Caroline Ingalls
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| Caroline Ingalls | |
 Caroline Ingalls with her husband Charles Ingalls
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| Born | December 12, 1839 Brookfield, Wisconsin, U.S. |
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| Died | April 20, 1924 (aged 84) De Smet, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Spouse | Charles Ingalls (1860-1902) (his death) |
Caroline Lake Ingalls, née Quiner (December 12, 1839–April 20, 1924) was the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie.
She was born in Brookfield, Wisconsin, the fifth of seven children of Henry Quiner and Charlotte (Tucker) Quiner. She lost her father at the age of five in a shipping accident, reportedly on Lake Michigan, near the Straits of Mackinac. After moving with Caroline, her brothers Joseph, Henry, and Thomas, and her sisters Martha and Eliza, her mother eventually married 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 (who died at 9 months) "Charles Frederick 'Freddy' Ingalls" (November 1, 1875 in Walnut Grove, Minnesota – August 27, 1876 in South 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 In her unpublished biography "Pioneer Girl", Laura merely refers to the fact that he was frequently "sick" and that "one terrible day, he straightened out his little body and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".
At the age of sixteen, Caroline started working as a teacher. On February 1, 1860 she married Charles Ingalls. She eventually gave birth to five children, Mary, Laura, Caroline "Carrie", Charles Frederic "Freddie" and Grace. 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 at De Smet Cemetery.
[edit] In the media
Caroline was played by: Karen Grassle (on the TV series Little House on the Prairie), Lindsay Crouse (Beyond the Prairie), and Erin Cottrell (Little House on the Prairie (TV miniseries)).
The Caroline Years, an extension of the Little House on the Prairie series, by Maria D. Wilkes and Celia 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.
