| Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls | |
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 Caroline Ingalls with her husband Charles |
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| Born | December 12, 1839 Brookfield, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | April 20, 1924 (aged 84) De Smet, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Charles Ingalls (m. 1860–1902) (his death) |
Caroline Ingalls, born Caroline Lake Quiner (December 12, 1839–April 20, 1924), was the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books.
She was born in the town of Brookfield, Wisconsin, 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.[2] 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.
At the age of sixteen, Caroline started working as a teacher. On February 1, 1860 she married Charles Ingalls. They had five children: Mary, Laura, Caroline ("Carrie"), Charles Frederick ("Freddie"), and Grace. Freddie died at the age of 9 months. He was born November 1, 1875 in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and died August 27, 1876 in South Troy, Minnesota, of undetermined causes. In her unpublished autobiography Pioneer Girl,[3] Laura remembers that he was frequently "sick" and that "one terrible day, he straightened out his little body and died".
The Ingalls family lived in Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota. In 1879 they settled near, then in 1888 moved into, the town of De Smet in Dakota Territory.[4] Caroline died at the age of 84, and was buried at De Smet Cemetery.
In the media
The 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 names, dates and people mentioned in the books are true, but much of the content of the books is, by necessity, fictionalized. The first title in the series is Little House in Brookfield.[5]
References
- ^ Ancestry of Laura Ingalls Wilder: Quiner. Ingalls Family Genealogy
- ^ Ancestry of Laura Ingalls Wilder: Holbrook. Ingalls Family Genealogy
- ^ Wilder, Laura Ingalls (1867-1957), Papers, 1894-1943 (C3633) Western Historical Manuscript Collection - Columbia. University of Missouri / State Historical Society of Missouri
- ^ De Smet, Dakota Territory, Little Town in the National Archives The National Archives
- ^ Wilkes, Maria D. Little House in Brookfield. New York: HarperTrophy. ISBN 0064406105.
External links
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