How Did Charles Ingalls Die On Little House On The Prairie

Seven years ago this month, I was terrified, my finger poised over the send button on an email to Little House Heritage Trust. I’d done my homework — read hundreds of feet of microfilm containing thousands of pages of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s handwritten manuscripts, her then-unpublished memoir, Pioneer Girl, and correspondence with her daughter and Aunt Martha. I’d driven 2,792 miles to Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, to see the sites of the Ingalls family’s lives, where they were born and where they were buried.

All of this because I’d been captivated by the Little House audiobooks. I’d never been more than a casual fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but when the owner of the bookshop where I worked listened to one and came back raving about how great it was, I tried one. And the next…and the next… As I listened, I began to hear more than what I’d read on the pages as a child. The way Cherry Jones voiced Ma’s words, her tone and inflection — as well as my own adult perspective — made me realize how much Laura Ingalls Wilder had left unsaid, especially where her mother was concerned.

Realities of the Ingalls Family

There’s a moment in Little House on Prairie when Pa is a day late returning from a trip to town, 40 miles away. Laura wakes in the night to find Ma sitting in her rocking chair with Pa’s pistol in her lap, keeping vigil for his return. I can still tell you the intersection where I was sitting when I heard that scene and realized for the first time that for all her outward calm, Ma is barely holding it together. That woman was my age, I realized, and not only that, it turns out the real Mrs. Ingalls was pregnant with her third child the year her husband decided to pull up stakes and settle the family in Kansas. Can you imagine? From then on, I couldn’t stop wondering what her life had really been like.

So I compared Wilder’s novels with biographers’ research, learning where fact and fiction melded and diverged. I read histories of the Osage Nation by John Joseph Mathews, Louis Burns, Willard Rollings, and Garrick Bailey, as well the 1870 and 1871 annual reports of the Board of Indian Commissioners. I pored over the diaries of women who had traveled west by wagon in the 1800s.

Caroline Ingalls: The Glue That Held the Family Together

The more I learned about the realities of the Ingalls family’s history, the more I began to realize that Caroline Ingalls was the glue that held her family together. Laura Ingalls Wilder herself admitted that Pa was “no businessman,” as well as “inclined to be reckless.” When Charles’s schemes for a better life further on failed, Caroline Ingalls took up the slack. And believe me, there was a lot of slack. For years they struggled against poverty, disease, and the elements. Yet the Little House series is renowned as emotional comfort food for generations of readers. How is that possible? I suspect the answer lies in one critic’s observation that “the Little House books breathe serenity. Their distinguishing characteristic is that they tell of great adventure and hardship with great peace.” Ma is the embodiment of that serenity. How did she do it? And what was it like to carry that responsibility? That’s the story I wanted to tell.

Writing Ma’s Story

I’d set my heart on writing Ma’s story and put in months researching pioneer life — everything down to learning to crochet, wearing a corset, sewing a calico dress, lending a hand in butchering livestock and wild game, rendering lard, frying salt pork, and roasting a rabbit — without ever realizing that the decision to write this book did not belong to me. It belonged to Little House Heritage Trust.

Version of the Ingalls Family

Thanks to the cozy, warm, and affectionate portrayal of the Ingalls family across all kinds of media platforms around the world, many people think of Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace, Almanzo, and even Jack the bulldog as part of their family. However, that raises the question of what version of the Ingalls family people relate to most. The prairie is a little crowded. There is the real-life Ingalls family, the version in the books, the NBC television version, the ABC miniseries version, the version in the musical, and those in the pageants, just to name a few.

Charles Phillip Ingalls or “Pa” (1836-1902)

Charles had a wandering foot in all his various incarnations. In real life, his family had long been farmers, moving several times while he was growing up in search of a better chance. Charles followed this same pattern with his own family after marrying Caroline Quiner, always in search of better financial opportunities, specifically a successful wheat farm. After many moves and attempts, with his family’s help, Charles proved up his homestead, but due to health issues, he retired from farming almost immediately afterward. Together Charles and Caroline built up one final home in De Smet, South Dakota. It’s known in Laura circles as the Third Street House and is where Charles and Caroline spent the rest of their respective lives.

Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls or “Ma” (1839-1924)

Caroline was raised in a blended family after her father went down in a shipwreck on the Great Lakes, and her mother later remarried. Life was hard during those years, and Caroline expressed a longing for stability. Caroline married Charles Ingalls and, drawn on by his efforts to make a better life for her family, and she was pulled from “pillar to post” as goes the expression her book character uses. Caroline was a strong pioneer woman, willing to do what she had to do to keep the family going. She valued education, having attended an academy “back east” near Milwaukee, and tried to keep the family in fashion as best as she was able.

