Characters depicted in the TV Series Little House on the Prairie. See here for characters from the anime adaptation.
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The Ingalls Family
Charles Ingalls
Charles Philip Ingalls
Played by: Michael Landon, Matthew Labyorteaux (as a child)
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Silvio Navas (Season 1-4, Herbert Richers dub), Wellington Lima (Season 5, TV Pilot, Centauro dub), Marco Ribeiro (Season 6-9, Audio News dub)
The patriarch of the Ingalls family, husband to Caroline and father to Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace, and later Albert, James and Cassandra.- '70s Hair: Wears Michael Landon's usual perm in contrast with the time period.
- The Ace: Is there anything Charles Ingalls can't accomplish?
- Action Dad: Father of seven and pulls no punches when action calls.
- Determined Homesteader: He and his family will go to great lengths to make sure they keep their farm. Rarely will such trivial things as tornados, plague and flood get in the way of having their little house on the prairie.
- Good Parents: A genial and protective father to all of his children.
- Happily Married: To Caroline.
- Historical Beauty Update: Zigzagged. Real-life Charles Ingalls had a boyishly handsome face
, which just happened to be hidden by his long, wild beard. Landon's Charles is clean-shaven, showing the entirety of his handsome face. - Outliving One's Offspring: His son Freddie dies in infancy, as per real life. Then in "Look Back to Yesterday", Albert is implied to die from a terminal blood disease, though his fate is left ambiguous.
- Papa Wolf: He will take a haymaker to anyone who dares threaten his family, especially his children.
Caroline Ingalls
Caroline Quiner Ingalls
Played by: Karen Grassle, Katy Kutzman (as a child, I Remember, I Remember), Sheri Strahl (as a child, A Christmas They never Forgot)
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Mara di Carlo (Season 1-4), Adriana Pissardini (Season 5, TV Pilot), Izabel Lira (Season 6-8)
Charles' wife and mother to Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace, and later Albert, James and Cassandra.- Adaptational Nice Girl: Some of Caroline's flaws in the book series are either toned down or erased in the TV version:
- Book!Caroline was agressively racist towards Native Americans, dismissing them as lesser people and looking down on a kid because of his Native ancestry. On TV, Caroline is only bothered by the Native Americans who keep visiting their home when they build it on Native land and taking their things, and it's mostly out of fear that they could get violent against them for being on their territory, and she never expresses any overt prejudice towards half-Native characters she interacts with.
- Book!Caroline also encouraged competition between Laura and Mary, while TV!Caroline always makes sure they (and all of her other children) have a good sibling relationship.
- She had a poor opinion of Almanzo because he let Laura ride his horses, which she never allowed for seeing it as too dangerous and at one point hoped he'd fall and break his neck! In the TV show, that conflict is absent and she's supportive of Laura's relationship with him.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Caroline is one of the kindest, least violent people in the show. But if you push her too far or mess with her family, you'll find that she can tear you down with her words.
- In the pilot movie, after Indians kept visiting her house and stealing things, she started keeping guard when Charles was away, sitting on a rocking chair with a shotgun in her arms and singing softly while doing so.
- Good Parents: A loving, genial, and protective mother to all of her seven children.
- Happily Married: To Charles.
- Historical Beauty Update: Downplayed. Young Caroline◊ was quite pretty, buy Compared to her real-life counterpart in middle age, TV!Caroline is far more conventionally attractive.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her son Freddie dies in infancy, as per real life. Then in "Look Back to Yesterday", Albert is implied to die from a terminal blood disease, though his fate is left ambiguous.
- Schoolmarm: She was a school teacher before marrying Charles, and occasionally fills in as a substitute teacher when the current teacher is absent, most notably in "School Mom".
Mary Ingalls
Mary Ingalls Kendall
Played by: Melissa Sue Anderson
The eldest child of Charles and Caroline.- Big Sister Instinct: As the oldest sibling, Mary is the most responsible and often absorbs the role of looking after Laura and Carrie.
- Book Smart: Mary is the most bookworm among her siblings and often competes in school contests.
- Cosmic Plaything: Mary goes through a lot throughout the series. She loses her sight and later gets false hope that it might come back, loses her first baby to a miscarriage, her second to a devastating fire (caused by Albert when he hid a lit pipe he was smoking in secret with a friend), and her husband Adam gets his sight back, initially making her feel alienated. Unlike Albert or Laura, who both did and said horrible things in the series, she did absolutely nothing to deserve the things that happened to her.
