# Good Laura Ingalls Wilder bio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2002, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776 "2002-09-03T10:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bwk)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/1 "2002-09-03T10:00:03Z")
I would like to buy one of these, and if any of you have read a good one, please let me know the title and author. I will have to order it, most likely, so I won’t be able to skim through it first. What is really bothering me, what I’d really like to know for some reason is what her mother and father died of – I don’t know why, but I am interested. I’d also like to know what happened to Mary and Carrie. Thanks, Bethany ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/2 "2002-09-03T14:02:01Z")
I have one called _Laura, The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder_, by Donald Zochert. I got it years ago (mid-70s), so it may be out of print now, but it was pretty informative. It’s not aimed at kids, like many of her biographies are. You could probably find it at the library if you can’t buy it. It did have a great timeline at the end, starting with the births of her parents and ending with (I think) the death of her daughter. I know it did tell what happened to Charles and Caroline, and her sisters, but for the life of me I can’t remember how they died. I’d go look, but the book is packed in a box in the basement, waiting for bookshelves to be built. I found a link about it [here](http://vvv.com/~jenslegg/biograph.htm). Scroll down about a third of the way for a small entry about it. It says since its publication, more information about the Ingalls family has become known, but it was a good book anyway. ---
**Author:** ![tygre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@tygre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygre)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/3 "2002-09-03T14:52:17Z")
Donald Zochert’s book is good. Also if you are interested in the story behind the writing of LIW’s books, I recommend _Ghost in the Little House_. According to Zochert’s book, Charles died in 1902 and Caroline in 1924. This link [http://vvv.com/~jenslegg/obitchar.htm](http://vvv.com/~jenslegg/obitchar.htm) says the cause of Charles’ death was “heart trouble”. Caroline doesn’t have a cause per se listed in her obituary. Mary never married. She completed her schooling at the Iowa School for the Blind and then returned how. She died a few years after Caroline. Both Carrie and Grace married but neither had children of their own. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/4 "2002-09-03T14:57:54Z")
Oh, and it had lots of great photos. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/5 "2002-09-03T14:59:25Z")
How about the “Little House” books? (Sorry, couldn’t resist) 😃 Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/6 "2002-09-03T15:08:50Z")
Whoops, sorry. Didn’t fully read the OP. Never mind my previous post… Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Alto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Alto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alto)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/7 "2002-09-03T22:12:37Z")
_Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder_ by John Miller is quite informative and scholarly (although a little dry), and has the advantage of being still in print. It has a lot of information on her later years. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/8 "2002-09-03T23:58:59Z")
Here’s a whole bunch of family [trees](http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?surname=ingalls&given=laura). Most of them are hers. ---
**Author:** ![bwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bwk)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/9 "2002-09-04T06:15:08Z")
Thanks so much for the info. I missed that great page somehow in my search. I’ll have to choose a book that is in print to read, because if I like a book, I want it to be mine to keep forever. I found one of the last books in the series as I was cleaning up the other day, and as a writer, and someone who has been known to kick at the traces a bit herself, I wanted to know more about her. I’m glad to know she wrote her books so late in life… maybe I’ll get one out by the time I am 60. Hopefully! ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/10 "2002-09-04T06:24:26Z")
I wish I could find a book that would TELL IT ALL. Apparently some other family pretty much kidnapped Laura as a child and tried to adopt her. And plus she had a brother die that she never mentioned in her books. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/11 "2002-09-04T06:31:52Z")
[This family tree](http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1542605&id=I1464) mentions 5 children. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/12 "2002-09-04T06:36:32Z")
Ok so the brother was after Carrie, before Grace, and he died before he was a year old. Wonder what he died of. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![bwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bwk)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/13 "2002-09-04T06:40:10Z")
I remember in “The First Four Years” that the Boast family, friends of the Ingalls, wanted to adopt Rose, and it creeped Laura out. Of course, Laura and Almanzo said no… In the book, Mr. Boast tells them that they can have more children, but he and his wife can’t have any. And then L and A never had any others that lived. Kind of strange. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/14 "2002-09-04T06:56:40Z")
Maybe my reading retention was terrible at the time and thus I need to read it again, but is it me or was “The First Four Years” horribly vague? Remember the part where Laura is outside playing in the snow and next thing you know the doctor is there and he’s knocking her out with the gas and then boom, Rose is born? What was up with that? What 9 month pregnant woman would be outside playing in snow? Was she being vague about the labor and delivery because “nice girls” didn’t talk about such things back then or something? ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-laura-ingalls-wilder-bio/126776/15 "2002-09-04T07:14:21Z")
IIRC, Almanzo died shortly after Laura began writing _The First Four Years_, and she just didn’t have the heart to work on it after that. It’s basically a rough draft. [This](http://vvv.com/~jenslegg/fouryear.htm) blurb tells how the manuscript was found.