Caroline

I had read Caroline before, but for some reason it remained on the little stack of books on my bedside table. Dipping into it one day for just five minutes hooked me in again, for we’ve surely had another insight into the life of the pioneers on another road trip since I last became absorbed with the Ingalls family.

This family of dolls was in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Pepin, Wisconsin, visited on our first “pioneer” road trip in 2015.

The Caroline in the title is Ma Ingalls; she who dutifully accompanied her husband Charles on his quest for land and the freedom of the West without question, one of the central characters of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books. The book is more accurate than the Little House series in terms of both timescale and historical fact and written from Caroline’s perspective for an adult audience. The first surprise in the opening chapters is that we discover that as they were embarking on this huge journey, she was experiencing all the discomforts of early pregnancy. Their third daughter, Carrie, is born when they are settled in Kansas “Indian Territory” and without doubt, life is far from the cosy, secure picture painted in the Little House books.

An example of a pioneer wagon from the Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, MO, visited in 2017

Regular readers will know that we’ve followed the Oregon Trail pretty comprehensively from the jumping off point in Independence, Missouri on a couple of road trips, making it as far as Idaho (so far!) Re-reading Caroline was a comfortable read, then, for the pictures of the landscape and life on the trail were vividly painted in my mind’s eye. Our travels had also given a good background to another aspect of the story described in more detail than in the original books: the relationship with the Osage Indians, in whose territory the Ingalls decided to settle.

The map, found on the wall of the museum in Pepin, Wisconsin, gives an accurate record of where the Ingalls travelled in the timespan of the Little House series of books. In Caroline, the family set off from Pepin (from the Little House in the Big Woods, pictured in the feature photo of this blog post) and travel across Iowa and Missouri to just west of Independence, where they settle for a while before the need to return to Wisconsin arises. In 1870, this was Indian Territory and encounters with members of the Osage tribe are described in detail: Caroline is very fearful of them indeed. But as I read, the words in my head were those I recall from the Homesteading National Monument in Nebraska about the tribes of Indians who had roamed these territories for centuries, never considering “ownership” until now, when these settlers were laying claim to packets of it. I really did feel that our travels informed my reading of the story more than ever, making it more thought-provoking and prompting better understanding of the Osages’ situation.

A fascinating read, then and one I’d recommend wholeheartedly, especially if you’ve read the original Little House on the Prairie series. I think it could prove to be somewhat of an easier read than the book I picked up in the Community Cafe book swap yesterday…