Ma Ingalls describes family life in 1861 Letters to Charles and
Martha Carpenter, 1861-1919 and 1975-1977 (selection). Caroline
Quiner Ingalls (mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder) wrote this
letter to her sister, Martha Quiner Carpenter, on Oct. 6, 1861.
Both sisters were in their early twenties and recently married.
Caroline was still living near their parents at Concord, in
Jefferson Co., Wis., but Martha had moved with her new husband
to Stockholm, in Pepin Co. A few years later, Caroline would
join her sister up north when the Ingalls family moved to the
"little house in the big woods" in nearby Pepin. Caroline's
letter was written before she had any children. It describes
life on the farm of Laura's grandparents, including an epidemic
of scarlet fever which sickened Laura's cousins and nearly
killed her grandmother. It also describes Laura's parents' early
married life, their health, and their farm work and crops. 1860
census records suggest that the people mentioned in the letter
are: "mother": Charlotte Ma