Ever wonder about the chronology of events in Laura’s life and the historical context surrounding her experiences? The two timelines below weave some of her major life events with interesting historical milestones in literature, politics, science, and technology.
Interactive Timeline
Below is the interactive timeline, which allows you to view relevant photography and videos alongside historical events.
Scrollable Timeline
Below is the scrollable timeline, which allows you to view groupings of important dates related to the life and legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
1836-1864 Birth of Pa, Ma, and Almanzo
1/10/1836 – Charles Phillip Ingalls is born to Lansford Whiting Ingalls and Laura Louise Ingalls in Cuba, New York.
1838 – Samuel Morse invents Morse code which is still in use today.
12/12/1839 – Caroline Lake Quiner is born to Henry Newton Quiner and Charlotte Quiner in Brookfield Township, Wisconsin.
2/13/1857 – Almanzo James Wilder is born to James and Angeline Day Wilder on a farm near Malone, New York.
2/1/1860 – Charles Ingalls marries Caroline Quiner in Concord, Wisconsin.
4/12/1861 – Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina, launching the American Civil War.
8/17/1862 – Four Santee Dakota men kill five settlers in Minnesota and trigger a six-week conflict that claims the lives of 400-600 white settlers and soldiers. As punishment, on December 26, 1863, 38 American Indian men are hanged, the largest public execution in American history. Laura refers to this conflict in Pioneer Girl.
1863 – English author Charles Kingsley publishes the classic children’s book, The Water Babies.
1863 – Charles and Caroline settle on a farm in Pepin County, Wisconsin.
1865-1884 The Ingalls Children are Born and Grow Up
1865 – English author Lewis Carroll publishes the children’s classic, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.
1/10/1865 – Mary Amelia Ingalls is born in the “Little House in the Big Woods” outside of Pepin, Wisconsin.
4/9/1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
4/15/1865 – Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14. The president dies early the next morning.
12/6/1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to Constitution abolishing slavery in the United States is ratified.
2/7/1867 – Laura Elizabeth Ingalls is born in the “Little House in the Big Woods” outside of Pepin, Wisconsin.
1868 – Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, is published in 1868. It is considered to be the first American young adult novel.
5/10/1869 – First U.S. Transcontinental Railroad is completed as the famous “Last Spike” is driven at Promontory Summit, Utah.
September 1869 – Pa, Ma, Mary, and Laura move to the Osage Diminished Reserve (Indian Territory) in Kansas. (Exact date not known.)
8/3/1870 – Caroline Celestia (“Carrie”) Ingalls is born in Montgomery County, Kansas.
1871 – The family leaves the Indian Territory in the spring and returns to their home in the Big Woods.
1873 – The Ingalls family, along with hundreds of other farmers, loses its wheat crop year after year. This continued through 1877.
February 1874 – The Ingalls family settles near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and spends their first year there living in a dugout as described in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Charles Ingalls then builds the family a house on this farm. (Exact date not known.)
7/22/1874 – General George Armstrong Custer leads a military expedition into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory, a region that had been granted to the Sioux in 1868. Custer announces on August 15, 1874, that his expedition has discovered gold in the Black Hills.
December 1874 – Laura’s Uncle Tom Quiner accompanies John Gordon into the Black Hills illegally. The group builds a stockade and remains in the Black Hills until April 1875, when they are escorted out by the United States Army. Laura writes about this episode in Pioneer Girl and These Happy Golden Years. (Exact date not known – December 1874)
1875 – English author George MacDonald publishes the classic, At The Back of the North Wind.
11/1/1875 – A baby boy, Charles Frederic Ingalls, is born.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is awarded a patent for the telephone.
6/25/1876 – General Custer and most of his Seventh Cavalry Regiment are annihilated by the combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho. The battle takes place in the eastern Montana Territory but is prompted by the illegal settlement of the Black Hills.
7/7/1876 – The Ingalls Family sells the Plum Creek Farm and leaves Walnut Grove.
8/27/1876 – Baby Charles lives only nine months. He dies as the family moves east and is staying with relatives.
10/1/1876 – Charles and Caroline briefly manage the Masters’ Hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa. This business venture fails; Charles finds work in town.
1877 – Thomas Edison invents the first working phonograph. His cylinder phonograph was the first to reproduce sounds accurately.
1877 – English novelist Anna Sewell publishes Black Beauty.
5/23/1877 – Grace Pearl Ingalls is born in Burr Oak, Iowa.
August-September 1877 – The Ingalls family leaves Iowa and returns to Walnut Grove, Minnesota in the late summer, early fall 1877. (Exact date not known.)
1879 – Thomas Edison is granted a U.S. patent for the light bulb. The light bulb pictured in the Interactive Timeline is one used is a demonstration at Menlo Park in December of 1879.
Winter 1879 – Mary suffers a stroke and loses her sight. In 2013, a medical team reviewed Mary’s case and determined her blindness was caused by viral meningoencephalitis.
