Little House on the Prarie

[show 42]

Actually, Laura and Almanzo had two children. They had a son who died shortly after birth. Rose became a famous journalist and wrote a novel of her own called "The Young Pioneers" under the name Rose Wilder Lane. She was indeed married at least once to a real estate developer in San Francisco who was a bit of a flim-flam man. They divorced and I'm not sure if she remarried or not. She became a world traveler and reporter and covered several wars.

All three of Laura's sisters Mary, Grace, and Carrie lived at home with their parents. Grace was more "worldly" than her older sister Carrie. Carrie was quiet and retiring, and neither Carrie nor Grace ever married.

Toni, I'm glad to hear that you've read Laura's books, which she wrote by the way after the age of 50 (at Rose's urging). I still read them over and over again when I have time. I'm on my third complete set, the others I wore out or ended up giving them away to interested students...........42

 

[Ladskater]

Ggranny:

It's fun to visit places such as this. Have you ever read the Anne of Green Gables books, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. One can visit the famous Anne of Green Gables home in Prince Edward Island. I always wanted to see it. The books are wonderful and the movies starring Megan Follows were also a joy to watch.

 

[Tonichelle]

Lad:

I used to love the Anne of Green GAbles movies

but then I played Miss Stacey in our high school production and prefer to remember that than to watch those movies... our actors were sooooooo much better! (I have it on tape, I hate seeing me up there, but I love watching my friends!)

 

[Lucy25]

Actually, Laura and Almanzo had two children. They had a son who died shortly after birth. Rose became a famous journalist and wrote a novel of her own called "The Young Pioneers" under the name Rose Wilder Lane. She was indeed married at least once to a real estate developer in San Francisco who was a bit of a flim-flam man. They divorced and I'm not sure if she remarried or not. She became a world traveler and reporter and covered several wars.

All three of Laura's sisters Mary, Grace, and Carrie lived at home with their parents. Grace was more "worldly" than her older sister Carrie. Carrie was quiet and retiring, and neither Carrie nor Grace ever married.

Mostly right, but not quite . Your information about Rose is correct. She never remarried after her divorce. It pains me that she never had a child. The Ingalls line ended, with no current descendants. You are also correct that Mary never married. She lived in a house in town that Pa built (not the building they live in during the hard winters, but one about 1/2 mile away). They moved there permanently (giving up the farm) in 1887. Pa died in 1902, after which Ma and Mary divided their house in two, and took in borders to support themselves. Ma died in 1924. After her death, Mary lived with Carrie.

Carrie married a man named David Swanzey in 1912. They lived in Keystone, SD. Her husband in credited with giving Mt. Rushmore its name! Carrie never had children of her own, but her husband (a widower) had two children that she raised as her own. Carrie was a newspaper woman and was big in women's rights.

Grace married a man named Nate Dow in 1901 in the Ingall's parlor. They were farmers in Manchester, SD. She, too, had no children.

Family births and deaths:
Pa: Jan 1836 - June 1902
Ma: Dec 1839 - Apr 1924
Mary: Jan 1865 - Oct 1928
Laura: Feb 1867 - Feb 1957
Carrie (real name was Caroline Celestia!): Aug 1870 - June 1946
Charles: Nov 1875 - Aug 1876
Grace: May 1877 - Nov 1941

Rose Wilder: Dec 1886 - Oct 1968
Baby Boy Wilder: Aug 1889-Aug 1889

I became hooked on TLHOTP books as a little girl. I was thrilled when I discovered that Laura was a real person! Because I loved historical fiction, I did tons of research on her and her family. I still do. Last summer I visited her childhood homes in Walnut Grove (there is no home there, but you can visit the homestead land and see where the dugout home is; it's still there, but filled in now), and De Smet. Because most of her books focus on her memories of De Smet, that visit was particularly interesting. Lots of the original buildings are still there.

This site is great if you want to see real pictures of the town of De Smet. Click on the link on the left that says "Laura's Little Town".
http://www.liwms.com/

 

[show 42]

Had a "brain freeze" there Lucy, you're right. Went back and checked my resources about Carrie and Grace. After I posted last I remembered that Grace had been married, but totally forgot about shy Carrie. One of my goals is to make it to Rocky Ridge Farm and to see Laura and Almanzo's home together. I think Pa's violin is still there, the same one featured in all the "Little House" books. It's so nice hearing from other fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Lucy, have you read the other books written by Maria D. Wilkes, Roger Lea MacBride, and Melissa Wiley? They wrote wonderful books about Laura's mother, grandmother, and great-granmother, as well as stories about Rose as a young girl........42

 

[Lucy25]

About the tv series vs the books, I used to be upset about the liberties the series took. I remember being particularly upset at the fact that Mary never really married. They made her have a baby that dies in a fire in the series, and I remember thinking why would they make something so horrible up?? I came to realize that Laura's story right from the book would not have made very entertaining television for very long. *I* would have liked it, but the general viewing audience would have been quite bored! Plus, the family was not actually in Walnut Grove all that long, and if they would have moved in the series, Nellie Olesen would not have been there. Yes, she really existed, was a brat, and her parents did run a general store.

Add me to the list of huge fans of Leave it to Beaver, especially the first three seasons, and Happy Days, and I Love Lucy. Thank goodness for TVLand! I was raised on The Waltons, but it was never a favorite of mine.

 

[Grgranny]

You would think they would have had their facts straight. The people at that place in Minn. told us that the two younger sisters were fictional characters that never really existed. They may have told us about Rose's divorce, I don't remember, but they did say she never had any children.

