Author Details
Author Details
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the world renowned series of children's novels referred to as the "Little House Books" about her life on the American prairie in the late 1800's. She was born on February 7, 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin to Charles and Caroline Ingalls. She moved several times with her parents and sisters. From Pepin they traveled by covered wagon to Independence, Missouri in 1868 and then on to Montgomery, Kansas. Because this was declared Indian Territory, the family returned to Pepin, Wisconsin until 1873 when they traveled West into Minnesota to farm the land by Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
While in Walnut Grove, the family lived in a sod house on Plum Creek. This became the inspiration for Laura Ingalls Wilder's fourth novel, ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEK. Becuase of the devastion of a grasshopper plague, the family picked up and moved to Burr Oak, Iowa for a year and then returned to Walnut Grove.
In the 1880's the family also moved to De Smet, South Dakota. Laura settled with her husband, Almanzo Wilder in Mansfield Missouri and stayed there to raise their daughter, Rose.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, with the help of her daughter, penned the first of several children's novels in 1932 at 65 years old. The series includes LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRIAIRE, FARMER BOY, ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEEK, BY THE SHORE OF SILVER LAKE, THE LONG WINTER, LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE and THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS. Laura Ingalls Wilder died on February 10, 1957 at the age of 90.