Spring 1879 – Almanzo, Royal, and Eliza Jane Wilder file adjoining claims on land near the planned townsite for De Smet.
9/9/1879 – Caroline and the girls arrive by train in Dakota Territory; Charles works for the Chicago and North Western Railway. The family spends the winter in the Surveyor’s House near Silver Lake.
2/19/1880 – Charles Ingalls files a homestead claim in Kingsbury County, near the De Smet townsite in Dakota Territory.
3/9/1880 – De Smet is named the county seat of Kingsbury County at a meeting in the Ingalls home (the Surveyor’s House) on March 9, 1880. Pa begins work on his first building in town in March.
October 1880-May 1881 – An exceptionally long, hard winter shuts down the railroad, cutting off supplies of food and fuel to towns throughout Dakota Territory. The Ingalls family suffers from hunger and cold.
11/25/1881 – Mary leaves to attend the Iowa College of the Blind in Vinton, Iowa.
1883 – Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson publishes Treasure Island.
12/10/1883 – Laura receives her first teacher’s certificate and begins teaching school in December 1883. She begins teaching at the Bouchie school (called “the Brewster school” in These Happy Golden Years) and she boards with the Bouchies while Almanzo Wilder drives her home on weekends.
1884 – Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young adult novel.
1885-1910 Laura and Almanzo Marry and Establish Their Home
8/25/1885 – Laura and Almanzo are married in the home of the Rev. Edward Brown.
1886 – Karl Benz, eventual co-founder of Mercedes-Benz, invents the first gasoline-powered automobile. The internal combustion engine would go on to revolutionize travel.
12/5/1886 – Laura and Almanzo’s daughter Rose is born. She is named for the wild roses that thrive on the prairie.
3/5/1888 – Laura and Almanzo contract diphtheria; Grace Ingalls records the date in her diary. Almanzo suffers a subsequent stroke which permanently damages his legs. He limps through the rest of his life.
1889 – In June of 1889, Mary Ingalls graduates from the Iowa College for the Blind after attending classes there for seven years.
8/7/1889 – Laura and Almanzo’s baby boy dies. Grace Ingalls writes in her diary that “Laura’s little baby boy…looked just like Manly,” August 27, 1889. The baby was buried in the De Smet cemetery.
11/2/1889 – Dakota Territory officially becomes two states – North Dakota and South Dakota.
1890-1891 – Laura and Almanzo leave South Dakota and move to Spring Valley, Minnesota and then to Westville, Florida seeking recovery for Almanzo’s weakened health.
12/29/1890 – Soldiers from the Seventh Cavalry Regiment leave over 200 Lakota men, women, and children dead as tension over the Ghost Dance movement gives way to violence. Twenty-five soldiers die.
August 1892 – Laura and Almanzo rent a house in De Smet, South Dakota, and return in August of 1892. Laura works for a dressmaker in town; Almanzo takes on a variety of jobs. They begin saving money to buy a farm.
1893 – Josephine Cochrane unveils the first reliable (hand-powered) dishwasher was at the Chicago World’s Fair.
7/17/1894 – Laura, Almanzo, and Rose travel from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in a two-seated hack. Laura keeps a diary of the trip, later published as On the Way Home. They arrive in Mansfield on August 30, 1894.
9/21/1894 – Laura and Almanzo buy a 40-acre farm near Mansfield, Missouri; the sale included 400 seedling apple trees. Laura names the farm Rocky Ridge, and in the 1930s and early 1940s, writes the Little House books here.
1900 – Roberto Landell de Moura transmitted human voice wirelessly (by radio) for the first time.
1900 – American author L. Frank Baum publishes The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the first book in an enormously popular series of Oz books.
6/8/1902 – Charles Ingalls dies at the age of 66, and is buried in the De Smet Cemetery.
1903 -American authors publish two enduring children’s classics: The Call of the Wild by Jack London and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin.
1903 – At sixteen, Rose leaves Mansfield to finish high school in Crowley, Louisiana, home to her Aunt Eliza Jane Wilder Thayer.
12/17/1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the first gas motored and manned the airplane. On December 17th they flew it for two short flights each, covering between 120-200 feet each time.
1905 – Albert Einstein publishes the Theory of Relativity. This theory becomes one of the two foundations of modern physics.
1908 – Engish author Kenneth Grahame publishes The Wind in the Willows.
1908 – Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery publishes Anne of Green Gables.
3/24/1909 – Rose marries Claire Gillette Lane in San Francisco, and eventually begins to write for the San Francisco Bulletin.
1911-1929 Laura Becomes a Writer
1911 – English author Frances Hodgson Burnett publishes The Secret Garden; Peter and Wendy, by Scottish author and playwright James Barrie, is published the same year.
2/18/1911 – Laura launches her professional writing career as a columnist and later as the Home Editor for the Missouri Ruralist. She works for the newspaper through the mid-1920s.