- Death Glare: Her bright, blue eyes can turn into this when she's angry or disappointed on you.
- Dude Magnet: From a young age, she's seen as one of the prettiest girls in the school and has a lot of admirers (though she rarely seeks their attention).
- Put on a Bus: After Adam decides to move back to New York in the Season 8 premiere, he and Mary wouldn't reappear except for one Christmas episode mid-Season.
- Sense Loss Sadness: Her eyesight.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Laura's Tomboy.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: One of the traits she gets complimented on the most is her bright, blue eyes.
Laura Ingalls
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder
Laura as a child
Laura in the final seasons
Played by: Melissa Gilbert
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Carmen Sheila (Season 1-4, Herbert Richers dub), Fernanda Bullara (Season 5, Centauro dub), Luisa Palomanes (Season 6-9, Audio News dub)
The second child of Charles and Caroline, the original pioneer girl and author of the "Little House" series. As a child, she's the most tomboyish and outspoken of the sisters, in contrast with her more well-behaved sister Mary. She's the closest to her Pa, sharing many of his traits, and is occasionally the narrator in the episodes, particularly in the final seasons.- Adaptational Dye-Job: Laura in the books and real life had bright, blue eyes. Series Laura has Melissa Gilbert's dark, brown eyes.
- Adoptive Peer Parent: She and her Almanzo took in his niece Jenny Wilder, who's a preteen when Laura is about 20 (in real life, there's an eight-year-gap between Melissa Gilbert and Shannen Doherty). Jenny's father Royal seemed old enough to be Laura's father.
- Affectionate Nickname: Mr. Edwards nicknamed her Half-Pint, which her Pa kept using throughout her childhood and adulthood.
- Bratty Half-Pint: No Pun Intended. As a child, Laura is a sweet girl whose heart is almost always in the right place; she's also outspoken, mischievous and prone to getting physical when people push her too far.
- Brother–Sister Team: With Albert in Seasons 5 and 6.
- Childish Tooth Gap: Has a noticeable gap between two of her teeth, which highlights her cheerful, mischievous nature as a child.
- Daddy's Girl: Very much so. Of all the Ingalls sisters, she's clearly the closest to Charles, sharing many of his traits, from his pluckiness, his tendency to get physical during conflict and is generally more prone to help with the same boyish activities he does. In fact, she gets jealous of her newborn brother when she's afraid he'll fill up Pa's need for a son (which she comes to regret when the baby dies because she didn't pray for him) and later Albert when he's adopted and starts gaining Charles' affections.
- Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in braids throughout her childhood and the better part of her teen years.
- Likes Older Men: Most of her crushes were older boys, and she eventually married Almanzo a young man ten years her senior.
- Narrator: She serves as the narrator every few episodes, usually in the middle of an episode where her voiceover starts with "if I had remembrance book", and in the end where she tells what happens after the events of the episode.
- One of the Boys: Laura is seen more often hanging with boys in activities, from playing baseball, marbles and catching frogs. Her most notable friends are Carl Edwards and Andy Garvey.
- Outdoorsy Gal: As a tomboyish farm girl, Laura enjoys playing outdoors and catching frogs in the creek. She also demands to be taken on hunting trips with her father (though she's relegated to cooking meals) and is a very capable horse rider and tamer.
- Schoolmarm: She becomes the third schoolteacher in Walnut Grove to teach for an extended period (not counting Caroline, Alice Garvey and Mr. Applewood).
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Mary. Laura is mischievous and adventurous, while Mary is well-behaved and down-to-earth.
- Stern Teacher: Her approach as a schoolteacher. She can be quite impatient but is generally fair with her students.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Mary's Girly Girl.
Carrie Ingalls
Caroline Celestia "Carrie" Ingalls
Carrie in the first seasons
Carrie in the final seasons
Played by: Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush
The third and, for the first four seasons, youngest daughter, before Grace was born.- Abled in the Adaptation: In the books, Carrie was described as Delicate and Sickly as a result of growing up during a malnutrition and it takes her a few years to fully recover. In the series, she's health all the way from her childhood to early adolescene.
- Age Lift: In real life, she was 16 when Laura had her daughter Rose. In the series, she's a preteen when Rose is born.
- Baby Talk: Often talks like that in the first seasons.
