Caroline Lake Ingalls (née Quiner; later Holbrook; December 12, 1839 – April 20, 1924) was an American schoolteacher best known as the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the “Little House” series of books. In these books and the subsequent television series, Caroline is depicted as “Ma.”
Biography
Childhood
Caroline Ingalls was born in Brookfield, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, about 15 miles west of Milwaukee. She was the fifth of seven children born to Henry and Charlotte Quiner. Her siblings included three brothers—Joseph, Henry, and Thomas—and two sisters, Martha and Eliza. The family’s first child, Martha Morse Quiner, died in 1836.
When Caroline was five years old, her father died while serving as second mate on a ship that capsized on Lake Michigan near the Straits of Mackinac, leaving no survivors. In 1849, Caroline’s mother remarried a farmer named Frederick Holbrook, and they had one daughter together, Lottie Holbrook. Caroline developed a deep affection and respect for her stepfather and later named her son after him to honor his memory. At 16 and a half years old, Caroline began her teaching career.
Marriage
Caroline married Charles Phillip Ingalls in Concord, Wisconsin, on February 1, 1860. The couple had five children: Mary Amelia, Laura Elizabeth, Caroline Celestia (known as Carrie), Charles Frederick (known as Freddie), and Grace Pearl.
Freddie Ingalls
Born Charles Frederick Ingalls on November 1, 1875, in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, Freddie Ingalls died on August 27, 1876, in South Troy, Minnesota, at the age of just nine months and 26 days due to undetermined causes. In her autobiography Pioneer Girl, Laura Ingalls Wilder recalls that “Little Brother was not well” and describes the day he passed away as a “terrible day” when “he straightened out his little body and was dead.” According to Wilder scholar William Anderson, nearly forty years after Freddie’s death, Caroline still mourned him, often reflecting on how different life might have been “if Freddie had lived.
Travels and Later Years
The Ingalls family traveled extensively by covered wagon, moving from Wisconsin to Kansas (then known as Indian Territory), Burr Oak, Iowa, and Minnesota. In 1879, they eventually settled in De Smet in Dakota Territory.
After arriving in De Smet, the Ingalls family initially lived in the surveyor’s house and a store downtown before homesteading on a farm near Silver Lake. However, due to several years of drought, they sold the farm, and Charles built a new home on Third Street in De Smet, which became known as “The House That Pa Built.” After Charles’ death from heart disease in 1902 at the age of 66, Caroline and her eldest daughter, Mary, rented out a room in their home to supplement their income. Caroline Ingalls passed away on April 20, 1924, at 84, following a prolonged illness.
In the Media
Caroline Ingalls is featured in several adaptations and continuations of the “Little House” series.
- The Caroline Years, a fictional series by Maria D. Wilkes and Celia Wilkins, expands on Caroline’s life, covering her childhood from age five to her late teens and ending with her engagement to Charles Ingalls. The first book in the series is Little House in Brookfield.
- Caroline: Little House, Revisited, a novel by Sarah Miller, explores the Ingalls family’s move from Pepin, Wisconsin, to Kansas Territory from Caroline’s perspective. The Little House Heritage Trust officially authorized this novel.
Caroline Ingalls has been portrayed by several actresses in adaptations of Little House on the Prairie:
- Karen Grassle played Caroline in the original television series Little House on the Prairie and its movie sequels.
- Lindsay Crouse portrayed her in the television film Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