1913 – Pollyanna by American author Eleanor H. Porter is published.
6/28/1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophia are assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, sparking World War I in Europe.
1915 – While visiting Rose in San Francisco, Laura publishes her first work for children, a series of short poems in The San Francisco Bulletin. She uses the byline, “Laura Ingalls Wilder,” for the first time.
4/6/1917 – The United States declares war on Germany and enters World War I.
11/7/1917 – The Russian government is overthrown during the Russian Revolution.
1918 – Rose and Gillette are divorced, although they separated in 1915.
11/11/1918 – Germany signs the armistice at Compiègne, France, and suspends all fighting. The Treaty of Versailles formally ends World War I on June 28, 1919.
June 1919 – Laura writes “Whom Will You Marry” for the June 1919 issue of McCall’s magazine. Rose edits the article.
1920 – The Story of Dr. Dolittle is published by British author Hugh Lofting.
5/4/1920 – Rose accepts a position with the Publicity Bureau of the American Red Cross, and travels extensively in Europe through 1921.
8/18/1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote, is ratified.
1/10/1922 – Rose accepts a position with the Near East Relief Agency. She lives and works abroad for much of the 1920s.
4/20/1924 – Caroline Ingalls dies in De Smet, South Dakota, at the age of 84. She is buried in the De Smet Cemetery.
1925 – Adolf Hitler publishes the first volume of Mein Kampf, his autobiographical manifesto. The second volume is published in 1926.
1/17/1925 – Laura publishes “My Ozark Kitchen” in the January 17 issue of Country Gentleman. She publishes a second article, “The Farm Dining Room,” in the same magazine later that year.
1/26/1926 – John Logie Baird demonstrates the first mechanical television for the Royal Institution and a reporter for The Times.
1928 – Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin when one of the cultures in his lab developed an unexpected fungus. He observed that the colonies of bacteria around the fungus had been destroyed.
February 1928 – Rose moves back to Rocky Ridge Farm in February 1928; her companion Helen Boylston (nicknamed Troub) joins her there in June 1928.
10/17/1928 – Mary Ingalls dies in De Smet, South Dakota, at the age of 63. She is buried at the De Smet Cemetery.
12/15/1928 – Laura and Almanzo move into the Rock House, a home Rose designed and built for their retirement. Rose and Troub live in the farmhouse at Rocky Ridge Farm.
10/29/1929 – The stock market crashes, signaling the beginning of the Great Depression.
1930-1943 Laura Writes Pioneer Girl and the Little House Books
1930 – American publisher Edward Stratemeyer creates Nancy Drew. She appears in her first book, The Secret of the Old Clock, written by Mildred Wirt Benson under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene.
5/7/1930 – Laura finishes a handwritten, book-length autobiography Pioneer Girl. Rose edits subsequent versions and attempts to market it later that year to New York publishers.
1932 – Laura revises a juvenile version of Pioneer Girl, which eventually becomes Little House in the Big Woods. The book is published when Laura is 65 years old.
1932 – Rose publishes Let The Hurricane Roar, a novel based on episodes from Laura’s Pioneer Girl. The book is retitled Young Pioneers in the 1970s.
1/30/1933 – Adolf Hitler Becomes Germany’s Chancellor.
1933 – Farmer Boy, Laura’s second novel is published, and is based on Almanzo’s childhood in Malone, NY.
3/4/1933 – Elected in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes President and begins to implement his New Deal policies during the Great Depression.
1935 – Little House on the Prairie is published. The fictional Ingalls family begins its trek across the American West in Little House on the Prairie, set on the Osage Diminished Reserve in Kansas.
July 1935 – Rose moves to Columbia, Missouri, to research a new book. Laura and Almanzo move back into the Rocky Ridge farmhouse, where she writes the remaining Little House books.
1937 – On the Banks of Plum Creek is published. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, set in Minnesota, the Ingalls family lives in a dugout and endures a grasshopper plague.
1937 – Laura delivers a speech about her Little House novels at the Detroit Book Fair. The speech signals her emerging role as an important American children’s book author.
1937 – British author J.R.R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit.
4/1/1938 – Rose buys a farmhouse in Danbury, Connecticut.
1938 – On the Banks of Plum Creek is named a Newbery Honor Book by the American Library Association.
1938 – Rose publishes Free Land, her second novel based on material from Laura’s Pioneer Girl.
1939 – By the Shores of Silver Lake unfolds in Dakota Territory, where the Ingalls family finally settles.
9/1/1939 – Germany invades Poland, and within days, France, Great Britain, and Canada declare war on Germany.
1940 – The Long Winter is published. By the Shores of Silver Lake is named a Newbery Honor Book by the American Library Association.
1940 – American author Maud Hart Lovelace launches her semi-autobiographical historical fiction series with Betsy-Tacy, set in Minnesota in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
9/27/1940 – Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact, creating the Axis Powers of World War II.
1941 – Little Town on the Prairie is published. The Long Winter is named an ALA Newbery Honor Book.
