‘Little House on the Prairie’s Ingalls Family Tree Explained

The Big Picture

• Little House on the Prairie
  was a beloved TV show based on the Ingalls family’s adventures in the American Midwest.
• The show initially focused on the original Ingalls clan but later introduced new characters through adoption and marriage.
• The series ended with the special episode
  The Last Farewell
  , where the townspeople of Walnut Grove unite to protect their town.

Based on the beloved novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie is a fictionalized account of the Ingalls family as they venture across the American Midwest in search of a new life. The show originally ran from 1974 until the end of its eighth season in 1982, though a new series rebranded Little House: A New Beginning soon followed, eventually deemed the show’s “ninth season.” After that, Little House spawned three other made-for-TV movies to wrap up the story, and the rest is history.

The show was known for its lovable characters, expansive cast, down-to-earth stories, and its ability to tackle increasingly difficult topics despite being a family program. But with so many Ingalls children running around, it’s sometimes hard to keep them all straight. So if you’re looking for an explanation as to who’s who in the Little House universe, then you’ve come to the right place. So jump in the saddle and set your sights on Walnut Grove, we’re headed back in time to uncover the history of a great American (TV) family.

The Original Ingalls Clan on ‘Little House on the Prairie’

When Little House on the Prairie began, it was only Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon) and his wife Caroline (Karen Grassle) — whom their children referred to as “Pa” and “Ma” — and their three daughters, Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), Laura (Melissa Gilbert), and Caroline “Carrie” Ingalls (Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush). Mary was the oldest who eventually became a teacher for the blind after becoming blind herself. Laura, based on the real Laura Ingalls Wilder, is arguably the show’s main character, and often the lens the episodes are viewed through her (even when she doesn’t appear in them). Carrie, the youngest at the time, doesn’t do a lot early on in the show, but as she grows up, she becomes a bigger part.

So far, Little House gets everything correct. These were the five who journeyed from Wisconsin to Kansas to eventually settle in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where the majority of the series (even if this wasn’t true in the books) took place. But early on in the series, tragedy befell the Ingalls family. After Caroline had given birth to their first son (named Charles Frederick Ingalls) about a year after arriving in Walnut Grove, the boy soon died. The Season 1 two-part episode “The Lord is My Shepherd” chronicles these events, though the books themselves don’t touch on them. Yet, in the “Little House Family Tree” seen at the beginning of the novels, Charles Frederick is said to have lived between 1875 and 1876, just short of one year.

Years later, in the Season 4 episode, “A Most Precious Gift,” Caroline gives birth to another baby girl named Grace (Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh). Like the other Ingalls siblings before her, Grace too was a real person, and she, like Carrie, would continue to grow as the series progressed, slowly becoming a bigger part. However, after Little House on the Prairie‘s eighth season, Mary, Carrie, and Grace are written off the show, which has since progressed to become about Laura’s new family and many of their adoptive siblings.

The Ingalls Adopted Albert and Jason Bateman’s James on ‘Little House’

Departing significantly from the books (not to mention actual history), Little House on the Prairie adds some new faces to the family as the years go on. After having to move to the “big city” of Winoka, South Dakota for a spell, the Ingalls family meets a young boy named Albert (Matthew Labyorteaux). Turns out, Albert is an orphan, and a mischievous one at that. After first befriending Laura, the boy soon catches the eye of Charles, who takes Albert under his wing. This eventually leads to theIngalls family adopting the young troublemaker, and soon Albert is one of the family. Albert’s ultimate fate is unknown. Though the episode “Home Again” explains that he eventually becomes a doctor, he supposedly dies not long after the made-for-TV movie Little House: A Look Back to Yesterday. Either way, Albert was one of Little House‘s most lovable additions.

After getting a second chance to raise a son, Charles and Caroline lived happily in Walnut Grove for a number of years, though their numbers would continue to grow. At the end of the show’s seventh season, in the two-parter “The Lost Ones,” two more additions are introduced to the Ingalls household. While it takes them a while to be officially adopted by Charles and Caroline, brother and sister James (Jason Bateman) and Cassandra Cooper (Missy Francis) are eventually brought into the Ingalls clan themselves. Though it’s never explicitly stated, it’s suggested that James and Cassandra join the rest of the Ingalls after they move to Burr Oak, Iowa ahead of the show’s rebranded ninth season. They, too, don’t originate from either history or Wilder’s source material.

It’s also worth noting that Mary’s husband, Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer), is not an actual character in the books, nor did Mary ever marry in real life. In fact, Mary ended up living with her parents, and then later her sisters, until her death in 1928. But the show gives Mary a different, and a much happier, ending. Here, she and Adam remain together throughout the course of the show (even after he miraculously regains his sight), though they experience a horrible tragedy. In the Season 6 two-parter, “May We Make Them Proud,” Mary and Adam’s son Adam Jr. is killed in a fire that burns down the school for the blind, which also results in the death of the Ingalls’ family friend Alice Garvey (Hersha Parady). To make matters worse, this came after a miscarriage they’d previously suffered in the Season 5 episode “The Sound of Children.”

Laura Ingalls Marries Almanzo Wilder in Season 7 of ‘Little House’

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s second Little House book, Farmer Boy, introduces her eventual husband, Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler), who arrives on the scene at the beginning of the show’s sixth season. By the following year, Almanzo and Laura are married, and the two of them begin their life together in Walnut Grove. Though in real life they actually married in De Smut, South Dakota, with their marriage resulting in the end of Laura’s teaching career, here on the show they remain in Walnut Grove until the end, with Laura keeping on as a teacher.

Aside from Almanzo’s parents and siblings (there were always plenty of great guest stars on the show), he and Laura also effectively adopted Jenny Wilder (Shannen Doherty), Almanzo’s niece whose father died at the beginning of Season 9. But Jenny wasn’t their only child, nor was she their first. In the eighth season, Laura gave birth to their firstborn daughter Rose (played originally by Sarah E. and Jennifer Coleman, and later by Jennifer and Michele Steffin), who grew up over the course of the show’s final years. She was even kidnapped in the final made-for-TV Christmas special Little House: Bless All the Dear Children, though her parents do get her back.

Unfortunately, as would tragically happen at the time, Laura and Almanzo’s young son (and their second-born child) died after only a few days in the final season episode “A Child With No Name.” As the title suggests, they never even named the boy, who passed suddenly in the night. This too was based on actual historical accounts, which Wilder chronicled herself in her novel The First Four Years, released over a decade after the author’s death.

How Does ‘Little House on the Prairie’ End?

Though the Christmas special was the final Little House on the Prairie story to air, chronologically speaking, Little House: The Last Farewell is the final installment of the decade-long television saga. After following Laura, Almanzo, and their Wilder family throughout the unofficial ninth season, the three specials ran from December 1983 to December 1984, with the second being the true end to the story. In The Last Farewell, Charles and Caroline return to Walnut Grove as land tycoon Nathan Lassiter (James Karen) arrives hoping to take over the town for himself.

Enraged that they’re unable to legally defeat their opponent, Laura convinces everyone to help her decimate the town of Walnut Grove. When other towns threaten to follow suit, Lassiter is defeated and the townsfolk rejoice. What the Ingalls and Wilder families did afterward, we haven’t got a clue, but there’s no doubt that whatever challenges they faced, they would do so together. Ten months later, the Christmas-themed Bless All the Dear Children would air, effectively ending the Little House saga on a more hopeful note.

Little House on the Prairie is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

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