On This Day: Laura Ingalls Wilder was born

Today is Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthday. She was probably my first favorite author. As a child, I loved reading about her adventures as her family settled in the Prairie Land! I read every book of the Little Woods Series. In fact, I still have them!  The Series romanticized her life, that time period and the Midwest.  

The Little House Series was told through a child’s eyes for young readers. For years her autobiography, seen very much through the eyes of her adult self, sat at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, MO. The South Dakota Historical Society Press has finally published it, titled “Pioneer Girl” and it is hard to find. A quick Barnes and Noble search shows no copies available. On eBay, the least expensive copy is already over $50. 

Wilder was born On This Day in 1867 to Charles Phillip and Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls in Pepin, WI. Through her books, and later the popular television series that starred the ever gorgeous Michael Landon, many came to know Laura and her sisters as well as her husband Almanzo.  

Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder, 10 years her senior, married on 25 August 1885. They had one daughter, Rose (1886-1968). Almanzo died in 1949. Laura passed on 10 February 1957 in Mansfield, MO. 

 

On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.

                

© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015