Caroline Ingalls

Caroline Ingalls
Caroline Quiner Ingalls with her husband Charles Phillip Ingalls
Born Caroline Lake Quiner
(1839-12-12)December 12, 1839
Brookfield, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died April 20, 1924(1924-04-20) (aged 84)
De Smet, South Dakota, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Charles Phillip Ingalls
(m. 1860; his death 1902)
Children
Parent(s)
  • Henry Quiner
  • Charlotte Quiner Holbrook (née Tucker)

Caroline Lake Ingalls (/ˈɪŋɡəlz/; née Quiner; December 12, 1839 – April 20, 1924) was the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books.

Biography

Childhood

Historical marker at the place of Caroline Ingalls's birth
For information on the relatives, see : List of real-life individuals from Little House on the Prairie

Caroline was born 15 miles west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the Town of Brookfield, Waukesha County, the fifth of seven children of Henry Quiner and Charlotte (Tucker) Quiner. Her brothers were Joseph, Henry, and Thomas, and her sisters were Martha Jane and Eliza (the Quiners' first child, Martha Morse Quiner, died in 1836).[1]

When Caroline was five, her father died in an accident, reportedly on Lake Michigan near the Straits of Mackinac. In 1849, her mother married Frederick Holbrook, a farmer who lived nearby.[1] They had one child together, Charlotte "Lottie" Holbrook. Caroline evidently loved and respected her stepfather, and would later honor his memory by naming her son after him.

Marriage

At the age of 16 1/2, Caroline started working as a teacher. On February 1, 1860, she married Charles Phillip Ingalls. Together they had five children: Mary Amelia, Laura Elizabeth, Caroline Celestia (Carrie), Charles Frederick (Freddie), and Grace Pearl.

Freddie Ingalls

Freddie Ingalls
Born Charles Frederick Ingalls
(1875-11-01)November 1, 1875
Walnut Grove, Minnesota,
United States
Died August 27, 1876 (9 months, 26 days)
South Troy, Minnesota,
United States
Parent(s) Caroline Ingalls (mother)
Charles Ingalls (father)

Charles Frederick "Freddie" Ingalls was born on November 1, 1875, in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and died August 27, 1876, in South Troy, Minnesota, of undetermined causes.

In her autobiography Pioneer Girl,[2] Laura remembers that "Little Brother was not well" and that "one terrible day, he straightened out his little body and was dead". Wilder scholar William Anderson noted: "Nearly forty years after Freddie's death, Ma mourned him, telling relatives how different everything would be 'if Freddie had lived'."[3]

Travels and later years

The Ingalls family traveled by covered wagon from Wisconsin; Kansas (Indian Territory); Burr Oak, Iowa; and Minnesota. In 1879, they settled in De Smet in Dakota Territory.

Final home of Caroline Ingalls, built by Charles in 1887, and located in De Smet, South Dakota

After arriving in De Smet, Caroline and the Ingalls family lived in the home of the local surveyor as well as a store in the downtown area, before homesteading just outside town on a farm by Silver Lake. When the Ingalls' sold the farm due to a persistent pattern of dry years, Charles built a home for them on Third Street in De Smet, known later as "The House That Pa Built".[4] Following her husband's death from heart disease in 1902 at age 66, Ingalls and her oldest daughter, Mary, remained in the De Smet house, renting one of the rooms for extra income. Following a long illness, Caroline Ingalls died on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1924, at the age of 84.

In the media

The fictional series The Caroline Years, an extension of the Little House series, by Maria D. Wilkes and Celia Wilkins, follows Caroline Quiner from her fifth year to her late teens, up to her engagement to Charles. The first title in the series is Little House in Brookfield.[5]

References

  • Robynne Elizabeth Miller (2015). From the Mouth of Ma: A Search for Caroline Quiner Ingalls. Practical Pioneer Press. ISBN 978-0-692-58065-3.
  1. 1 2 "Laura Ingalls Wilder Homepage". Dahoudek.com. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867–1957), Papers, 1894–1943 (C3633)" (PDF). State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Anderson, William (1989). Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Iowa Story. Laura Ingalls Wilder Park & Museum. p. 7. ASIN 096100889X.
  4. ↑ Potter, Constance (Winter 2003). "Genealogy Notes: De Smet, Dakota Territory, Little Town in the National Archives". Prologue Magazine. The National Archives. 35 (4).
  5. ↑ Wilkes, Maria D. Little House in Brookfield. New York: HarperTrophy. ISBN 0-06-440610-5.
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