About the Ingalls family - Little house on the prairie (2023)

Thanks to the welcoming, warm and loving portrayal of the Ingalls family on every possible media platform in the world, many people think of Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace, Almanzo and even Jack the Bulldog as part of their family. .

However, this raises the question of which version of the Ingalls family most people identify with. The prairie is a bit crowded. There is the real Ingalls family, theversion in the books, oNBC television version, the version of the ABC miniseries, thewithout musicals, and those from competitions to name a few.

Charles Phillip Ingalls oder „Pa“ (1836-1902)

Charles has had a wandering foot in all his various incarnations. In real life, his family had been farmers for a long time and he moved several times as he grew up in search of a better opportunity. Charles followed this pattern with his own family after he married Caroline Quiner, always looking for better financial opportunities, particularly a successful wheat farm. After many moves and trials, Charles, with the help of his family, demonstrated his possessions, but retired from farming almost immediately after due to ill health. Together, Charles and Caroline built one last home in De Smet, South Dakota. It is known in Laura's circles as Third Street House and is where Charles and Caroline lived for the rest of their respective lives.

osmall houseThe books simplify and streamline the various moves, omitting things like Charles' agreement to file a tree claim in Walnut Grove and then resell it a few days later. They also ignore the economic problems of the family. The books do not show the financial support the family received from the Minnesota state government during the locust plague and the Dakota Territorial government for Mary's enrollment in the College for the Blind.

On the NBC TV show, Charles and the Ingalls family were a much more permanent part of the community. For most of the episodes, they remained firmly established in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Thrown into Charles' famous beard without trying, Michael Landon remains the onlyPa personification for many peopleworldwide.

Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls oder „Ma“(1839-1924)

Caroline grew up in a blended family after her father was shipwrecked in the Great Lakes and her mother remarried. Life was difficult during those years and she, Caroline, expressed a desire for stability. Caroline married Charles Ingalls and, drawn to her efforts to provide a better life for her family, she was drawn from "pillar to post", as the character in her book uses the phrase. Caroline was a strong trailblazer who was willing to do whatever it took to keep her family alive. She placed a high value on education, having attended a gym near Milwaukee in the east, and she tried to keep her family as fashionable as possible.

The book Caroline was pushed more towards the Victorian ideal than the real Caroline. Although Ma's neighborhood, her creativity in desperate times, and her upbringing were depicted in the books, certain constraints were placed on her character to create a clearer contrast between Ma's character and Pa's, the domestic world and the world. world around her. Whereas in the book version Ma was horrified that Laura would help with the haymaking, in real life Caroline would go out into the field herself to lend a hand as a matter of course. While Ma's book version was against Laura working at a hotel in De Smet, Caroline had hers two older daughters of hers working with her at the Masters' Hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa.

Karen Grassle played Ma Ingalls on the NBC television series. Grassle's version of Ma was quiet and calm, with a little streak of fire absent from the books. Her rivalry with the TV show's Mrs. Der Oleson (played by Katherine MacGregor) was a regular feature of the show, especially in its early years ("Really Charles, THAT WOMAN!": Pick Your Episode). Still, it was the calm assurance of Grassleit made many viewers feel like they too were part of the Ingalls family..

Mary Amelia Ingalls (1865-1928)

Mary was the blonde daughter of the Ingalls family. Like her older sister, she was hardworking and enjoyed music and arts and crafts. Her independence and her future were drastically reduced when she lost her sight at the age of 14. Her blindness had a huge impact on her entire family. Laura needed to step up and take on more responsibilities. The family made sacrifices to get her share of the money needed to send them to the Iowa School for the Blind (support, including money for tuition and books, also came from the Dakota Territorial government). Like many people, the school has restored much of Mary's confidence. After graduation, she moved back in with Pa and Ma in De Smet, South Dakota. After Pa's death, Mary continued to live with Ma in the house on Third Street until Ma died. Mary stayed with Carrie for an extended visit, suffered a stroke, and died while she was still in Keystone, South Dakota.

In the books we saw a strong contrast between Pa/Laura and Ma/Mary. However, some things that Mary did and said in real life, out loudpioneer girlor Missouri Ruralist stories, suited Laura's established character. They were changed in the books and given to the character of Laura, perhaps to emphasize that contrast.

Melissa Sue Anderson played Mary on the television show from 1974 to 1981. They delayed the onset of Mary's blindness for fear of limiting her options for action. Her time at the school for the blind was severely interrupted and she met fictional creation Adam Kendall, who served as the school's teacher in the television version. Mary and Adam were married and taught school. They survived the school fire, her baby died in the fire, and eventually Adam regained his sight and became a lawyer before they were written out of the series. In real life, Mary never married or taught school.

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder(1867-1957)

Laura was a pioneer and author. She helped her family establish a farm in the country, worked as a seamstress and taught school before marrying Almanzo James Wilder. They began to build their own farm. They had several failed attempts before finally getting it done.a new beginning ending in Mansfield, Missouri. They were able to slowly improve their farm until they had a modestly successful 200+ acre farm. Laura's work sharing information to improve life on the farm has led to a semi-regular career, primarily writing magazine articles for Missouri Ruralist. Her own ambitions and the perseverance of her daughter Rose led her to write and publish a fictionalized account of her childhood in the United States.small houseBooks. The process of creating the series and then responding to fan mail would be his big project for the rest of his life.