11/10/1941 – Grace Ingalls Dow dies in Manchester, South Dakota, at the age of 64, and is buried in De Smet.
12/7/1941 – Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and the United States declares war on Japan the following day. A few days later, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
1942 – Laura’s work receives more literary recognition! By the Shores of Silver Lake is awarded Pacific Northwest Library Young Reader’s Choice Award. Little Town on the Prairie is named a Newbery Honor Book by the American Library Association.
1943 – These Happy Golden Years, the final book in Laura’s Little House series, is published. It is named a Newbery Honor book in 1944 by the American Library Association.
1943 – Rose Wilder Lane publishes Discovery of Freedom: Man’s Struggle Against Authority.
1943 – American author Esther Forbes publishes Johnny Tremain.
1944-1957 Laura Retires; Garth Williams Illustrated Versions Published
6/6/1944 – D-Day, the Allies’ massive invasion of France, is successful, but 2,500 Americans lose their lives.
4/12/1945 – President Roosevelt dies in office, and Harry S. Truman becomes President of the United States.
5/7/1945 – Germany surrenders and V-E Day (Victory in Europe) is celebrated two days later.
8/6/1945 – The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima; three days later, it drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
8/14/1945 – World War II ends when Japan Surrenders; the ceremonial end to the war occurs on the U.S.S. Missouri on September 2, 1945.
6/2/1946 – Carrie Ingalls Swanzey dies in Rapid City, South Dakota, at the age of 75, and is buried in De Smet.
1947 – Raytheon builds the “Radarange”, the first commercially available microwave oven. It was almost six feet (1.8 meters) tall and weighed 750 lbs. (340 kilograms).
10/23/1949 – Almanzo Wilder dies in Mansfield, Missouri, at the age of 92. He is buried in the cemetery at Mansfield, Missouri.
6/25/1950 – North Korea Invades South Korea; the U.S. sends in troops to support South Korea two days later.
1950 – British author C.S. Lewis publishes The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first book in his classic fantasy series for children.
1951 – J.D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye, is published for adult readers; now it is considered a classic young adult title.
7/27/1953 – North and South Korea suspend combat and create a demilitarized zone between the two countries.
10/1/1953 – The Little House books are reissued with new illustrations by Garth Williams.
1954 – The American Library Association creates the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; Laura Ingalls Wilder is presented with the first award. The award honors an American author or illustrator who has made lasting and significant contributions to children’s literature.
2/10/1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder dies at home at the age of 90. She is buried in the cemetery at Mansfield, Missouri.
1958-present The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder
1960 – American author Harper Lee publishes To Kill A Mockingbird for adult readers. It has since become a young adult classic.
4/12/1961 – Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin is the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth.
1962 – On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder is published.
1962 – American author Madeleine L’Engle publishes A Wrinkle in Time, the first novel in her series for children about the Murry and O’Keefe families.
11/22/1963 – President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as President of the United States.
1964 – Harriet the Spy, written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh, is published.
8/2/1964 – The North Vietnamese allegedly fire on the U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Congress authorizes President Johnson to escalate military operations in Vietnam.
1965 – American forces conduct bombing raids over North Vietnam. The war escalates dramatically throughout the decade and into the early 1970s.
July 1965 – Rose accepts an assignment with Woman’s Day magazine and flies to the Republic of Vietnam in July to report her observations about the country and its people.
December 1965 – “August in Vietnam” appears in the December issue of Woman’s Day magazine.
1967 – American author S.E. Hinton publishes a groundbreaking young adult novel.
10/30/1968 – Rose Wilder Lane dies at the age of 81, and is buried beside her parents in the cemetery at Mansfield, Missouri.
1969 – Ground-breaking American author Judy Blume publishes her first novel for young readers, The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo.
7/20/1969 – The Apollo 11 mission marks the first time humans set foot upon another world as Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the Moon.
1971 – The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder is published posthumously. The book deals with newlyweds Laura and Almanzo struggling against the harsh realities of frontier life.
1/28/1973 – The United States signs a cease-fire agreement, and the last American troops leave Vietnam in 1973.
1974 – West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915 is published.
3/30/1974 – “Little House on the Prairie”, the television pilot, introduces the Ingalls family to millions of viewers around the world.
9/11/1974 – “Little House on the Prairie,” the television series, airs on NBC on Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm. In 1976, NBC moves the series to Monday nights and it remains ranked in the Top 30 for the rest of its nine-season run.
1989 – The World Wide Web is invented by Tim Berners-Lee.
1995 – The Golden Compass, the first novel in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series is published in the United States. This British novel appeals to both young adult and adult readers, establishing a cross-over readership trend in Young Adult fantasy.
1997 – J.K. Rowling’s popular British fantasy series is launched in the United States with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The best-selling series raises new interest in fiction for young readers.
