Little House on the Prairie Reboot: Official Trailer

The official trailer for the Little House on the Prairie reboot has made its way to my feed, so of course I have to share it with you. I am hoping that I am right about what I see, that we are starting out in the Big Woods of Wisconsin before heading to the Kansas Prairie. Either that or the Ingalls family made a lot more friends in Kansas than we thought.

From what I understand, the Little House on the Prairie reboot is much more faithful to the books than the Michael Landon silliness. I look forward to next month to see if I'm right!

 

Can We Talk About Burr Oak Iowa?

Reading the Little House books over and over again during my younger years, I felt like I knew the geography of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood by heart. I would map out the transition from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to the Kansas prairie, to the banks of Plum Creek, and finally to the ultimate destination of De Smet.

It wasn't until I got older and started diving into the actual biographies that I learned about a glaring, empty timeline between On the Banks of Plum Creek and By the Shores of Silver Lake. An entire, heartbreaking chapter of the family’s life was completely erased from the series. It made me wonder why a writer who dedicated her life to chronicling her upbringing chose to completely skip over a town called Burr Oak, Iowa.

A side note: Mrs. Wilder's autobiography, Pioneer Girl, was a revelation. No matter how often I read it, I learn something new each time. 

A Dark and Heavy Chapter

My personal conclusion is that Burr Oak just wasn't a happy place for the Ingalls family. In fact, it was arguably one of the darkest, heaviest periods of their lives. The neat, wholesome narrative of pioneer resilience that Laura crafted for children didn't quite fit the harsh realities of what happened there. It makes perfect sense that their time in Iowa wasn't deemed appropriate for a historical fiction series geared towards young readers.

The journey to Iowa began in the summer of 1876, when the family packed up and left Walnut Grove after relentless grasshopper plagues drove them to bankruptcy. Before they even crossed the Iowa border, they stopped in Zumbro Falls, Minnesota, to stay with Peter and Eliza Ingalls. For a quick family tree refresher: Peter was Pa’s older brother, and Eliza was Ma’s sister. Because two Ingalls brothers married two Quiner sisters, their kids were double first cousins.

But this family visit was overshadowed by an unimaginable tragedy. While staying there, Laura’s infant brother, Charles Frederick "Freddy" Ingalls, fell terribly ill. He died on August 27, 1876, at just nine months old, and was buried in nearby South Troy. It was a devastating loss for a family that absolutely doted on their only baby boy, casting a long, grief-stricken shadow over them before they ever reached Iowa.

Not Off to a Good Start

They pushed on to Burr Oak because a friend from Walnut Grove, William Steadman, had bought a local establishment called the Masters Hotel and asked Pa to help him manage it. When the grieving family arrived, the reality of the situation hit them immediately. This wasn't a quiet homestead. The hotel sat right next to a rowdy saloon, and Laura later wrote in her memoir, Pioneer Girl, that she absolutely detested the atmosphere.

Ma and Pa were equally miserable. The constant presence of drinking men hanging around the property, frequently using foul language and causing disruptions, made the environment feel entirely unsuitable for raising young girls.

To absolutely no one's surprise, Pa didn't enjoy working in a hotel either. Managing a hospitality business for transient travelers was a far cry from the independent farming life he dreamed of. He quickly grew tired of the arrangements, and the family moved out of the hotel and into an apartment located over a grocery store down the street. It was a slight step away from the saloon, but still a long way from the quiet prairie.

Flashes of Normalcy

That is not to say everything about Burr Oak was terrible. There were brief flashes of childhood comfort. Laura and Mary actually liked their teacher at the local school, which was a rare blessing given how sporadic their education could be. Interestingly, Laura also found a strange sort of comfort spending time at the local cemetery. Given the recent loss of her baby brother, it is easy to see how a quiet graveyard might have felt like a peaceful sanctuary for a grieving, sensitive nine-year-old girl.

But the town also forced Laura to grow up much too fast. Because money was incredibly tight, she was sent out to work as a live-in babysitter for strangers at the shockingly young age of nine or ten. During one of these jobs, a terrifying incident occurred when she woke up in the night to find her employer, the husband of the household, drunk and cornering her in her bed. Showing the fierce bravery that defined her character, Laura threatened to scream, catching him off guard and making him back down. When she went home and told her mother what happened, Ma immediately told her she never had to go back.

In May of 1877, a bright spot finally arrived when baby sister Grace was born after the family rented a small brick house near the creek. The local community seemed to take a liking to the family as well, though sometimes in bizarre ways; a local couple actually tried to adopt Laura, an offer Ma and Pa firmly rejected.

