Charles Philip Ingalls
Seems as though all I ever saw of Pa was his face especially his eyes, his whiskers and his hair always standing on end. And too his hands on his violin. – Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1936
Charles Philip Ingalls was born January 10, 1836, in Cuba Township (Allegheny County) New York, the third of ten children of Lansford Whiting Ingalls and Laura Louise Colby. He had older brother Peter (born 1833) and younger siblings Lydia (born 1838), Polly (born 1840), James (born 1843), Docia (born 1845), Hiram (born 1848), George (born 1851), and Ruby (born 1855). An older sibling died shortly after birth in 1835.
Before Charles was twelve years old, the Ingalls family moved to Kane County, Illinois, just west of Chicago. In the early 1850s, they moved to Concord Township (Jefferson County) Wisconsin; Lansford Ingalls bought 80 acres there in 1854. In 1857, Charles Ingalls purchased a portion of this property from his father. Charles’ land was just north of the Oconomowoc River; to the south lived the Holbrooks: Frederick, his wife Charlotte (widow of Henry N. Quiner), and her children Henry, Martha, Caroline, Eliza, and Thomas. Charlotte’s eldest son, Joseph, married in 1856 and lived several miles away.
There were three marriages between the Ingalls and Quiner families: Henry Quiner married Polly Ingalls in 1859, and Peter Ingalls married Eliza Quiner in 1861. Charles Ingalls and Caroline Quiner were married in Concord on February 1, 1860.
Lansford Ingalls lost his farm in Jefferson County, and it was sold at sheriff’s auction in January 1861. This probably influenced Charles Ingalls and other family members to sell their land there and move on. In the summer of 1860, Martha Quiner had married Charles Carpenter, and he and other friends from the Concord area had relocated to Pepin County, and they were encouraging others to consider joining them there.
September 1863, Charles Ingalls and his brother-in-law, Henry Quiner, paid $335 for 160 acres in Pepin County – the SW 27-25-15. Charles and Caroline settled on the south half of the quarter section, and Henry and Polly settled on the north side. Charles and Caroline Ingalls had two daughters born in Pepin County: Mary Amelia (born January 10, 1865) and Laura Elizabeth (born February 7, 1867).
Daughter Carrie was born in Rutland Township (Montgomery County) Kansas on August 3, 1870. Son Charles Frederick was born November 1, 1875, in Walnut Grove (Redwood County) Minnesota; he died August 27, 1876, in South Troy (Wabasha County) Minnesota. Daughter Grace Pearl was born May 23, 1877, in Burr Oak (Winneshiek County) Iowa.
In 1937, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that her father was a “hunter and a trapper, a poet and a musician.” Charles Ingalls at various times was also a justice of the peace deputy sheriff, tax collector, farmer, storekeeper, timekeeper for the railroad, and carpenter. It is not know when or where Charles Ingalls learned to play the fiddle, but it was his stories, his songs and his memory that Wilder wanted to honor in the Little House books. Charles Ingalls’ wanderlust led the family from Wisconsin to Indian Territory, Minnesota, Iowa, and Dakota Territory. It was in Dakota that Charles Ingalls agreed to settle permanently, homesteading and making final proof on a quarter section, but ultimately settling down in the town of De Smet, in a house he built on Third Street in 1888.
Charles Ingalls died in De Smet, South Dakota, on June 8, 1902, and was buried in the De Smet cemetery. Click HERE to see his obituary that was published in the Kingsbury County Independent, June 13, 1902.
The following biography of Mr. Ingalls was published in 1898:
CHARLES P. INGALLS, one of the leading settlers of Kingsbury county, South Dakota, who is now making his home in the village of De Smet, and is following the trade, of a carpenter, is of English descent. His ancestors, who took a prominent part in the Revolutionary war, settled in Vermont and marched with the “Green Mountain Boys” for the freedom of their adopted country. Charles’ grandfather fought in the war of 1812.