2005 – Twilight, the first novel in a vampire series for young adults, is published by American author Stephanie Meyer. The series builds on the renewed interest in Young Adult fiction generated by the Harry Potter series.
3/26/2005 – “Little House on the Prairie”, the mini-series is broadcast on ABC on successive Saturday evenings beginning on March 26, 2005, in The Wonderful World of Disney time slot.
2007 – Apple introduces the iPhone, one of the first mobile phones to use a multi-touch interface.
2008 – American author Suzanne Collins publishes the first novel in her best-selling series, The Hunger Games. The books are part of a trend in YA literature focusing on dystopian settings.
8/15/2008 – “Little House on the Prairie, The Musical” is a stage adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s stories, which breaks box office records at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
October 2009 – “Little House on the Prairie, The Musical” tours 28 cities in the U.S. and Canada from October 2009 through June 2010.
11/17/2014 – Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography is published. Laura’s autobiography is published for the first time- over eighty years after she wrote the original draft.
February 2015 – “Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder” is a one-hour documentary directed and narrated by Dean Butler who played Almanzo Wilder on the original television series.
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I.have.always.loved.the.LIW..books..Just,recently.bought.a.9.book.set.of.all.my.fav.stories..I.too.believe.I.was.born.in.the.wrong.era..I.always.say.i.belong.to.the.LIW.genre..Love.the.show.too..Thanks.for.all.this.info
Read the books as a kid in the 1970s and early 80s. I have always been interested in LIW and pioneer American History. I’ve read the books to my 3 daughters. We have been to Mansfield Missouri and her home and Museum. I’m from Louisiana and Perley Day Wilder (Almanzo’s brother) lived and is buried in my hometown. I went to school with descendants of Perley’s and didn’t know it until years later.
Thank U for this list and dates. I want to print it off and frame it! I have so enjoyed Little House on the Prairie Series. I have watched the 55 DVD set and have watched it from beginning to end 11 times. I am about to watch it for the 12th time. I am addicted to the time era, and the focus of God, family, helping your neighbors. This is what life is to be all about. Michael Landon (Although he didn’t really live the life) he left a legacy here doing these shows. Because he didn’t grow up this way and wanted a true family life this gave him the drive to create Little House on the Prairie. I thank him.
I to feel as though I was born in the wrong era. I admit looking at the timeline Laura didn’t have an easy time of it. I don’t live on a farm but I do garden and do as much as I can without to many modern conveniences. I wave my summer bonnet to all the woman of that era. Those were tough ladies.
I named one of my daughters after Caroline Ingalls. I continue to love her to this day for her quiet strength and her love.
As an avid reader in my late 80’s I’ve read all the Little House books and watched the TV series as well. My daughter also has enjoyed both the books and the TV series. Now is the time for my grandaughters to be introduced into the world of Little House on the Prairie.
this helped me a lot with my school project!
Took a motorcycle trip in 2015 from NC to Texas ended up in Mansfield Missouri, happed to see a sign about Laura pure luck! Stopped at the farm, got to see a lot in the museum, highlite of my trip.
Thank you for gathering and sharing this with us.
~ God Bless ~
Awesome
Enjoyed reading about Laura Ingles. Always like the TV series as well.
Good
I have been a Laura Ingles Wider lover and reader all of my life and I am 72 years old!
I have always been a fan of the books my daughter read. I did too! I watched the series and have them on DVD. I watch this web page onn facebook. I would like to visit the house She wrote her books in Missouri. I found it very interesting!
I am glad to have have found this site. A tome when life was more simple yet more harsh.
I first heard the Little House books starting in 1947. So enjoyed them as a 3rd grader. As a school teacher, read one of the books each year to my elementary age kids. Many then picked up and read the rest. This went on for 21 years. I am now 79 and enjoying rereading the books once again. Also enjoying researching the life of Laura. My wife and I have visited all the many sites of her travels. Enjoyed this blog as well.
The new version of this is the best thing I can ever get from you and the other ones that you have are amazing
I am just reading the books for the first time. They were my daughter’s favorites when she was growing up, but somehow I never read them until now. They are worth reading at any age!
I’d watch the show with my father as a little girl. Read all the books. Still read them. Still watch. Visited Plum Creek in Walnut Grove in my 30s. LHOTP, Little Women, Gone with the Wind, the Anne of Green Gables series were all favorites of mine as a girl and remain so today. I solemnly feel as though I was born in the wrong century. Bless Laura Ingalls Wilder, LM Montgomery and LM Alcott for blessing us!
My wife loves this show
Where can a get the series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder? I would love to read them and understand how they correspond to the beloved tv series.sherry
Hi Sherry – You can find the books here: https://littlehouseontheprairie.com/about-us/little-house-on-the-prairie-books/
Try Barnes and Nobles or Amazon.com
Amazon is a good start. Thrift stores are how I’ve been able to collect many boxed sets. I have 7 grandchildren, so far, so when each one becomes 7 years old, they receive a boxed set, and their parents encourage them reading 📚 them. I have a couple of them that haven’t reached 7 yet, but so far I have them “covered” for when they do turn 7…LOL. Old Book stores, and new ones too, do carry them, if you can’t find the books, ASK…LOL. You’ll be surprised how fast they can get them, and reasonably priced.