Fleeing in the Middle of the Night

But the financial strain on Pa was becoming completely unbearable. Between the failed hotel venture and taking whatever odd jobs he could find, he had racked up a significant amount of debt that he simply couldn't pay off. Having no other choice, the family packed their things in total secret. They fled from the town in the middle of the night, slipping away in the dark to head right back to Walnut Grove.

When you look at the sheer weight of what happened in Burr Oak: the death of a baby brother, the rowdy saloons, the financial desperation, a terrifying brush with a predator, and a midnight escape from debt- it becomes entirely clear why Laura left Iowa out of her books. The Little House series was always meant to be an idealized, comforting version of the American frontier. Burr Oak was simply too raw, too broken, and too real to fit into the story.

Whatever Happened To Laura Ingalls Wilder's Extended Family

When I read Little House in the Big Woods, one of my favorite parts of the book was the description of the "sugaring off" and of Laura's extended family, with all her aunts and uncles and cousins. As I read the later books, Laura's friends in De Smet became my friends too. My favorite parts of By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years were the parties, socials, and gatherings with the neighbors.

While I did plenty of reading regarding Laura Ingalls Wilder and her extended circle of family and friends, it wasn't until the Internet came to town that I learned more about the people she fondly (and not so fondly) mentioned in her books.

What follows is a nutshell version of what happened to Laura Ingalls Wilder's family and friends. Hopefully, we can expand the details of all these individuals in future posts, -if we haven't already.

Laura's Immediate Family

• Pa (Charles Ingalls): The ultimate pioneer never truly left De Smet after settling there. He continued to be a pillar of the community, serving as Justice of the Peace and town clerk. He passed away at home in 1902 at age 66 from heart disease.

• Ma (Caroline Ingalls): After Pa died, Ma stayed in their house on Third Street in De Smet, where she lived with Mary. She spent her days sewing, reading, and participating in church activities until she passed away in 1924 at the age of 84.

• Mary Ingalls: Mary never married. After graduating from the Iowa College for the Blind, she lived with Ma and Pa, earning money by making fly-nets. After Ma passed, Mary lived with Carrie and later Grace until she died of a stroke in 1928 at age 63.

• Carrie Ingalls (Swanzey): Carrie worked as a typesetter and manager for various newspapers in South Dakota. At age 41, she married David Swanzey, a widower whose family helped carve Mount Rushmore. She was fiercely supportive of Laura's writing and passed away in 1946. As I've written here in the past, Carrie was an extremely accomplished woman, and her praises aren't sung enough.

• Charles Frederick "Freddie" Ingalls: The only Ingalls son, born between Carrie and Grace. Tragically, little "Freddy" died when he was just nine months old in 1876 while the family was traveling from Minnesota to Iowa.

• Grace Ingalls (Dow): The baby of the family grew up to become a schoolteacher. She married a farmer named Nathan Dow. They lived a quiet life in Manchester, South Dakota, just a few miles from De Smet. Grace passed away in 1941.

Almanzo's Immediate Family

• Laura Ann Wilder: The oldest Wilder sibling married a man named Harrison Howard. She moved around quite a bit, eventually settling in Louisiana, where she lived out her days until her death in 1906.

• Royal Gould Wilder: The older brother who ran the De Smet feed store with Almanzo. He eventually became a successful storekeeper and merchant. He moved to Minnesota and later back to New York, where he passed away in 1925.

• Eliza Jane Wilder: The infamous schoolteacher actually married twice. She lived in Washington D.C. where she worked for the government, then homesteaded in Louisiana. She eventually passed away in Louisiana in 1930. Rose Wilder lived with her for a brief time when she was in high school.

• Alice Maria Wilder: Alice married a man named Albert Baldwin, and they moved to Florida. She spent much of her life there and passed away in 1892.

• Almanzo James Wilder: Laura’s beloved "Manzo" survived a brutal bout of diphtheria that left him with partial paralysis, but he persevered to build Rocky Ridge Farm into a success. He loved his horses until the very end, passing away in 1949 at the grand age of 92.

• Perley Day Wilder: The baby of the Wilder family (born after the events of Farmer Boy). He farmed, worked in the printing business, and moved around quite a bit before settling in Louisiana near Eliza Jane, where he passed away in 1934.

• Rose Wilder Lane: Laura and Almanzo's only surviving child. Rose became a fiercely independent global journalist, a bestselling novelist, and a political theorist. She edited her mother’s books and was the one who pushed Laura to publish them. Rose passed away in 1968.

The Extended Family

The Ingalls / Wilder Side

• Laura Ladocia "Aunt Docia" Ingalls (Waldvogel): Pa's adventurous older sister who convinced Pa to take the railroad job in By the Shores of Silver Lake. She lived out her life in Wisconsin and Minnesota, passing away in 1918.

