What was Laura Ingalls Wilder's adult life like?

Answer 1

No, Laura was not always happy but her personal strengths of determination and a competetive spirit, together with her faith in God prevented her from falling in a heap when difficult times came.

There were many such times in her life - the illness which robbed her beloved sister Mary of her sight, the tense encounters with Indians in Indian Territory, the death of her baby brother ( a period of time she omitted from any of her books), the near starvation of her family during the Long Winter, the death of her own newborn son followed within weeks by the burning of their home, financial hardships due to a series of droughts, the loss of their life savings in the depression Stock Market crash, and the death of Almanzo all were bleak periods in her life. Her parents had taught her to accept such events as a normal par of life.

Answer 2

Laura Ingalls Wilder spent her adult life homesteading with her husband Almanzo Wilder in Missouri and South Dakota, raising their daughter Rose. She began writing her famous "Little House" books when she was in her 60s, drawing on her childhood experiences growing up on the American frontier. Her books became immensely popular, cementing her place as a beloved children's author.

Answer 3

Yes, the Ingalls family was very poor. It does not seem that way in her books because Laura chooses to focus on the positives, like family, work and faith. Charles and Caroline Ingalls had other options, but they chose to live a very primitive lifestyle. (Rose put it more bluntly. She was plagued with serious dental problems all her life, which she blamed on being malnourished as a child. She claimed her parents were, too, as a result of living "like refugees.") Laura's family had very few creature comforts, but the family never lived near anyone who had them, so there was no occasion for envy or jealousy. Laura's parents began to allow her into their confidences around the time of "The Long Winter," when she was 13, and she saw how much her parents managed to do on so little money. It was then that she began to worry about how the family would be able to pay for Mary's college, and even sooner than she expected to, Laura began to teach school in order to help Mary stay there. After Laura and Almanzo were married, Laura began to know the true meaning of poverty. Life was filled with hardships that would have broken the spirit of less resilient people. Repeated crop failures, house fires, diphtheria, the death of a baby, and Almanzo's going deep into debt for farm equipment led them to the realization that they might not ever make a living in Dakota Territory. It was only after they moved to Mansfield, Missouri in the Ozarks in 1894, when Laura was 27, that they began to hold out some hope for the future. It took time to develop an apple orchard, and to bring in successful crops, but over a number of years they made it happen. They also built a farmhouse custom designed by Almanzo, and built largely with their own four hands. The plenty they were able to reap then seems to have made up for the deprivations of their first seven years together. The royalty checks that came in from the Little House books freed them from any money worries, and they allowed Laura and Almanzo to travel for pleasure. For most of her long life, Laura and her family had no money, but they were rich in friends and, as Laura said so often, all the things money can't buy.

Answer 4

Not always. After living on prairies, she and her family then lived in towns. But when her daughter, Rose, was seven, Laura and her husband and daughter moved to Missouri where she resided for the remainder of her life. Rose became a famous journalist and travel writer and became one of the founding mothers of the American libertarian movement

Answer 5

Laura's books tell that her family suffered drought, bugs, and lack of food, provisions, and money. When Laura was married, she and Almonzo also faced drought and financial trouble.

Answer 6

Her life was very busy and always hard and she worked long every day.

Answer 7

In her book no, she hated it but, she did it to help send her sister Mary to the blind school in Vinton, Iowa. In the t.v. show she loved it.

Answer 8

Laura had struggles with her sister Mary because she was blind

Answer 9

By the standards of her time, Laura was what we'd call today a "knockout", though that pretty face sat atop what she herself called a body that was "short and round".

Answer 10

She lived a hard life :(