Happy Hunting 😊!!!!!
Blessings!!!!!
Me too!!
I love LJOTP. Watching it right now. Then Bonanza, That Walton’s also. Wonderful shows.
I agree with Haydee as we need more shows like LHOTP and the Waltons. Would someone please produce good, wholesome shows that I can enjoy with my grandchildren. Stories like LHOTP that show how people lived, loved and worked for what they had.
I absolutely love Little House on the Prairie. Amazing stories and though they had their great challenges too, so much more peaceful than these modern times full of vulgarity, violence and hate.
I wish someone would do another series similar to Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons with great actors and beloved stories. There’s great hunger for this type of wholesome entertainment.
I watch LHOTP for HOURS sometimes.
I read the books when I was a little girl. Never missed a show when they first came out and now I am in my seventies I still watch the reruns over and over. I always thought I should have been born in the pioneer days. Simply loved this family and their story.
I love the series of Laura Ingalls Wilder and watched every episode that was ever made
Ring in that time and Era been extremely difficult full of love and surprises.
I love lhop I would love to visit their past life’s I love shows like this ! There is no violence you learn a lot of history just like the waltons
LHOP is a wonderful program full of lessons we can learn from. They were very special people. Some day I want to visit the various places they have lived at.
I grew up with the little house on the prairie I loved it and still do
I love little house on the prairie television series and all the books.I never get enough of the shows. I have all nine seasons.I also have on DVD beyond the prairie.someday I want to visit the laura ingalls wilder museum.
I’m the same way. I read the books as a middle schooler. Then started watching the show with my mom. I have the while book collection and would love her mothers and grandmothers story line books also. It’s my dream vacation lol
Great series, I still watch it every day, Ya it does make you think about life in those day’s compared to today. Even though it was very tough to make ends meet to put bread on the table, People seemed to be a lot more compassionate to each others needs and be there for eachother no matter how hard it was for them as well. It does seem like they had more moral values then today, and thats what makes this series so important for kids today to watch it , Just like we did when we were young and to share this story to the new generation. They did love thy neighbours
A lot of us do wish that we did live in those times , I know i do when ever i’m watching Little house. But How many of us could survive those day’s if we could set time back now. I dont think there would be too many of us that could, the only way would be if we just simply grew up during those day’s
Mrs laura ingalls wilder thank you for sharing your story. Your perserverance through those hard times with your family is something to be very proud of . Your living descendant must be very proud of you.You and your family are a very special to millions around the world. Thank you
Oh by the way if anyone knows where i can Get the book collection, Please let me know . I would really appreciate it . I love the shows and i know i well love the books as well. Thank you to anyone who would help me out.
I just started rewatching the series, I didn’t know it the characters were based on real people. I am totally in love with story and v am looking forward to reading the books.
Podrían permitir traducir al español???? Por favor
Happy Birthday Grace Ingalls. May you a blessed day! I loved watching Little House On The Prairie.
I love Laura’s books. It is great to read about real people and how America was settled.
Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of my fsvorite authors. She inspires me to become a teacher or an author. I love her so much!! I can’t wait to start reading her books…again!
Loved this series… Watched it with my grandparents and I remembered my grandfather always calling Charles Ingals “Little Joe” from Bonanza
Since you mentioned Bonanza, I happened to see one episode of Bonanza a couple of weeks ago and the story line seemed very familiar to me. I still watch Little House on the Hallmark and Inspiration channels and have seen every episode a dozen times. When this episode of Bonanza came on it featured Hoss going on a horse buying trip to a big ranch owned by a very rich man with a family of two children and his wife. The rich man was a drunk by night and would come home drunk late every night. Hoss stayed at the rich man’s ranch while the horses were rounded up for his approval. While there Hoss became friends with the rich man’s wife and two young children. He took them on a picnic that their father was supposed to go with them but he was too busy. Hoss finds out the rich man had an accident and killed their oldest son while riding on a horse with him. The wife was very unhappy with her life and her drunken husband. He wasn’t a very good father after the accident that killed his son. This same episode was aired on Little House, replacing Hoss with Charles. I just wonder how many more episodes were taken from Bonanza and put into the Little House series? It’s interesting reading all this history about the author and everything that happened in our country and across the globe. I wasn’t a very good history student in school but I like reading about this. Now my grandchildren watch the Little House series with me and The Waltons. Happy 4th of July!!
I was 8 years old when I first watch little house on the prairie,loved the whole series ,Charles and Caroline were great parents,Nelson and Mrs. Harriet were so funny,I now have the 9 seasons of the little house,I’m so happy because growing up with ingles I learned so much and it thought me a lot of things my children love it as well they watch it ever time they can,my daughter loves to read the books.Thankyou Iglas family for the insperation ,and life lessons you thought us ,you had great characters on the movie
I have always love the show. I will watch it over and over. When I can afford it I am going to get the whole series so I will have them.
