Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of America’s most beloved children’s authors, best known for her “Little House” series of autobiographical novels chronicling her childhood on the American frontier.
Beginning her writing career in her sixties, Wilder turned her family’s pioneer experiences into books that have shaped generations of readers’ understanding of nineteenth-century frontier life, and which inspired the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie.
Profile
| Full Name | Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder |
| Date of Birth | February 7, 1867 |
| Date of Death | February 10, 1957 (aged 90) |
| Birthplace | Near Pepin, Wisconsin, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Author |
| Parents | Charles Ingalls; Caroline Ingalls |
| Spouse | Almanzo Wilder (married 1885) |
| Children | Rose Wilder Lane (writer) |
Early Life
Laura Ingalls Wilder was born on February 7, 1867, in a log cabin near Pepin, Wisconsin.
She was the second of five children born to Charles and Caroline Ingalls, and her family moved repeatedly across the American Midwest during her childhood, living at various times in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota Territory.
These frontier experiences later formed the basis of her novels.
Career
Wilder married Almanzo Wilder in 1885, and their only surviving child, Rose Wilder Lane, who also became a writer, was born the following year.
Encouraged by her daughter, Wilder began writing about her frontier childhood later in life, publishing her first novel, Little House in the Big Woods, in 1932.
She followed it with Farmer Boy (1933), about her husband’s childhood, and Little House on the Prairie (1935), which chronicled her family’s time in Kansas. Subsequent volumes included 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).
A further manuscript, The First Four Years, was published posthumously in 1971. The series was later adapted into the popular NBC television series Little House on the Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983.
Awards & Nominations
- 1954 — Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (established in her honor by the American Library Association) — later renamed the Children’s Literature Legacy Award in 2018
Personal Life
Wilder was married to Almanzo Wilder from 1885 until his death in 1949. The couple’s only son died in infancy; their daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, survived to adulthood and became a well-known journalist and writer in her own right.
Wilder spent much of her later life at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri, where she died on February 10, 1957, three days after her 90th birthday.
Net Worth
No verified net worth figure is currently available.
Publications
- 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)
- These Happy Golden Years (1943)
- The First Four Years (published posthumously, 1971)
Conclusion
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” novels remain foundational works of American children’s literature, prized for their vivid depiction of pioneer life even as later scholarship and library organizations have re-examined aspects of the books’ portrayal of Native Americans and other groups.
Her work continues to be read, studied and adapted nearly seven decades after her death.
