I can't believe it, I just came back from vacation in South Dakota! I didn't know the surveyors house is still there, I MISSED IT.
I love Laura Ingalls and the stories she left us, we need more Laura Ingalls out there.
I am going back in September could someone PLEASE help find out - how to get there, where can I find directions?

storm29 Not to say your family tree is wrong but I really wonder how Laura Ingalls Wilder is your 3rd great grandmother when Rose Wilder Lane was her only living child (Almanzo and Laura lost a son at birth while living in DeSmet)and she had no children.

laura ingalls wilder is my great great great grandmother tho i never had the chance to meet her i have pictures and famliy momentos.so i say happy birthday grandma

weird all the little kids and babies had character parts and were twins, grace, rose, carrie. I think they were all bad actresses.

brown eyes- i could be wrong it was over 30 years ago I believe. seems hee haw was on friday night and dukes of hazard after hee haw.
they did run this for about 10 years and 25 approx episodes each season. It is weird you watch on tbs and one month later a rerun from a month ago.

I saw character caroline on a commercial I think for something lately WEIRD. It was hard to tell voice was older of course hair short and gray. but she still looked good.

I saw rerun of Murder she wrote and Mary character was on there. again could tell voice and EYES hair was 80's and lots of make up.

Yes, even Laura's unnamed baby boy are buried in De Smet in the same graveyard as Ma, Pa and Mary. Grace and Carrie might also be in the same area, but I'm not sure. I too found my favorite book to be The Long Winter but of course I found all of them to be good. The very last, The First Four Years, about Laura and Almanzo's hardships during their marriage, is hard to find because it was published after Rose's death and was kept in the same format that was found in Laura's manuscripts so it's usually not found with the other books in the series. Then you can also get the book "On the Way Home" which describes their trip to Mansfield in a diary format.
I always found it interesting that Ma and Pa got married in Concord, WI which is in Northern Jefferson County, which isn't far from where I grew up.

SarahB, Laura Rose and Almanzo are all buried in Mansfield Mo. The rest of the Ingalls family are in DeSmet SD I believe. At least, Ma, Pa, and Mary are buried there.
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A little more unknown triva. Carrie's husband was involved in making Mt Rushmore.

Okay, you fans got me. I have forgiven Laura's family for moving away from Wisconsin. It only took me about 40 years to get to this point! So, where did Laura die and is there a grave one can visit? How about other family members' resting places?

I was surprise to see the reporter from Milwaukee did not realize that Ma Ingalls or Caroline was born in Brookfield Wi and there is a marker to that effect sponsor by the Elmbrook Historical Committee. There is a series of books about Caroline early days that was written long after Laura died but in the Little House style. I have been a "little house girl" since I was 10 years old. My grandmother gave me my first book "Little House on The Prairie" It was hard cover that was something special in 1964. My favorites
"Long Winter" "Little Town on the Prairie" and "These Happy Golden Years". It was quite a surprise 7 years ago when I was doing research that Laura is one my family tree.
She and my great great grandmother were sixth cousin. Happy Birthday Laura, you gave so many of us wonderful childhood memories.

I thought Little House used to be on Tuesday nights on NBC....or was that where the last seasons ended up? The reruns of the shows are on the Hallmark Channel now (they used to be on TBS). I swear, one summer, I was watching the 4 Hallmark episodes, one episode on channel 27 and then at night it was on TVLand, all in one day and I didn't care. Funny though, I didn't care for the books when I was growing up even though I was given them. I started reading Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie to my 1st graders and just recently I read all the other books on my own. I've been to De Smet, Pepin, and Walnut Grove but I was younger then and didn't understand all the places because it didn't correlate with the TV show!

deweeze. you are absolutely correct. I had a senior moment there, relying on memory.

tom3205 I believe you are talking about the stone house in Mansfield Mo. Rose (Laura's daughter) had it built in 1928 for Laura and Almanzo. It was while living in this house that Laura started writing the Little House books. The Wilders never really felt at home in the stone house and after Rose moved to Calif.(as she was living in the farm house at the time) they moved back to the home the loved the most. The one that Almanzo had built for them.