Hi my name is Shiralee and i live in Hillcrest Queensland Australia. I loved the show little house. I loved the costumes the most and the Ingles house. I grew up with a Wood stove and the old copper boiler outside boiling away with the clothes in it. I lived in a 2 bedrooms house with my grandmother. We also great veggie garden and chickens. The only thing missing was the creek out front. Like at the Ingles place. I also loved the shop keeper Nels Oslen and Harriet Olsen. With out them it wouldn’t have been a good show. I’m a mother, cook, dress maker, and wife. I am learning to make patchwork Quilts. I want to make one for the beds at home. Plus I grow all my own veggies and have chickens just like Ma Ingles. She inspired me in a big way. All my stuff i grow is organic. As far as i can tell by watching the show they never used sprays and stuff on their fruit and vegetables to keep away the pests.
Thank you
My favorite time to read about when growing up — always wanted to be a “pioneer girl.” I used to wear flannel nightgowns, sit by the fire reading a book and pretend is was during the 19th Century.
I was introduced to the wonderful books of Laura Ingallls Wilder when I was quite young. My grandmother (on the mother’s side) knew Laura and my “Nana’s” name is mentioned in either By the Shores of Silver Creek or On the Banks of Plum Creek — it was a birthday party and my grandmother, Maude, was invited. On my trip moving from Oregon to North Carolina to live located my grandparents graves in South Dakota! It was a true walk down memory lane!
My heart and soul is in this show.I watched it as a child with my mother.my children watched it and now my grandchildren are too watching.I live in Michigan and not every body knows laura moved too grand rapids.Michigan yea.
i love little house on the prairie i watch it and over again
Love the show I record them so I can watch them over and over as a kid I watched them with my nana and now I wach them with are children
Loved n watch Little House all my life !!!! Still do. Greatest series Ever!!!! My Grandchildren watch too. Just love History and L H very educational in all ways of life!!!!!!!
It was my favorite stories when I was a young girl, now I am passing the on to my grandchildren. Great life lessons, stories, and it makes me yearn for that era. My mom always told me, Dianna, you were born in the wrong century.
Are there any living relatives to the Ingalls family or the Wilder family?
I have collected most movies now on web get more information love little house on the prairie
Laura was the only one of the girls to have biological children, and Rose had one son that died as a baby.
Almanzo’s siblings had children that lived thru the mid 60’s (his youngest brother had a son that lived until 1977) so one of Almanzo’s nieces or nephews may still have descendants that are living.
I like the shows and I have all her books
I love the show have the series now my grandchildren are getting in to it.
I love the show and the things it teaches us
Yes,me too and sometimes I wish I lived in those days 🙂
dose dasy was fun and hard to live in but simple.
i love the book it was fun it was sad to.
Love the show
I love the Little House series. They are truly inspirational of what it means to be a family.
I just love knowing everything I can about the Family and the heritage.
I find it fascinating that you actually teach a course on Wilder. I already have a master’s degree in literature so I don’t really need to take an undergrad course, but I would love to audit the online class just to participate in the discussion and learn something new. Do you allow that?
Little house on the prairie is my favorite film when I was still junior high school n till now..I know n remember the players like:Charles,Caroline,Mary,Laura,Carry,Albert,Nelly,,and others,,when will the next continuation be presented ?I really fall in love with this movie so much..swear.
I love this. Thanks!
My mother and father were raised just like the series and I wasn’t too much more refined—-love to watch the Little house series—it depicts people like I was raised with. I’m 86 years old.
I have all box sets of eavh series n still.love them dearly..only wish life was like that now ..
Charles Ingalls passed at 66yrs. of age. When did Carolyn pass?
Caroline died about 90 years old…if u read the timeline above u will see it!!!
My twin sister like to watch the little house on the Prairie! We read her books!
I love watching the dvd of the little house on the Prairie! My favorite TV shows!
I think i could’ve lived during that time except for wearing dresses all the time I hate wearing dresses. Only wear them when I have too.
I meant Mary’s husband, Adam wasn’t real. She never got married
For those asking about Albert Ingalls. I have the entire series and it was stated in the making of the series that Albert was a fictional character in the series. Michael Landon loved Matthew’s acting so much, that be decided to create a character for him to play. He is also the brother of Patrick L.(Andy Garvey).
Wonderful website.
I am a big fan, I have watched all the shows,I have been watching them as long as I could remember, and I still watch them this day even though I have it over again
I’m a diehard fan of little house
As all the comments on here have come from females I feel somewhat out of my depth but I shall persevere. I may be an old man but I still watch Little House on the Prairie. All the episodes are currently being repeated on UK television along with spin-offs such as “Beyond the Prairie”. Like the comment made by Cherie Russell, I too was born in the wrong century and I too think that life was very hard in the 19th Century but so much simpler than it is today. Little House on the Prairie remains one of my favourite if not my favourite television programme.