Anne of Green Gables: We never heard of them until 1986 when we went to Prince Edward Island. There was a lady in the cafe that the waitress told us was there to act in a play Anne of G G. After that, it came on tv. I loved those shows. I think the ones I watched were on the Canadian satellite. Wish I could still get it. The soil there is as red as Oklahoma. We were driving around and saw a medium size black animal. Thought it was a bear and drove up this little road to see. It was a big black dog. The owner came out and wanted to know what we were doing there. He wasn't really rude but sure not glad we were there. Must have been a private road. We told him and he mentioned there weren't any bears on that island. We were laughing at ourselves so hard but he sure didn't think it was funny. We got out of there fast.

 

[Lucy25]

Had a "brain freeze" there Lucy, you're right. Went back and checked my resources about Carrie and Grace. After I posted last I remembered that Grace had been married, but totally forgot about shy Carrie. One of my goals is to make it to Rocky Ridge Farm and to see Laura and Almanzo's home together. I think Pa's violin is still there, the same one featured in all the "Little House" books. It's so nice hearing from other fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Lucy, have you read the other books written by Maria D. Wilkes, Roger Lea MacBride, and Melissa Wiley? They wrote wonderful books about Laura's mother, grandmother, and great-granmother, as well as stories about Rose as a young girl........42

Yes, Pa's violin is in Rocky Ridge. I would love to visit there (Golden Skate roadtrip?? )! I have read books by Roger Lea MacBride, not the other authors. I will have to check them out.

 

[Lucy25]

You would think they would have had their facts straight. The people at that place in Minn. told us that the two younger sisters were fictional characters that never really existed. They may have told us about Rose's divorce, I don't remember, but they did say she never had any children.

Wow! They told you that in Walnut Grove?? Where, in the museum? How sad is that?

 

[Grgranny]

Yes, it was in the museum.

 

[berthes ghost]

I loved Nellie's character, what a snot and her mother, can't remember the name.

I saw the actress being interviewed on TV recently. Apparently she had a very troubled childhood and the TV series was a godsent. She was able to act-out and do all sorts of horrible destructive things (they showed a clip of her distroying her room from the show) and get paid and praise for it. It was a huge release for her and prevented her from doing such stuff in her own life, but she seemed to be saying that she brought a lot of herself to the character.

 

[Antilles]

I believe the actress who played Nellie is named Allison Angram (sp?). Didn't she become a stand up comedian?

 

[Kasey]

Is nothing sacred???

 

[RealtorGal]

Is nothing sacred???

Actually, she sounds like an incredible person! Read:

http://www.hgd.com/alison/

 

[Piel]

When asked if she could hack a life on the prairie today, Alison replied, "I don't want to live in a century where I can't get a botox injection and a green apple martini, preferably at the same time."


EXACTLY!

 

[2loop2002]

I enjoyed the episodes that I saw of LHOTP, but never saw any past the time when Mary went blind. I have to admit, though, that the books were much better!

I also love anything by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I've got a collection of her books and enjoy reading them over and over. The first two Anne of Green Gables movies were wonderful, although when I reread all the books I realized how many plot lines they condensed together or left out completely. It was still true to the spirit of the books. However, the latest movie should not be marketed as a continuation of the Anne story! It's okay to watch in and of its self, but to claim that it follows the books is completely ridiculous! Anne's children were the ones who fought WWI, not she and Gilbert. After reading Rilla of Ingleside again I've gained a new appreciation for those who struggled on the homefront. The story of Jem's dog waiting at the station always brings me to tears

I think some of these books are going to be bumped up on my list of summer reading! It's nice to hear from some fellow Anne and Laura lovers.

 

[heyang]

I totally agree with 2Loop2002 about the Anne of Green Gables books and movies. The only reason I purchased the 3rd movie was to own all of them - it has very little to do with the remainder of Anne & Gilbert's story.

Whoever did the casting for the movies deserved an Emmy or whatever the Canadian equivalent is. I thought each major role was casted 100% as I pictured in my mind. I can't imagine anyone besides Megan Follows as Anne or anyone other than Collen Dewhurst & Richards Farnsworth as Marilla & Mathew.

I remember looking for the Anne of Green Gables books after reading a book called Mine For Keeps. I read Mine for Keeps because it was an Afternoon Story episode on TV. So, TV does have value I read the 1st 4 books as a kid, but didn't even know there were a total of 8 until after the movies came out.

As for Laura & Almanzo's making me cringe, Toni....I just found it so corny that she would actually call him 'Manly' as a nickname. I also remember the episode where he gave her a shawl for her birthday and she said 'I feel like I'm wearing your colors.' Obviously, I did enjoy the romance because it's one of the few storylines that I remember. My other storlyline on LHOTP was Mary & Adam. Obviously, I'm a sucker for romance.

 

[Tonichelle]

Isn't the Canadian equivilent to an Emmy something about a golden rose? something like that I used to know that piece of trivia!

Nellie Olesen would not have been there. Yes, she really existed, was a brat, and her parents did run a general store.

She actually met up with the Ingalls' later and hated her life in the small railroad town. She wanted Almanzo's attention and tried to "steal" him from Laura.

As for Laura & Almanzo's making me cringe, Toni....I just found it so corny that she would actually call him 'Manly' as a nickname. I also remember the episode where he gave her a shawl for her birthday and she said 'I feel like I'm wearing your colors.'

Well it's the nickname she gave him in the book... totally different era... so I don't doubt they said some things that we'd call corny now!

 

[Kateri]

Wow.....I read all the books obsessively when I was little, and adored them.

But now I can't remember a single thing!! Except that the whole blindness thing upset me.

And there was something about sleigh rides much later.

*sigh* I spent all those hours reading them, and this is all I can remember??


k.

 

[Antilles]

Isn't the Canadian equivilent to an Emmy something about a golden rose? something like that I used to know that piece of trivia!



The Canadian equivalent of the Emmy's would be the Gemini Awards. Not sure where you are remembering golden roses from.