Laura is the voice of the stories both in real life and in the books. She changed details and events to make a better story and keep Laura in the center. As an example, Laura told her daughter Rose that in her real life her father would never have taken her to the railroad works because it was a place where men used to swear and there was no private bathroom. Her description of the railway work inOn the shores of Silver Lakeit came from secondhand reports from Pa and Almanzo. He also moved events and combined actions from multiple real people to make the story. For example, Nellie Oleson's character is a combination of Nellie Owens, Genevieve Masters, and Stella Gilbert. The books are a fictional account of her life, but they definitely ARE the story of her life.

On the TV show, they shift the focus more to Pa and add episodes that focus on other families in town. However, Melissa Gilbert's Laura remains an essential character. She has a much more adventurous life than real life or the book Laura. In the TV show, Laura is kidnapped, travels to the Pacific Ocean, gets trapped in an abandoned cabin during a snowstorm, thinks she's discovered a gold mine, pushes Nellie Oleson down a hill in a wheelchair, escapes into the mountains and forms a close bond with a man who may or may not be an angel, among many other adventures.

Caroline Celestia Ingalls Swanzey(1870-1946)

Carrie is the Ingalls family member whose life may be the most surprising to fans. She worked various jobs before landing a newspaper job at De Smet. Carrie found her niche in journalism and met E.L. Senn, who ran a consortium of newspapers in the Dakota Territory. She had a home, which she completed by first choice, near Phillip, South Dakota, and she married a widower, David Swanzey. She spent the rest of her life in Keystone, South Dakota, near Mount Rushmore.

In earlier books in the Little House series, Baby Carrie was known to clap her hands and toast her glass, but at the time ofOn the shores of the Silver LakeCarrie turns out to be Laura's new partner, as her blindness limits Mary's actions. It is Carrie who crosses the frozen lake with Laura, Carrie who is with Laura when they get lost in the swamp before finding Almanzo in her hayfield, and Carrie who goes with Laura to buy Daddy's Christmas braces.the long winter. In the later books, Laura's attention shifts from her family to her work, her circle of friends and, of course, Almanzo, while Carrie fades into the background. As the series ends, Carrie is still a teenager and we never get to know her as an adult.

On the TV show, Carrie, played by twins going by the stage names Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, is best known for falling off a hill during the opening credits and the two Carrie-centric episodes."The Lost Girl" Season 3 Episode 4and "The Godsister", season 5, episode 15. In the second half of the series, she fades into the background.

Grace Pearl Ingalls Dow (1877-1941)

Grace was born ten years after Laura. Grace was very young when Laura's attention was drawn away from her family and she was only eight years old when Laura left the family to get married. In real life, Grace graduated from regular school, taught school and married local farmer Nat Dow and moved to Manchester, the closest town to the De Smet railway.

In the books, as Carrie gets older, Grace is born and takes on the role of a younger sister. She is known as Baby Grace. Grace's two most memorable returns in the books are when she dons the blue-lined swan-feather coat Ma made for her and when she gets lost and found in the purple fairy ring. She never had a major personality in the book series.

Grace, also a later addition to the television series, played by Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh from 1978 to 1982. She was an infant or toddler during her run on the series. The only Grace-focused episode, if she counts, is where Caroline obsesses over how she wants her fifth child to be a boy.

Almanzo James Wilder o "Varil" (1857-1949)

Almanzo, the son of a wealthy farmer, wanted to start his own successful farm. Almanzo was born in New York, moved to southeast Minnesota with his parents, and then sought his own country further west. While he was at De Smet,he met Laura and married her, and they started working towards their goal. His first attempts were frustrated at every turn. They made a final fresh start in Mansfield, Missouri and slowly built a modestly successful farm. His stories helped inspire his wife's books.

emBauer, Almanzo got his own book. The book explores a different world than Laura's prairie stories.Baueris located on a successful established farm in upstate New York. He is known for his detailed descriptions of all the different things he ate. Laura removed Almanzo's older sister, Laura, to avoid reader confusion. Almanzo reappears firstthe long winterHe begins to slowly build his marriage to Laura as they create their own "little gray house in the west" and deliver the happy ending to the book series. Unfortunately, such a happy ending did not exist in real life, and the next few years would be among the most challenging of the Wilder family's lives until they finally achieved their true happy ending in Mansfield, Missouri. Another change was made in the books related to the age difference between Laura and Almanzo. In real life, Almanzo was ten years older than her, so Laura made up the whole story about Almanzo not being old enough to go on a farm when he was actually old enough.

Dean Butler played Almanzo from 1979 to 1984. Dean said it was a role he took seriously to make sure people felt Laura was safe with him. They kept the age difference more vivid than it was in the books. Dean was about eight years older than Melissa. On the TV show, Laura knew from the beginning that she wanted Manly and he correctly saw her as a girl. Getting her to see her as an adult was one of the main storylines of the series. The details of Almanzo's life and that of all his relatives have changed a lot for the show. However, most of the stories were loosely based on fact. Tragedies like the death of Laura and Almanzo's son, the burning down of his house, and Almanzo's illness (with the exception of the wheelchair story) were based on events that happened. However, the whole story of Laura and Almanzo living in a huge white boarding house with a British author was Landon's fantasy.

No matter which version of the Ingalls family you know best, explore this site for other versions of your favorite family.