- Cheerful Child: As a little girl, she's often seen smiling and laughing.
- Children Are Innocent: As a little girl, she's often oblivious to whatever trouble is going on and repeats a curse word "damn" completely unaware that it's swearing. One day when Mr. Edwards was baysitting the kids and killed a rattlesnake in front of her to make stew, she was the only one who liked it (her sisters were at school and didn't know what they were eating but were disgusted by the smell and taste), and is even seen playing with the snake's rattle!!
- The Cutie: Carrie is positively one of the most adorable kids in the series when she's little.
- Demoted to Extra: She usually appeared with Laura and Mary or accompanying her parents and often had or two lines to contrast her innocent mind with whatever situation was going on. Then she grew out of the cute little girl age but her actresses couldn't properly act, so she was demoted to the background with fewer lines.
- Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair with these when she grows up, coincidentally about the same time Laura abandons her braids for her adult hairstyle when she starts working as a teacher.
- Kiddie Kid: She occasionally acts more childish than her age when she grows older.
- One-Steve Limit: Carrie has the same first name as her mother, so everyone calls her by the nickname instead.
- Out of Focus: After growing up, she gets increasingly reduced to the background and gets fewer lines. The twins were cast when their character was a toddler and didn't get any complex roles, and after growing up, they didn't improve their acting skills so Carrie rarely got any prominent roles.
- Put on a Bus: In the final season, the family has to move from Walnut Grove and she, James and Cassandra wouldn't appear from the premiere forward (even in the TV movies).
Albert Ingalls
Albert Quinn Ingalls
Played by: Matthew Labyorteaux
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Luciano Monteiro (Season 6-9)
Albert was a street urchin whom the Ingalls met in Winoka and eventually adopted in Season 5. He becomes particularly close to Laura, even though the latter was initially jealous of his bond with her father.- Black Sheep: Of all the Ingalls siblings, he's the only one to get into criminal trouble. He was a thief before being adopted but mostly acted out of desperation and seemed to have dropped that after joining the family. However, he gets involved with gangs and addicted on morphine in Season 9, and ealier in Season 6 his idea to smoke in secret with other friends causes a tragic fire in which Mary's blind school is burned down and two people die (including her son).
- Brother–Sister Team: With Laura in Seasons 5 and 6.
- Canon Foreigner: The Ingalls never adopted any children in the books or real-life, so Albert was entirely created for the series.
- Cousin Oliver: The first example in the series. He was introduced after the previous season ended with Mary sent to the blind school and on the path to meet her husband and reach adulthood, so enters Albert Quinn, street urchin who'd ran away from an Orphanage of Fear, and eventually gets adopted by the Ingalls and becomes a companion to Laura.
- Troubled Teen: He gets involved with gangs when he moves to Burr Oak, Iowa, and develops morphine addiction which almost destroys his relationship with his family.
- Uncertain Doom: He's diagnosed with a rare blood disease (implied to be leukemia) which is said to be terminal in "A Look Back to Yesterday", but ends the story still alive, with a Hope Spot that, combined with a previous statement in the end of an episode where Laura's voiceover informs that he'd go back to Walnut Grove as a doctor, throws doubt about whether or not he really died.
Grace Ingalls
Grace Pearl Ingalls
Grace Ingalls
Played by: Wendi & Brenda Turnbaugh
The fourth and youngest daughter of Charles and Caroline.- Age Lift: Real-life Grace was born when Laura was 10 and about 9 years old when her daughter Rose was born. In the series, Grace is born when Laura is in her early teens and is still a preschool aged when Rose is born.
- The Baby of the Bunch: She was the last child born from Charles and Caroline, and is a literal baby in most of her appearances.
- The Cutie: She fills Carrie's role as the adorable youngest sister.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. There is another prominent character named Grace, the postmistress who marries Isaiah Edwards and, along with him, adopts the orphaned Sanderson siblings (though she'd left the town by the time Grace is born), and a baby born out of wedlock who is abandoned in the woods, just a few episodes before Grace Ingalls was born.
- Practically Different Generations: To Mary and Laura, who are adults and married when she was still a toddler, and Albert who's on the verge of adulthood at the same time.
- Put on a Bus: She, along with Carrie, James and Cassandra move from town after Season 8, with Season 9 premiere revealing that the Ingalls had to sell their house and move to Burr Oak, Iowa due to a harsh winter.
