo partially paralyzed. While he eventually regained nearly full use of his legs, he needed a cane to walk for the remainder of his life. This setback began a series of disastrous events that included the death of their unnamed newborn son, the destruction of their home and barn by fire, and several years of severe drought that left them in debt, physically ill and unable to earn a living from their 320 acres (1.3 km²) of prairie land.

In about 1890, the Wilders left South Dakota and spent about a year resting at Almanzo's parents' prosperous Minnesota farm, before moving briefly to Florida. The Florida climate was sought to improve Almanzo's health, but Laura, used to living on the dry plains, wilted in the heat and southern humidity. They soon returned to De Smet and rented a small house in town. The Wilders received special permission to start precocious Rose in school early, and took jobs (Almanzo as a day laborer, Laura as a seamstress at a dressmaker's shop) to save enough money to once again start up a farming operation.
 

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