• Uncle Peter Riley Ingalls: Pa's brother from Little House in the Big Woods. He and his family left Wisconsin and eventually homesteaded in Minnesota, where he lived out his days as a farmer until passing away in 1900.

• Mary Celesia "Aunt Polly" Ingalls: Uncle Peter’s wife. She lived a long life as a pioneer mother and farm wife, passing away in 1913.

• Aunt Martha Jane Ingalls (Carpenter): Pa's sister who married a man named William Carpenter. They eventually moved westward to South Dakota, where she passed away in 1913.

• Aunt Lydia Ingalls (Stoughton): Pa's younger sister. She married a man named John Stoughton and spent most of her life living quietly in Illinois and Wisconsin until her death in 1913.

• Uncle Hiram Walker Ingalls: Pa's younger brother. He lived a fascinating life, moving to the American West, farming, and eventually passing away in Wisconsin in 1923.

The Quiner Side (Ma's Family)

• Uncle Joseph Quiner: Ma's older brother. Tragically, he died of wounds sustained during the Civil War at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, years before the timeline of most of the books.

• Uncle Henry Quiner: Ma's brother who married Aunt Polly (Uncle Peter's sister—the families crossed over!). He was a lumberman and farmer in Wisconsin and later Minnesota, where he died in 1880.

• Aunt Martha Jane Quiner (Perry): Ma's sister. She married a blacksmith named Charles Perry. They lived a long life in Wisconsin and eventually moved to Oregon, where she passed away in 1923.

• Uncle Thomas Quiner: Ma's youngest brother. He was quite adventurous, trying his hand at prospecting in the Black Hills. He eventually settled down as a toolmaker in Wisconsin and passed away in 1903.

The Cousins & Connections

• Alice Ingalls (Whiting): Uncle Peter's daughter and Laura's cousin from the "sugaring off" days. She married a man named Arthur Whiting and lived a quiet life in Minnesota, passing away in 1934.

• Ella Ingalls (Whiting): Alice's sister and another of the childhood cousins. She married Arthur Whiting’s brother, Silas, keeping it all in the family! She lived in Minnesota until her death in 1944.

• Letty Carpenter: Laura’s cousin (Aunt Martha's daughter). She married a man named Frank Agnew and lived in South Dakota for a long time, outliving many of her peers before passing away in 1943.

• Sam Ingalls: Laura's cousin (son of Uncle Peter). He was a childhood playmate of Laura’s in Wisconsin. He grew up to be a farmer and teamster in Minnesota, passing away in 1935.

• Lena Forbes: The spunky, horse-riding cousin Laura bonds with in By the Shores of Silver Lake (Aunt Docia’s daughter). She married a man named John Forbes and lived in South Dakota before moving to Nevada, passing away in 1940.

Friends and Acquaintances

• Cap Garland: The heroic boy who risked his life to find wheat during The Long Winter. Tragically, just a few years later in 1886, he was killed at age 20 when a steam threshing engine exploded on a local farm.

• Ella Boast: The lovely wife of Rob Boast who quickly became close friends with Ma and the girls. She and Rob remained in the De Smet area for decades, and she passed away in 1943.

• Ida Brown (Wright): The adopted daughter of Reverend Brown and Laura’s sweet classmate. She married her sweetheart, Elmer Wright, and they moved to California. She kept in touch with Laura for years and passed away in 1951.

• Mary Power (Chenoweth): Laura's fashionable and steady De Smet school friend. She married a banker named Edwin Chenoweth. They eventually relocated to Chicago, where she passed away in 1922.

• Mr. Edwards: The beloved "Wild Cat of the Tennessee." The real-world inspiration for Mr. Edwards was a man named Edmund Mason. He stayed in Kansas long after the Ingalls family left and passed away there in 1914.

• Nellie Oleson: A composite character in the books, but based heavily on Nellie Owens of Walnut Grove. The real Nellie moved to California, married a man named Henry Kirry, raised a family, and lived a very quiet life until her death in 1949.

• Reverend Alden: The pioneer missionary minister. He continued organizing churches across the western frontier. He eventually moved to Indiana and passed away in 1911.

• Reverend Brown: The dramatic, booming preacher from The Long Winter. He continued his missionary work across the territory, eventually moving on to other parishes in South Dakota before passing away in 1902.

• Rob Boast: Pa's generous friend who shared his home and provisions. He was a prominent citizen and successful farmer in De Smet, surviving the pioneer days to pass away in 1939.

• Soldat du Chene: The Osage leader who famously helped keep the peace in Little House on the Prairie. He continued leading his people through the heartbreaking era of forced relocations to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where he passed away in the late 19th century.

As I mentioned above, I love researching Laura Ingalls Wilder and her interesting circle of family and friends. I look forward to expanding upon more of these people here on this blog. Thanks for reading!