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Laura Ingalls born
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born on a frontier farm near Pepin, Wisconsin, on February 7, 1867. She was the second of five children born to Charles and Caroline Ingalls. -
Ingalls family moves to Kansas
In 1869 the family moved to the Osage Indian Reserve in Kansas, where Laura remembered meeting Indians and witnessing cattle drives across the open plains. -
Ingalls family moves to Minnesota
After a year, the family made a short return to Wisconsin before moving to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. -
Ingalls family encounters hardships in Minnesota
The family encountered hard times in Minnesota. Their crops were wiped out two years in a row by plagues of locusts that swarmed over the land and ate nearly every plant in sight. Also, Laura’s little brother, Freddie, died at nine months old. -
Ingalls family runs a hotel in Iowa
To make ends meet, the family moved to Burr Oak, Iowa, and ran a hotel before moving back to Walnut Grove. -
Mary goes blind
Laura's sister Mary contracts an illness and loses her sight. -
Ingalls family moves to South Dakota
In 1879 the family moved to DeSmet, South Dakota, where Laura spent the remainder of her childhood. -
Blizzard in South Dakota
The Ingalls family survives a difficult winter in which they almost starve. -
Laura becomes a teacher
In 1882 Laura got her first teaching job in a community near DeSmet. -
Laura Marries Almanzo Wilder
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Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder, is born
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First Four Years of Marriage
The young couple was plagued by a series of disasters in their first four years of marriage. First, hail destroyed their wheat crop and then their barn burned, along with the grain and hay they stored in it. Next, both Laura and Almanzo contracted diphtheria, which left Almanzo partially paralyzed. Then they lost two wheat crops to drought, which was followed by tthe death of their two-week-old son. Two weeks later, their house burned, along with most of their possessions. -
The Wilders move to Missouri
In 1894, in response to advertisements proclaiming that Missouri was “The Land of the Big Red Apples,” Almanzo and Laura moved to Rocky Ridge Farm, just outside of the small town of Mansfield, Missouri. They experienced more success there than in South Dakota, and lived in Missouri for the rest of their lives. -
Laura becomes a published author
In 1911 Laura wrote several articles about farm life for the Missouri Ruralist. -
Great Depression, Little House Series created
In 1929 Almanzo and Laura lost most of their life savings in the stock market crash that signaled the beginning of the Great Depression of the 1930s. During this time, Laura wrote an autobiography that was never published. However, the publishers who reviewed it suggested she rewrite the story as fiction. Once Laura decided to take that advice, her famous Little House series was born. -
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Little House books published
In 1932, at the age of sixty-five, Laura published her first book, Little House in the Big Woods. It received praise and critical acclaim, as did all of the following volumes in the series, which were published between 1933 and 1943. -
Almanzo Wilder dies
On October 23, 1949, Almanzo died at the age of ninety-two. -
Illustrations added to Little House books
The Little House series grew even more famous after it was reprinted in 1953 with illustrations by Garth Williams who created the artwork for the children’s classics Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. -
Laura Ingalls Wilder dies
Laura dies shortly before her ninetieth birthday. -
Rose Wilder dies
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The First Four Years published
Before she died, Laura worked on a book based on the struggles of her early married life, but she never sought to have it published. This manuscript was discovered in Rose Wilder Lane’s belongings after her death on October 30, 1968. It was published in 1971 as The First Four Years.