Mary Amelia Ingalls (1865-1928)

Mary was the fair-haired child of the Ingalls family. As the oldest sister, she was studious and enjoyed music and crafts. Her independence and future were sharply curtailed when she lost her sight at age 14. Her blindness greatly impacted the whole family. Laura had to step up and take more responsibility. The family sacrificed to get their share of the money needed to send her to the Iowa School for the Blind (support including money for tuition and books also came from the Dakota territorial government). As it did for many people, the school restored a lot of Mary’s self-confidence. After she graduated, she returned to live with Pa and Ma in De Smet, South Dakota. After Pa’s death, Mary continued to live with Ma in the Third Street house until Ma died. Mary went to stay with Carrie for a long visit, suffered a stroke, and eventually passed away while still in Keystone, South Dakota.

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

Laura was both a pioneer and an author. She helped her family create a homestead, worked as a seamstress, and taught school before marrying Almanzo James Wilder. They set out to build their own farm. They had several failed attempts before finally making a last fresh start in Mansfield, Missouri. They were able to improve their farm slowly until they had a modestly successful farm of over 200 acres. Laura’s work sharing information to improve farm life led to a semi-regular career writing mostly magazine articles for the Missouri Ruralist. Her own ambitions and her daughter Rose’s prodding led her to write and publish a fictionalized account of her childhood in the Little House books. The process of creating the series and later answering her fan mail would be her big project for the rest of her life.

Caroline Celestia Ingalls Swanzey (1870–1946)

Carrie is the Ingalls family member whose life might be the most surprising to fans. She worked at several jobs before landing a position at the newspaper in De Smet. Carrie found her niche in newspapering and was hired by E.L. Senn, who ran a syndicate of papers in the Dakota Territory. She homesteaded, which she completed by preemption, near Phillip, South Dakota, and married widower David Swanzey. She would spend the rest of her life in Keystone, South Dakota, near Mt. Rushmore.

Grace Pearl Ingalls Dow (1877–1941)

Grace was born ten years after Laura. Grace is still very young when Laura’s attention turned outside the family and was only eight when Laura left the family to get married. In real life, Grace graduated from normal school, taught school, and married local farmer Nat Dow, moving to Manchester, the next town down the railroad from De Smet.

Almanzo James Wilder or “Manly” (1857-1949)

The son of a prosperous farmer, Almanzo, wanted to build a successful farm of his own. Born in New York, Almanzo moved with his parents to southeastern Minnesota and then sought his own land further west. While in De Smet, he met and married Laura, and they began work towards their goal. Their first attempts were defeated at every turn. They made one last fresh start in Mansfield, Missouri, and slowly were able to build a modestly successful farm. His stories helped inspire his wife’s books.

FAQs

1. How did Charles Ingalls die on Little House on the Prairie?

Charles Ingalls, also known as “Pa,” passed away in 1902. He had a wandering foot and had moved several times in search of better financial opportunities. After many moves and attempts, with his family’s help, Charles proved up his homestead, but due to health issues, he retired from farming almost immediately afterward. Together Charles and Caroline built up one final home in De Smet, South Dakota, where they spent the rest of their respective lives.

2. What was Caroline Ingalls’ role in the family?

Caroline Ingalls was the glue that held her family together. She took up the slack when Charles’s schemes for a better life failed. For years, they struggled against poverty, disease, and the elements, yet the Little House series is renowned as emotional comfort food for generations of readers. Caroline was a strong pioneer woman, willing to do what she had to do to keep the family going.

3. What was Mary Amelia Ingalls known for?

4. What were Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder’s contributions?

Laura was both a pioneer and an author. She helped her family create a homestead, worked as a seamstress, and taught school before marrying Almanzo James Wilder. Her work sharing information to improve farm life led to a semi-regular career writing mostly magazine articles for the Missouri Ruralist. Her own ambitions and her daughter Rose’s prodding led her to write and publish a fictionalized account of her childhood in the Little House books.

5. What was Carrie Ingalls’ surprising career?

Carrie worked at several jobs before landing a position at the newspaper in De Smet. She found her niche in newspapering and was hired by E.L. Senn, who ran a syndicate of papers in the Dakota Territory. She homesteaded near Phillip, South Dakota, and married widower David Swanzey. She spent the rest of her life in Keystone, South Dakota, near Mt. Rushmore.

6. What was Grace Pearl Ingalls Dow known for?

Grace graduated from normal school, taught school, and married local farmer Nat Dow, moving to Manchester, the next town down the railroad from De Smet.