Laura Ingalls Wilder Facts
Laura Ingalls Wilder Facts
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| Interesting Laura Ingalls Wilder Facts: |
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| Laura's family mistakenly settled in Osage Indian country in Kansas. When they realized the mistake they moved back to Wisconsin. Laura's memories of this time are incorporated into her novels. |
| In 1874 Laura's family moved to Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where they stayed for two years until crop failure forced another move, to Burr Oak, Iowa. |
| Walnut Grove would eventually become the setting for the television show based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's life. |
| In 1878 the Ingalls moved back to Walnut Grove, but left in 1879 for South Dakota, where they became homesteaders in De Smet. |
| In 1882 Laura became a teacher after passing a test and being awarded a teaching certificate. She was 15 years old, and her first job was at a school 12 miles from home. Almanzo Wilder, a family friend, was often sent to pick her up on the weekends. |
| Laura and Almanzo married on August 25th, 1885 in South Dakota. |
| Laura and Almanzo's first child Rose was born in 1886. Their son, born in 1889 died when within a month. Almanzo became sick with diphtheria and as a result he became partially paralyzed. |
| In 1890 Laura and Almanzo's house burned down. |
| In 1894 Laura and Almanzo bought a 200 acre farm in Mansfield, Missouri. |
| In the 1910s Rose Wilder, Laura and Almanzo's daughter, a reporter for the San Francisco Bulletin, encouraged her mother to write about her life. |
| Laura's first attempt at writing a book about her life titled Pioneer Girl, was rejected by publishers, and Rose encouraged her mother to rewrite it for children. |
| In 1932 Laura Ingalls Wilder's first book Little House in the Big Woods was published. |
| The Little House books include Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Farmer Boy (1933), Little House on the Prairie (1935), On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), The Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941), and These Happy Golden Years (1943). |
| Laura Ingalls Wilder lived to be 90 years old, passing away in 1957 in Mansfield Missouri. Almanzo passed away in 1949. |
| In 2014 the South Dakota State Historical Society published Laura Ingalls Wilder's rejected autobiography Pioneer Girl. |
| The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal was established in 1954 to be awarded to authors and illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. It is awarded for "substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature." |
| There are several historical sites and museums dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder including the 'Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum' in Mansfield, Missouri; the 'Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant and Museum' in De Smet, South Dakota; the 'Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum' in Burr Oak, Iowa; the 'Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum' in Walnut Grove, Minnesota; the 'Little House on the Prairie Museum' in Independence, Kansas; and the 'Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum' in Pepin, Wisonsin. |
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