Laura Ingalls Wilder was born on February 7, 1867, in Wisconsin. She is known for writing the Little House on the Prairie series of children’s books released from 1932 to 1943 that focused on a settler and pioneer family and were drawn from the author’s childhood experiences. The books, of which there were originally eight, were adapted into a popular television show of the same name in the 1970s and early 1980s starring Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls and Michael Landon as her father, Charles Ingalls. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal was named after the author in 1954 and is given to those who have made “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children”.
The Original Ma and Pa
The photo here shows Charles and Caroline Ingalls, the original Ma and Pa you may know from the Little House books. The image was taken on their wedding day on Feb. 1, 1860. Charles Ingalls was 24 when he married Caroline Lake Quiner, who was 21.
Charles was born in New York but raised in Campton Township near Elgin, Illinois. Caroline was a schoolteacher. The pair settled in Pepin County, Wisconsin. Their first daughter, Mary Amelia, was born in January 1865. Their second daughter, Laura, came along in 1867. Two years later, Charles, who was touched by a bit of wanderlust, moved the family to Missouri.
