Albert Quinn Ingalls

Albert Quinn Ingalls was a character on the U.S. television series, Little House On The Prairie. The role, which was not historically a part of the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, was played by actor Matthew Laborteaux.

The character was first introduced in the first of a two-part episode titled "As Long As We're Together" in the fifth season. He was found as a street orphan when the Ingalls move to Winoka. The family, particularly Charles, grow attached to him and when they decide to go home they take Albert with them. Albert becomes one of the family and changes his name to Ingalls in the seventh episode of the fifth season, "Fagin." He is officially adopted in the third episode of season six, titled "The Family Tree."

Notable appearances

Albert's character is first introduced in the Season 5 season premiere "As Long As We're Together." Here, he is a street urchin in Winoka, where (as part of a multi-episode story arc) the Ingalls family — along with their friends, the Garveys and Olesens — have relocated due to an economic crisis in Walnut Grove. Charles meets the orphaned Albert and realizes he is without a family. By the end of the story arc, the Ingalls, Garveys and Olesens decide to move back to Walnut Grove, and Albert is invited along.

Albert becomes a prominent member of the Ingalls family, and calls Charles and Caroline "Pa" and "Ma" for the first time in the episode "Fagin." Initially insecure about his place in the family, he runs away, but Charles quickly finds him and convinces him to stay. Albert quickly grows close to his family, particularly his new sister, Laura, and makes friends with schoolmates Andy Garvey and Willie Olesen; although Albert and Willie frequently antagonized each other, their relationship was not nearly as adverse as that of Laura, and Willie's sister, Nellie Oleson.

Albert quickly proves to be resourceful (as depicted in the episode "Men Will Be Boys"), sensitive and loyal (as in "The Craftsman," where he befriends an elderly Jewish coffinmaker who is the object of racism), very clever in giving his antagonists a taste of their own medicine (as depicted in "Harriet's Happenings," where he teaches Mrs. Olesen a lesson in printing gossip as fact in the town's new newspaper) and funny (as in "The Halloween Dream," where he dreams that, while dressed as an Indian, he and Laura are taken hostage by a hostile Indian tribe).

Charles and Caroline agree to adopt Albert, and he's adopted in the Season 6 episode "The Family Tree," and successfully fight off a challenge by Albert's biological father, Jeremiah Quinn, who had abandoned him two years earlier but has decided to take him back. The Ingalls are able to expose Mr. Quinn's true motive to use Albert as a farm hand, while Albert — wishing to stay with the Ingalls — pretends he is blind when they meet.

Several of the series' most prominent two-part episodes featured Albert as a central character. Some examples include:

• "May We Make Them Proud" where after Albert and a friend accidentally set a fire at the School for the Blind, Mary's baby and Alice Garvey are killed. Albert expresses deep remorse and runs away, but is forgiven by Alice's now-widower husband, Jonathan. It is in this episode where viewers learn that Jeremiah Quinn -- to whom Albert was attempting to return -- had died.
• "Sylvia," where Albert experiences his first true love in a girl who has matured early, is falsely accused of impregnating her (a rapist had) and loses Sylvia during a final confrontation with the girl's rapist.
• "Home Again," where Albert struggles with a morphine addiction.

His last appearance is in the television movie "Little House On The Prairie; Look Back to Yesterday." Albert and Charles return to Walnut Grove after passing through the medical school which Albert may attend to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a doctor. It is also the seventh and last time he falls in love, when beautiful young student, Michelle, catches his eye.

Albert's fate

The fate of Albert Ingalls is left uncertain, given inconsistencies in the episode Home Again and the post-series TV movie Look Back to Yesterday. At the end of the episode Home Again, Laura explains that Albert (in future) returns to Walnut Grove as a Doctor [1], following his having beaten his morphine addiction. However, in the latter TV movie Look Back to Yesterday, Albert is diagnosed with a terminal blood disorder, before even entering a Medical University [2]. Furthermore, whether or not Albert survived his blood disorder to become a Doctor, there would've been no Walnut Grove for him to return to, as the town was destroyed [3] in the last post-series TV movie The Last Farewell.

Episodes

The character of Albert appeared in a total of eighty-six episodes and two of the five television movies.

Season Five

• As Long As We're Together Part 1
• As Long As We're Together Part 2
• The Winoka Warriors
• The Man Inside
• There's No Place Like Home Part 1
• There's No Place Like Home Part 2
• Fagin
• Harriet's Happenings
• The Wedding
• Men Will Be Boys
• The Cheaters
• Blind Journey Part 1
• Blind Journey Part 2
• The Godsister
• The Craftsman
• Blind Man's Bluff
• Dance With Me
• The Sound Of Children
• The Lake Kezia Monster
• Barn Burner
• The Enchanted Cottage
• Mortal Mission
• The Oddyssey

Season Six

• Back To School Part 1
• Back To School Part 2
• The Family Tree
• The Third Miracle
• Annabelle
• The Preacher Takes A Wife
• The Halloween Dream
• The King Is Dead
• The Faith Healer
• Author, Author
• Crossed Connections
• Angry Heart
• The Werewolf Of Walnut Grove
• Whatever Happened To The Class of '56
• Darkness Is My Friend
• Silent Promises
• May We Make Them Proud Part 1
• May We Make Them Proud Part 2
• Wilder And Wilder
• Sweet Sixteen
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not Part 1
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not Part 2

Season Seven

• Laura Ingalls Wilder Part 1
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Part 2
• A New Beginning
• Fight Team! Fight!
• The Silent Cry
• Divorce, Walnut Grove Style
• Dearest Albert, I'll Miss You
• The In-Laws
• To See The Light Part 1
• To See The Light Part 2
• Oleson Verses Oleson
• Goodbye Mrs. Wilder
• Sylvia Part 1
• Sylvia Part 2
• Blind Justice
• I Do, Again
• The Lost Ones Part 1
• The Lost Ones Part 2

Season Eight

• The Reincarnation Of Nellie Part 1
• The Reincarnation Of Nellie Part 2
• Growin' Pains
• Dark Sage
• Gambini The Great
• Chicago
• For The Love Of Nancy
• Wave Of The Future
• A Christmas They Never Forgot
• No Beast So Fierce
• Stone Soup
• The Legacy
• Uncle Jed
• Second Chance
• Days Of Sunshine, Days Of Sorrow Part 1
• Days Of Sunshine, Days Of Sorrow Part 2
• A Promise To Keep
• He Was Only Twelve Part 1
• He Was Only Twelve Part 2

Season Nine

• Home Again Part 1
• Home Again Part 2

Television Movies

• The Little House Years
• Little House On The Prairie: Look Back to Yesterday

See also

Novels portal

• List of Little House on the Prairie episodes

Sources

• http://www.laurasprairiehouse.com/tvseries/tvalbert.html
• http://littlehouse.wikia.com/wiki/Albert_Quinn_Ingalls
• Little House A-Z by Patrick Labatiere
• Little House On The Prairie season five
• Little House On The Prairie season six