James and Cassandra Ingalls
James and Cassandra Cooper Ingalls
James and Cassandra Ingalls
Played by: Jason Bateman (James); Missy Francis (Cassandra)
Two siblings whose parents die in a wagon accident in the Season 7 finale. The Ingallses try to find a family who can adopt them both but, after finding that the one family who wanted had an abusive father, decide to take them in, adding two members to the Ingalls siblings.- Alliterative Name: Cassandra Cooper before she became Cassandra Ingalls.
- Canon Foreigner: Like Albert, they were invented for the show.
- Hidden Depths: Cassandra is hinted to very highly intelligent, having got a top grade while still recovering from the death of her and James' parents and winning a poetry contest later in the show.
- Out of Focus: Especially Cassandra, who only got minor roles throughout her appearances in Season 8 before being Put on a Bus. James only got two episodes focused on him before the finale in which the focus in on Charles trying to find a miracle for his critical state in "He Was Only Twelve".
- Put on a Bus: They, along with Carrie and Grace move from town after Season 8, with Season 9 premiere revealing that the Ingalls had to sell their house and move to Burr Oak, Iowa due to a harsh winter.
- Trauma Conga Line: First they lose their parents in a freak accident, and when they are recovering and are adopted by a family, their new father turns out to be abusive, overworking them with shores and whipping James when he's framed by their adoptive brother. They run away, and James is graphically injured in a bear trap before they are found and adopted by the Ingalls. Then months later, James is shot during a robbery, leaving him in a critical state and nearly dies.
The Oleson Family
Nels Oleson
Nels Oleson
Played by: Richard Bull
The co-proprietor of the Oleson's Mercantile, Mr. Oleson is a humble, mild-mannered man who has a cordial relationship with the Ingalls, in contrast with his wife's elitist treatment of them and his spoiled children's rivalry with the Ingalls siblings.- Age Lift: His real-life counterpart William Owens (who served as inspiration for the Mr. Oleson from the books) was about the same age as Charles, whereas in the series, he's about a decade older.
- Aloof Big Brother: "Annabelle" reveals that he was this to his title sister, whom he was ashamed of because of her being overweight, and often went out of his way to distance himself from her. After the circus she joined arrives at Walnut Grove, he's initially hesitant on talking to her, but now because he's ashamed of himself for his treatment of her in the past.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Nels is a humble, good-natured man and something of a Henpecked Husband who usually lets his wife boss him around, but when she or their kids go too far, even he can't stand it:
- On two occasions where Nellie's schemes to get at Laura went too far, he sent her to her room and followed her with a belt, one time ignoring Harriet's protests.
- When he finds that his wife notified Dr. McQueen, a ringmaster who'd been keeping a mute boy under terrible conditions to sell him as a Wild Child attraction of the kid's whereabouts, he absolutely explodes, tearing up her 50 dollars reward draft (about 1000 dollars in current money) and breaking all the bottles of "Wonder elixir" said man had given to be sold at their mercantile, even shouting her down when she tries to defend her actions (she seemed to believe McQueen's words that the boy was indeed a wild child and that he had the best intentions about him).
- Butt-Monkey: Often has to keep up with his wife's overbearing attitude, his children's bratty behavior and occasional misfortunes either resulting of the former two or just plain bad luck.
- Deadpan Snarker: He perfectioned the art of snarking by means of being married to Harriet and using his sarcasm to get back get at her without attracting her overbearing attitude.
- Henpecked Husband: Poor Nels. His wife has him under his thumb, and he rarely gets to keep up with her bossy, overbearing attitude. He has his limits though, such as when Nellie's schemes go too far and he proceeds to give her a spanking or when he finds Harriet was responsible for notifying Dr. McQueen about the missing kid he kept as a Wild Child attraction, he absolutely loses it (see Beware the Nice Ones above).
- Humble Parent, Spoiled Kids: Nels is an honest, mild-mannered businessman, but his kids are spoiled rotten by his wife, especially Nancy. This is downplayed after Nellie and Willie go through character development, and become far more responsible people.
- Nice Guy: A humble, patient salesman, and the only example in the Oleson family at first (apart of his sister Annabelle).
- Token Good Teammate: For most of the series, he's the only inherently decent member of the Oleson family.
