Carrie Ingalls Swanzey | |
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| Born | Caroline Celestia Ingalls August 3, 1870 |
| Died | June 2, 1946 (aged 75) |
| Resting place | DeSmet Cemetery |
| Spouse(s) | David N. Swanzey (m. 1912; died 1938) |
| Parent(s) | |
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Caroline "Carrie" Celestia Ingalls Swanzey (/ˈɪŋɡəlz ˈswɑːnzi/; August 3, 1870 – June 2, 1946) was the third child of Charles and Caroline Ingalls, and was born in Montgomery County, Kansas. She was a younger sister of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who is known for her Little House books. She was also known as “Baby Carrie” until Grace Ingalls was born.
Biography
As a child, Carrie Ingalls Swanzey (according to her sister Laura) had been small, thin and frail, and seemed to have suffered the most of all the Ingalls family members through the deprivations of the hard winter of 1880–81. Wilder remarks in a later book that Carrie "was not recovering from the hard winter as she should" (Little Town on the Prairie, chapter 12). Carrie was not constantly ill, but she never enjoyed robust physical health during her life. She traveled to several places in her young adulthood seeking a more comfortable climate, but always returned to the harsh winter climate of South Dakota.
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During her late-teen years Carrie was a typesetter for the De Smet News and, subsequently, other newspapers throughout the state.[1] At age 41 on August 1, 1912, she married widower David N. Swanzey (1854–1938), who is best-remembered for his part in the naming of Mount Rushmore. She became stepmother to Swanzey's two children: Mary Swanzey (1904-1969, married Monroe Harris, 14 children) and Harold Swanzey (1908–1936). Harold was one of the workers who helped carve Mount Rushmore, and his name can be found on the granite walls below the monument. He was later killed in a car accident in Keystone, South Dakota on April 9, 1938.[2]
With her sister Grace's help, Carrie took care of their blind sister Mary after their mother's death in 1924.[3]
Carrie was enthusiastic about her sister's books and helped her by sharing her childhood memories. Like Grace and Laura, she suffered from diabetes, and died of complications from the disease in Keystone on June 2, 1946 at age 75. She was buried in the De Smet Cemetery. She outlived by nearly five years her youngest sibling Grace, who also died of diabetes complications.
In the media
Carrie was portrayed in the television adaptations of Little House on the Prairie by :
- Twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush in the television series Little House on the Prairie and its movie sequels
- Haley McCormick in Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder
References
- ^ Benge, Janet and Geoff (2005). Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life. YWAM Publishing. ISBN 1-932096-32-9.
- ^ "Three Killed, Three Injured in Hills Accidents". The Rapid City Daily Journal. April 17, 1939.
- ^ Pechan, Bev (July 3, 1991). "Laura Ingalls' younger sister lived in Keystone". Rapid City Journal.
External links
- Carrie Ingalls page
- "Carrie Ingalls". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
- About the Ingalls Family (Sarah S. Uthoff)