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    Little House - the Prequel

    Recently, I have been walking down memory lane by reading some of the Little House books.  I discovered the books about the childhood of Laura's mother, Caroline.  The books are called The Caroline Years.  When I first learned of this series, I dismissed it as an attempt to profit from the love children have for the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  However, last summer I read all of these books and found them to be very good follow-ups to the Little House series.  They appear to present the life of Caroline Ingalls very accurately.  I think there were seven books in the series taking Caroline from a girl of 5 to her marriage to Charles Ingalls.

    I am now reading The Rose Years, and have found this series to be very true to the life the Wilder's lived in Missouri.  During the same time I was doing research into my family history using Ancestry.com.  I came up with a lot of information (mostly documents of public records such as census reports, marriage and birth certificates, and military service documents).  I decided to try to find the records for the Ingalls and Wilder families as well.  I actually found the census records.  I didn't really look for any other records.  This is what I found:

    From Wisconsin in 1860 (this shows Caroline and Charles living with Charles family)

    Name: Caroline Ingles  
      [Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls]   
         
    Age in 1860: 20  
    Birth Year: abt 1840  
    Birthplace: Wisconsin  
    Home in 1860: Concord, Jefferson, Wisconsin  
    Gender: Female  
    Post Office: Concord  
    Value of real estate: View image  
    Household Members: Name Age
      Lansford Ingles 48
      Laura Ingles 49
      Peter R Ingles 26
      Charles P Ingles 24
      Julia L Ingles 22
      Caroline Ingles 20
      Lansford j Ingles 17
      Ladora L Ingles 15
      William L W F Ingles 12
      George W Ingles 8
      Ruba S Ingles 5
      Lafayette Clough 3

    From Kansas in 1870:

    C P Ingles  Rutland, Montgomery, KS abt 1836 New York White Male
    Caroline Ingles 
    Rutland, Montgomery, KS abt 1840 Wisconsin White Female
    Laura Ingles 
    Rutland, Montgomery, KS abt 1867 Wisconsin White Female
    Mary Ingles 
    Rutland, Montgomery, KS abt 1865 Wisconsin White Female

    From Dakota Territory in 1880:

    Charles P. Ingalls  Caroline L. De Smet, Kingsbury, DT abt 1836 New York Self (Head)
    Caroline L. Ingalls 
    Charles P. De Smet, Kingsbury, DT abt 1840 Wisconsin Wife
    Mary A. Ingalls 
    Charles P., De Smet, Kingsbury, DT abt 1865 Wisconsin Daughter
    Laura E. Ingalls 
    Charles P., De Smet, Kingsbury, DT abt 1867 Wisconsin Daughter
    Caroline C. Ingalls 
    Charles P., De Smet, Kingsbury, DT abt 1871 Kansas Daughter
    Grace L. Ingalls 
    Charles P., De Smet, Kingsbury, DT abt 1877 Iowa Daughter

    and from Missouri in 1900:

    Name: Laura Nelder  
      [Laura Wilder]   
         
      [Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder]   
         
    Home in 1900: Pleasant Valley, Wright, Missouri  
    Age: 32  
    Estimated birth year: abt 1868  
    Birthplace: Wisconsin  
    Relationship to head-of-house: Wife  
    Spouse's name: A J  
    Race: White  
    Occupation: View image  
    Neighbors: View others on page   
    Household Members: Name Age
      A J Nelder 39
      Laura Nelder 32
      Rosa Nelder 13

    Just thought I would share for any other Little House junkies!!!!

    Posted: Thursday, November 15, 2007 11:25 AM by SHart

    Comments

    Valerie Rosen said:

    That's good to hear about the Caroline Years.  I read the whole LIW books and then all of the Rose Years which were written by her "adopted" son Roger McBride. He inherited all of Laura and Rose's book rights etc. after Rose's death and decided to write her life story - which I'm glad he did.  My husband bought me one book from the Charlotte years and I had diff. getting into it, but the Caroline years might be easier. Thanks for feedback and geneology info.

    # November 15, 2007 10:37 PM

    emptynester said:

    The Caroline Years sounds great to me.  Have you visited their house in Missouri (near Springfield)?  Almonzo built it.  Pa's fiddle is there and the kitchen is built small to accomodate Laura's small stature. There's also the alcove where she wrote the books at a little desk. I loved every inch of the house.

    # November 15, 2007 11:03 PM

    Kim said:

    I've never heard of these books, but I'll be sure to check them out.

    # November 18, 2007 11:39 PM
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