Harriet Oleson
Harriet Oleson
Played by: Katherine MacGregor
The co-proprietor of the Oleson's Mercantile, Mrs. Oleson is a snobby, gossipy woman, but with a thing for business which even her husband admits, even though he can't always keep up with her overbearing attitude towards everyone, including himself. She has a particular feud with the Ingalls, partially out of elitism and partially due to the rivalry between her and their children (particularly Laura and Nellie).- Adaptational Villainy: Harriet Oleson was generally kind and polite in the books, but in the TV series she's a malicious gossip, manipulator, snobbish elitist and casual racist.
- Aesop Amnesia: A recurring trait of hers is that no matter how many times she seems to learn a lesson, they almost never stick.
- Age Lift: Her real-life counterpart, Margaret Owens, (who served as inspiration for the Mrs. Oleson from the books) was about the same age as Charles. Mrs. Oleson in the series is at least half a decade older.
- Catchphrase: "Aw for Heaven's sakes"!
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Harriet becomes this over the course of the two-part episode "Blind Journey", as she makes great strides in moderating her bigoted attitude towards blacks through her interactions with Joe Kagan and the young blind boy Samson.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Harriet Oleson spoils her kids rotten and lets them get away with murder but she was outraged to learn Nancy lied about her mother abandoning her and that she locked Belinda in the ice house.
- While she usually makes excuses for her children's faults, even she was appalled when Nellie was caught cheating on her test at school.
- Despite her bigoted views of Black people before the events of "Blind Journey", she's never seen using the N-word, in contrast with Jud Larrabee.
- Gossipy Hens: She's the gossip at Walnut Grove. When a telephone board is installed in the town and she becomes the operator, she uses her position to overhear conversations and spread gossip to anyone who's willing to listen through the line, more often Mrs. Foster.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Mrs. Oleson, by far. She'd learn some grand lesson or otherwise be humbled only to be right back to the way she was before in the next episode. The only thing that really stuck was her softened attitude towards black people, which was a painful lesson she learned in "Blind Journey".
- Progressively Prettier: While she certainly never becomes a knockout, Mrs. Oleson starts the show with a very severe and plain appearance, but gradually begins to wear much more flattering costumes, hair, and makeup over the course of the seasons as softer layers of her character develop.
- Small Name, Big Ego: She never really catches on that her pompous, arrogant behavior does not enhance, and in fact diminishes her family's standing.
Nellie Oleson
Nellie Oleson Dalton
Played by: Alison Arngrim
The Olesons' oldest child, Nellie is the most spoiled girl in Walnut Grove, used to getting everything she wants and immediately gets into a feud with the Ingalls sisters, especially Laura.- Age Lift: The Nellie Oleson from the books was a year or so younger than Laura. In the series, she's about the same as Mary, a couple years Laura's senior.
- Alpha Bitch: The uber example in the series. She's the daughter of the richest family in Walnut Grove, spoiled rotten by her mother, and often likes to rub her rich possesions in other kids' faces, especially her rival Laura, and always wants to have things her way, as her first conflict with Laura was that she always insisted that they play what she wanted and pushed Laura down twice for defying her imposition.
- Big Sister Bully: Nellie often pushes her brother Willie around when he's smaller and coerces him into participating in her schemes, such as once giving him a cigar from the Mercantile to convince him to vote for her in the school election, and then blackmailing him with said cigar by saying nobody would believe she was the one who gave it to him.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: As she gets older, Nellie matures and gets nicer, though she still has her moments. Though later in the series, most of her wrath is directed toward her mother.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Rich Bitch like her mother, prone to dishonest tactics to get things her way like her mother... marries a hard-working nice guy like her mother.
- Pet the Dog: She has a few moments before pulling a Heel–Face Turn:
- She cooperates with Tinker Jones' plan to make a new bell for the church and end the dilemma which had been dividing the people of Walnut Grove.
- When Laura asks her for advice about how to call a boy's attention in "The Rivals", she actually gives her what she thinks is sound advice. It backfires but she had no ulterior motives and it was implied that she meant well for once, even though Laura was her sworn enemy.
- Put on a Bus: She leaves the show after Season 7, with Season 8 premiere explaining that she and her husband were visiting his parents in New York, but had to stay permanently after Percival's father died and he had to assume the family's business. She returned for one episode of Season 9, fittingly titled "The Return of Nellie", where she clashes with her adoptive little sister Nancy.
- Regal Ringlets: Nellie's perfect ringlets provide one of the best-known examples in popular culture. In her final appearance, she's upgraded the look further to a full-on high-class beehive hairdo after living in New York City with her husband Percival and their children.
