Laura Ingalls Wilder

She always wanted to live to be 90, and had her wish fulfilled when she died in her sleep on 10 February 1957, three days after her 90th birthday.

She was one of the five children born to Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Ingalls. She had three sisters and one brother who had died as an infant.

Her father was a restless man who kept changing his jobs. As a result, the family had to move quite often. Laura had spent her childhood at various places like Wisconsin, Kansas, and Missouri before finally settling down in De Smet, South Dakota.

She attended high school in De Smet but she never graduated.

She started working as a teacher in 1882 when she was just 16 years old. Even though she was young, she wanted to contribute to her family financially.

From 1883 till 1885, she taught in a school, worked for a dressmaker and attended high school.

She got married in 1885 at the age of 18, leaving behind her studies and teaching career.

She settled down to a life of domesticity with her husband and daughter when misfortunes struck. Her husband became partially paralyzed due to diphtheria and their home burned down in 1890.

After struggling for years, they bought a farm in Missouri in 1894. They named this farm the Rocky Ridge Farm. Over the next many years they worked hard to develop a poultry, dairy and fruit farm.

She is famous as the author of the celebrated ‘Little House series’ of novels. Even though the novels appear to be autobiographical in nature, they actually belong to the historical fiction genre. Her books are still in print and have been translated into 40 different languages.