So what became of Albert (Quinn) ingalls? He was real wasn’t he? Just curious. Interesting History. God bless
Albert was just a write in for the show, he was never a real person and neither was Mary’s husband Almanzo or their son. The Ingalls never really adopted any children, they where all just write in’s for the show
Mary married Adam Kendall. It was Laura who married Almanzo. They did have a son who died.
Mary’s husband on the show was Adam Kendall. Almanzo is Laura’s husband. He was real
Which is why the TV show was such a huge disappointment to me when it deviated from the books.
Mary was married to Adam on the show
Almanzo was Laura’s husband, not Mary’s. I real life Mary never married, she lived at home with her parents after she returned from the school for the blind.
Was Albert a made-up character or did somewhere down the line did they adopt a boy? Love the little house on the prairie…
Albert was a made up character for the TV show. He was not a character in the real life of Laura.
made up
Yes
I have always lived the fact that this series was after a true family. I too think about those times and think I could’ve lived then. Much harder but people appreciated each other and helped each other unlike today where you find very few givers…mostly takers. Thank you for these timelines . great read.
Lisa, I agree. The simplicity of their life draws me.
I would have loved living in that era, people really cared for one another, they were more happier I think and they helped each other when needed. Love this show always have, my son got me the whole Little House series on dvd…..
I really enjoyed this presentation. I always loved to watch The Little House shows on TV.
Truly enjoy show and learn from the past history. I enjoy cookbook I try get history book. Nice learn about history. Real Laura and everyone else. Wish had your bus to place and area she grow up. I know driving once get my own car something get start. I sure know how feel be poor and try get by. I been doing for four year no wheels hard one person pay bills and rent no money to travel. I truly love TV show. All actors were funny and having great time all shows. Only if had on dvd bluejays all seasons and clear sound. Box collection.
Try say Blueray .
Wow
I enjoyed reading about life
As a little girl in the 1960’s I read all Her books and then again in the 70s . When the TV show started I was so excited and never missed an episode. I totally enjoyed their journey through life and adventures. I have three beautiful daughters and I introducted them to the wonderful series, and they love it like I do. Thank you for this website of information, I enjoyed ever bit of it even the extra parts are very interesting. I would be interested in finding the books that Pamela Smith Hill wrote, please let me know where I could get her books on this family. Thank-You again Judy
P.S. I love all the characters in the show and the actors who played them R.I.P. Michael Landon the hottest TV dad ever.
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Under 1935, why does it say the “fictional Ingalls family move. …”? Aren’t her books written as an autobiography?
It’s just describing what happened in the book that was published in 1935. They aren’t autobiographies – they are historical fictions adapted from the events of her life.
I grew up with the ingles family. I loved watching little house everyday. I remember it was on Fridays at 5 pm back in the 80s. I’m in Oregon and us Oregonians love the oldie movies and shows. I’m a writer cause of Laura ingles wilder. She was a great inspiration.
The best show of its time. Wonderful actors/actresses. Even though there were hardships, there was family, and there was love.
I loved enjoyed reading. all this information about her life
I loved the show with Michael Landon.i also watched the Christmas one to.i have wanted to see what it was like back then
Like so many others, I loved this show as a kid, and still do. When I was 15 I chose names for the children I would someday have. My daughters name would be Laura and her middle name would be Melissa, after Melissa Gilbert. When my daughter was born I did name her Laura Melissa. I have read all of the books that Laura wrote, many times over. I also thought that I was born in the wrong century; I wanted to live like, and with Laura. It was harder, but, simpler, and more worthwhile.
Hi, I wondered what your thoughts are on the problematic elements of the books?
https://library.nashville.org/blog/2019/08/tackling-racism-childrens-books-little-house-prairie?fbclid=IwAR3mtr_Ew4ZywttxFqcNNCREtMUX4osEY4j1pXOEcTIp1MaptiFTD_GTCIo
Very interesting reading. I ‘ve learned a lot of important facts I didn’t know. Thank you for this.
Thank you for all the background information. It was wonderful to read about my favorite author. Gratefully, Julienne. r
I am so appreciative for all the work you put into this timeline. Like so may, I am a lover and follower of the Ingalls family’s trials and journeys. These time lines add another layer for those of us addicted to this family and their lives. Thank you so very much!!
Very interesting, love the books and yes the show was the best.
Great article thank you from a laura ingalls wilder/little house lover.
We ordered the DVD and it is very interesting.
i often think I was born at the wrong time. I know the life was hard, but it was so much simpler.
Very interesting. Loved learning the facts. Thanks so much.
i love this show it was my fave and michael landon was my fave as well and this is so interesting and all the people in it i love as well and they are terrific actors and actresses!
This is super interesting. Thanks for posting it!