- Spoiled Brat: Thanks to her mother's pampering and their status as the richest family in town.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She wasn't as bad in the first season, only a bit of a brat and could occasionally get along with the Ingalls sisters. From Season 2 to 6, she got increasingly worse, until...
- Took a Level in Kindness: She starts maturing in Season 6, mostly under Percival's influence, and becomes much nicer to people, including Laura.
Willie Oleson
Willie Oleson
Willie as a child
Willie as a teenager
Played by: Jonathan Gilbert
The second child and only son of Nels and Harriet, he's introduced as a bratty little boy and an occasional minion in his sister's schemes. As he grows older, he's still something of a troublemaker but eventually grows out of it and becomes a fairly responsible young man.- Big Eater: To the point where his father once wonders "Where does he put it all?"
- Bratty Half-Pint: Even more so than the Half-Pint herself. As a child, Willie is a mouthy, mischievous troublemaker and coddled by his doting mother, and unlike Laura, he lacks her good-natured qualities (at first).
- Character Development: He goes from a spoiled, bratty, mouthy kid to a responsible young man, thanks in part to Laura's tutoring when she becomes his teacher.
- Class Clown: He's always cracking jokes in class and it often gets him sent to the corner (he's even got a personal corner where he likes to stay when penalized by his teacher.)
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a spoiled brat at first and something of a troublemaker, but he does seem to care about doing the right thing and eventually evolves into a far more responsible young man.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to his sister, Willie isn't that bad. While he does occasionally help her in her nastier schemes and insults to Laura, he doesn't seem to take as much pleasure as Nellie does, and is mostly a harmless Class Clown.
- Spoiled Brat: Thanks to his mother's pampering and their condition as the richest family in town. He gets better though.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Like his sister, he gets much better throughout the final seasons.
Nancy Oleson
Nancy Oleson
Played by: Allison Balson
After Nellie's trip to New York became permanent due to her father-in-law's sudden passing and her husband taking over the family business, Mrs. Oleson spirals into depression, and it's suggested that she look into adoption if she misses having a little girl in her life so much.Nancy, as the orphanage director reveals, is the single-most unruly child her orphanage has ever seen, always gets her way and causes disasters for anybody who gets on her bad side. While anybody would turn around and run the other way at the sight of such a child, Harriet sees the spitting image of her Nellie inside this pint-sized tyrant and decides to win over Nancy and adopt her as her new daughter. Nels does go along, thinking that maybe, with a little love, guidance and stable home, she can become a respectable and responsible person ... if he only knew ...- Annoying Younger Sibling: To Willie, who can't stand her brattiness, especially since their mother keeps enabling her and making excuses for her behaviour.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She initially tries to pull a cute, innocent façade when she first arrives at Walnut Grove, but it quickly cracks when she doesn't get people to do things her way. Only her mother seems to buy her Blatant Lies.
- Canon Foreigner: Like Albert, James and Cassandra, Nancy was another adopted child invented for the show to fill in for the original children as they started to grow up.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Lampshaded in-universe. Nancy was already an erratic child when she lived in the orphanage, but after being adopted by the Olesons, her mother molds her after Nellie, even dressing her like her older daughter and making excuses for her worse tendencies, so she basically becomes a new Nellie with even fewer redeeming qualities.
- Cousin Oliver: An interesting example. Nancy was conceived as a substitute for Nellie, who'd not only grown up but redeemed herself. Even more interesting, this is an invoked example—Harriet Oleson deliberately adopted the brattiest, most badly behaved child in the local orphanage to replace the grownup Nellie. Nellie herself lampshades it in one episode, worrying that Nancy may feel like she's not really wanted in the family since she was specifically chosen for her resemblance to Nellie.
- Death by Childbirth: How her biological mother died. She makes up a story about how her mother abandoned and that's why she has abandonment issues, but once people figure out the truth, they expose Nancy as a pathological liar.
- Replacement Goldfish: To Mrs. Oleson, who was convinced that adopting another girl to fill the void left by Nellie's absence would help her overcome her depression. Harriet winds up picking a girl whose appearance and behaviour remind her of Nellie... because Nellie's worse traits are blatantly exaggerated in her!
- Spoiled Brat: Exaggerated! Nellie and Willie were spoiled too as children, but Nancy is absolutely coddled by Harriet, not making her erratic, selfish attitude any better.