Our subject was born in the city of Cuba, Allegany county, New York, January 10, 1836, the second in order of birth of a family of nine children born to L.W. and Laura (Colby) Ingalls, both natives of New York. He lived on his father’s farm in New York until about twenty-four years of age, and then purchased a farm in Pepin county, Wisconsin, and operated the same for eighteen years. He spent two years working in Kansas, and four years on his farm in Minnesota. In 1879 he drove overland with his family from Tracy, Minnesota, to Dakota, where he secured a position as time-keeper and camp overseer of the C. & N. W. railroad construction gang from Brookings to De Smet. Near De Smet he took government land, the northeast quarter of section 3, township 110, range 56, whereupon he lived and farmed for about seven years. Prior to this the family lived on the present site of De Smet, he being in the employ of the railroad company and living in their section house. This was the winter of 1879-80, which was fortunately very mild. The lakes were open in the month of February, and geese, ducks and swans were very numerous. In January, 1880, was given the first oyster festival in Kingsbury county, and on the second day of February, 1880, was held at the home of Mr. Ingalls, the first Congregational church service of De Smet, conducted by Rev. E. H. Alden, of Minnesota. So far as is known, this was the first religious gathering in the county of Kingsbury. In the spring of 1880, a committee appointed by the governor for the purpose of organizing the county met at the home of Mr. Ingalls. This committee consisted of Mr. Barber, chairman; Mr. Burvee and A. Whiting, and they chose De Smet as the temporary county seat. For the county officers they made the following selections: J.K. Smith, sheriff; Will Whiting, county register of deeds; and Captain Gibson and Charles Ingalls, justices of the peace. Politically, Mr. Ingalls is a Populist, and for six years he held the position of deputy sheriff. He is a member of the Masonic lodge of De Smet No. 55, and he, his wife and his daughter, Caroline, belong to the Eastern Star lodge.
Mr. Ingalls was married in 1860, to Miss Caroline L. Quiner, a lay of Scotch descent, daughter of Henry and Charlotte (Tucker) Quiner, of Boston, Massachusets. Mrs. Ingalls was born December 12, 1839, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin territory. To this union have been born five children, viz: Mary A., a graduate of the class of 1889, Iowa College for the Blind; Laura E., wife of A.J. Wilder; Caroline C.; Frederick, deceased; and Grace P. The family are charter members of the Congregational church of De Smet
— Memorial & Biographical Record, An Illustrated Compendium of Biography (Chicago: George A. Ogle & Co., 1898), 1023-1024.
From my old pioneergirl Facebook page, posted January 10, 2026:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY… John Deere Huisenga??? — I guess this as good a reminder as any =not= to take everything you see or read in the newspaper as the gospel, eh?
I was given a real-live copy of the 1940 Old Settler’s Day / 60th Anniversary issue of the De Smet News last month, which includes an article about “A Pioneer Organization?” that I assume was supposed to be humorous but about real local businessmen. I’m sure y’all recognize Charles Ingalls’ picture, definitely cropped from the family photo where Pa is seated with Laura’s hand on his shoulder. At Old Setter’s time in 1940, the only De Smet LH book in print was BY THE SHORES OF SILVER LAKE, but THE LONG WINTER would be released that fall. Laura and Almanzo had visited back in De Smet multiple times, but only Grace Ingalls Dow was still living in Kingsbury County, and the “Laura Ingalls Wilder Group” that became the Memorial Society wasn’t formed until after Laura’s death.
Why did Aubrey Sherwood use Pa’s photo? Why did he have it in the first place? Did Laura and/or Rose subscribe to the paper and see it? The man at lower right is Visscher Barnes, not Mr. Larson. Art Hanson was on the De Smet school board in 1940 and the photo at top definitely isn’t Mr. Hanson because a 1940 photo of him exists, but I’m not sure who is pictured other than he looks familiar.
I’m sure current De Smet people know more about the families mentioned than I do (and hopefully the story behind the News article), but thanks to DE SMET YESTERDAY & TODAY (1976) and the DE SMET NEWS (on microfilm), I know that John Huisenga (1911-2009) worked at the John Deere shop at Willow Lake SD before running an appliance store in De Smet. Was Arthur Larson the 19 year old mechanic in De Smet from the 1940 census?
Arthur Hanson did own Hanson Implement Co. in De Smet. He was married to Lillian Hinz, daughter of Randi & Henry Hinz, who built one of the first buildings in De Smet, the saloon and billiard hall that was meant to be on the lot closest to the railroad tracks, but wasn’t. Sadly, Arthur Hanson and his son Robert were killed two years after this article appeared. Their car was struck by a train a couple of miles east of Iroquois.
Happy Birthday today, Charles Ingalls, and to you, John Huisenga, on July 21st.
Charles Ingalls (Mr. Ingalls is featured in almost every chapter of every Little House book, except for Farmer Boy)
Charles Ingalls and the U.S. Public Land Laws
Pa – What the Ingalls children called their father (see BW 1)
Ingalls office / store building (SSL 26-27; TLW 2, 7-9, 27, 29; LTP 5, 8, 12, 21; THGY 24; PG)
thinks tree stump is a bear (BW 6; PG)
is surrounded by wolf pack (LHP 7; PG)
has hair cut by mouse (LTP 3; PG)
spells down the whole town of De Smet (LTP 18)