I stil watch it on tv. It is on every day for 2 hours in a row 9-11 or 10-12. I cannot remember . and once more at 2 or 3. I have been busy lately so cannot remember the times. tbs is the station I think. #5 on my favorites sorry. That is the bad thing about using favorite buttons you cannot remember channels or stations. Just like cell numbers.

I didnt know you could visit places.

I remember when i was little it was on tv on friday nights.

DERWEEZE.. I know what you mean. We have visited many of the places that the Ingles lived., The reenactment on the prairie, in De Smet, S. Dakota was awesome. It was outside, under the stars... And the house Laura built for her mother, in Mansfield, Mo. is very interesting to see.
Also Pepin, Wi has a memorial.

We had the good fortune to visit the Surveyor's house in S Dakota- got to see a recreation of the Brewster school- to watch children sit behind the desks with the primers and realize this is all their ancesctors had to share...
The surveyor's house had several of the Ingalls family's possesions. It was amazing to see thier clothing- they were SUCH tiny people!

Next to my Great Great Grandmother, Laura Ingalls Wilder is the only other person I would love to go back in time to meet.
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To visit the Dugout near Walnut Grove MN. in which the Ingalls first lived in, walk the stream, stand on the Big Rock that Mary and Laura played on, to see the untouched praire that Laura once saw and played in is a totally unreal feeling. There is nothing to describe the feeling you get as you remember the stories from the books.
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There is only one recording of Laura's voice and I have a copy of it. She sounds like a person I would have loved to visit with each day over a cup of tea or coffee. What it must have been like to call her and Almanzo friend.

My daughter really enjoys the stories too. We hope to go to Pepin this year to the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder days. We both want to see the area that she grew up in.

You can't be too mad that they moved. Most (or at least very many) pioneer families moved more than once. My own ancestors only arrived in Iowa after spending a decade or so in Ohio. Henry Janes started Janesville and moved on, W.W. Cargill lived several places in Iowa and Minnesota after leaving Janesville and starting the feed company.
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Also, the prairie she writes about is more similar to the landscape around Janesville than the Big Woods up near Pepin.

As most people my age, I was thoroughly captured by "Little House on the Prairie".
In particular, my interest in both .. the book and TV series, is personal.
As I am a Decendent of Laura Ingalls Wilder!

oops! I let the cat out of the bag ktaustin! No really I already told your wife and I know she is excited for her! But the stories are great,wholesome and have history in all the pages.You should also read the books! I know your wife would love to read them with you.

Oh wow, I'd forgotten all about "Caddie Woodlawn"! I loved that book!

I love this show. I continue to watch the reruns when I get the chance, and own the set of books. It is a classic. I have introduced my daughter to this series and books. She and I have now started to visit the sites of where Laura and her family actually lived.

What I like best about the series is that it "grows up" with you...as Laura matures, so does the writing style. As a result, even as an adult, I reread most of the later books every year or so, though I have to admit the first book in the series, the only one in Wisconsin, annoys me since it feels too simplistic. My favorite story ever was her proposal from Almanzo Wilder. For my "raised in Wisconsin" fix, I prefer to read Caddie Woodlawn, though. She was raised not too far from Laura and her family stayed here.

No, I never read it in school, and don't think I even saw an entire episode of the tv show growing up. But my wife introduced me to them and I think they're great. Now I look forward to reading them to my daughter (who coincidentally is the grandaughter getting the little house book for young readers, which I just found out here).

I loved the little house series! I read it to all my kids and they in turn loved it! It's funny, I'm reading this article today and just saturday went to a bookstore and bought a little house book for young readers for my grandaughter!! I hope she will love them as much as her mom did!

My 3rd grade teacher used to read a chapter to us once a week. I loved it. I also read the whole series many times.

I was angry that they moved out of Wisconsin and just couldn't get into the other books in the series. However, I read "Little House in the Big Woods" too many times to count. Great book!

These were some of the books I read again and again and again when I was younger. I think I especially liked them since I grew up on a farm.

My sisters and I used to run up and down the hills in the fields of a farm outside Port Washington singing the theme song to Little House on the Prairie, imagining we were pioneer children.