My Genealogy Hound

De Smet, South Dakota, Mary Ingalls, grave and tombstone, photo

The grave and tombstone of Mary Ingalls, the oldest daughter of Charles and Caroline Ingalls and sister of Laura Ingalls Wilder of the Little House on the Prairie book series. Mary was born on January 10, 1865 in the Ingalls log cabin near Pepin, Wisconsin, the setting for the book, Little House In The Big Woods.

At the age of fourteen, Mary became blind after an illness. From 1881 to 1889, Mary attended the Iowa College for the Blind located in Vinton, Iowa. After graduating from the school, she returned to De Smet, South Dakota to live with her parents. She continued to live with her parents until their deaths: Charles "Pa" died in 1902; Caroline "Ma" died in 1924. Unlike the story line on the Little House on the Prairie television series, Mary never married and was never a teacher.

Mary Ingalls died at the age of 63 as the result of pneumonia on October 20, 1928 at De Smet, South Dakota and is buried near Charles and Caroline Ingalls in the De Smet Cemetery, outside De Smet, South Dakota. Other members of the family buried in this cemetery include sisters Carrie (Swanzey) and Grace (Dow). An unnamed infant son of Laura and Almanzo Wilder is also buried here, next to Caroline, mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Mary Ingalls was portrayed by Melissa Sue Anderson in the Little House on the Prairie television series originally broadcast between 1974 and 1982.

De Smet is the county seat of Kingsbury County, South Dakota.