- Caroline Ingalls
Infobox Person
name = Caroline Ingalls
caption = Caroline Ingalls with her husband Charles Ingalls
birth_date = birth date|1839|12|12|mf=y
birth_place =Brookfield, Wisconsin , U.S.
death_date = Death date and age|1924|04|20|1839|12|12
death_place =De Smet, South Dakota , U.S.
spouse =Charles Ingalls (1860-1902) (his death)Caroline Ingalls, born Caroline Lake Quiner (
December 12 1839 –April 20 1924 ) was the mother ofLaura Ingalls Wilder , author of "Little House on the Prairie ".She was born in what is today
Brookfield, Wisconsin , then Town of Brookfield, the fifth of seven children ofHenry Quiner and Charlotte (Tucker) Quiner. Her brothers were Joseph, Henry, and Thomas, and her sisters were called Martha and Eliza.When she was five her father died in a shipping accident, reportedly on
Lake Michigan , near theStraits of Mackinac . Her mother eventually got remarried to Frederick Holbrook, a farmer who lived nearby. They had one child together, Charlotte "Lottie" Holbrook. Caroline evidently loved and respected her stepfather, and would later honor his memory by naming her only son after him.At the age of sixteen, Caroline started working as a teacher. On
February 1 ,1860 she marriedCharles Ingalls . She eventually gave birth to five children, Mary, Laura, Caroline "Carrie", Charles Frederick "Freddie" and Grace. Their only son, Freddy, died at the age of 9 months. He was bornNovember 1 ,1875 inWalnut Grove, Minnesota – and diedAugust 27 ,1876 inSouth Troy, Minnesota , of undetermined causes. In her unpublished biography "Pioneer Girl", Laura merely refers to the fact that he was frequently "sick" and that "one terrible day, he straightened out his little body and died".Caroline traveled extensively with her family, but they finally settled in
De Smet, South Dakota . She died at the age of 84, and was buried atDe Smet Cemetery .In the media
"
The Caroline Years ", an extension of the "Little House on the Prairie" series, byMaria D. Wilkes andCelia Wilkins , follows Caroline from her fifth year to her late teens, up to her engagement to Charles Ingalls. The names, dates and people mentioned in the books are true, but much of the content of the books is, by necessity, fictionalized. Other titles about Caroline's life include "Little House in Brookfield", which is fictionalized, but written in the style of the Little House series.External links
* [http://206.212.0.47/~irby1/laura/ma.html Caroline Ingalls' biography]
* [http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Ingalls&GScid=96912&GRid=3951& Caroline Ingalls' burial record] atFind A Grave References
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