- Token Evil Teammate: Believe it or not! While most of the Olesons had their faults, Nellie and Willie were redeeming themselves when she's introduced and Harriet always drew enough lines to not be considered evil, making Nancy the only inherently evil member in the family.
Rachel Oleson
Rachel Brown Oleson
Played by: Sherri Stoner
A girl whom Willie becomes engaged with. His decision to marry her and stay in Walnut Grove instead of attending college causes a clash with Harriet, who berates Rachel as a homely, country mouse and tries to sabotage their wedding, to no avail.- Last Episode, New Character: She's introduced in the penultimate episode in the series, and only has a more prominent role in the finale and occasional appearances in the TV movies.
- Missing Mom: While her father is shown when Willies goes to ask for his blessing to marry Rachel, her mother is talked about in the past, implying she's deceased.
- Nice Girl: She's shown to be a sweet girl.
- Remember the New Guy?: She's apparently been around long enough to develop a relationship with Willie Oleson that culminates in marriage after they finish school, but was never seen prior to her debut.
- Satellite Love Interest: She's introduced as Willie's love interest and doesn't get much more characterization other than that.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She falls in love with Willie, who by this point became a responsible young man.
The people of Walnut Grove
Mr. Edwards
Isaiah Edwards
Played by: Victor French
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Isaac Bardavid (Season 1-2), André Luiz Chapéu (Season 3), Júlio Chaves (Season 6-9)
A mountain man who befriended the Ingalls while they were trying to find a place to settle. When the family finally move to Walnut Grove, he followed them there and found work at Hanson's Mill.- Dark and Troubled Past: He reveals in his first appearance (he'd previously appeared in the Movie pilot) that he once had a wife and daughter and lost them to a plague he accidentally brought to them, and it greatly haunted him for years, shattering his faith in God and kickstarting his alcoholism.
- Functional Addict: Zigzagged. He can't keep his mouth away from alcohol and is a mess during his first appearance, but remains functional during most of his stay at Walnut Grove. Until he loses John Jr...
- Large Ham: His larger-than-life persona makes one think they can find pieces of scenery on his beard.
- Off the Wagon: A tragedy in Season 8 causes him to lose control of his alcoholism, destroying his marriage and even alienating his friends when he returns to Walnut Grove.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter Alice and wife died of smallpox, which he accidentally brought to them. Later on, his adoptive son John Jr. dies in a freak accident, which turns out to be linked with corruption investigations.
- Papa Wolf: He's fiercely protective of kids, not only his own but also the Ingalls girls, especially Laura.
- Put on a Bus: Mr. Edwards and his family leave Walnut Grove after Season 3 and they don't reappear till Season 6. Mr. Edwards returns in Season 8 on his own with his wife explaining they have separated due to a relapse into alcoholism.
Reverend Alden
Rev. Robert Alden
Played by: Dabbs Greer
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Magalhães Graça (Season 1), Orlando Drummond (Season 2-4), José Santa Cruz (Season 6-9)
The minister responsible for the Sunday sermons in Walnut Grove, having been present when Lars Hanson founded it three decades earlier.- Age Lift: The real Rev. Alden (who served as inspiration for his book counterpart) was the same age as Charles (they were both born in January, 1836). In the series, he seems old enough to be Charles' father.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It's revealed in "A Promise To Keep" that he was once in the same situation as Mr. Edwards at that point, having lost his family and descended to alcoholism before finding his way through his faith.
- December–December Romance: With Mrs. Craig in "The Preacher Takes a Wife".
- Good Shepherd: A kind-hearted minister who deeply cares for his community and always seeks what's best for them.
- Not So Above It All:
- He's usually one of the most reasonable members in the town and takes his position quite seriously, but when Charles is forced to attend Sunday sermon with his hair dyed green, and by sheer coincidence when he selected a Psalm whose start includes "He maketh me lie in green pastures" he explodes in laughter and is followed by the entire congregation after initially being displeased by the guffawing.
- In "The Big Inning", when one of the wives attending the Women's League reunion explains why she doesn't want her husband to participate in the ballgame because people are making bets on him and she condemns that as no better than gambling, Rev. Alden hesitates to agree with her, implying that he made a bet of his own.
- Undying Loyalty: To Walnut Grove and by extension, Lars Hanson. He was there since the community was founded and after the town goes bankrupt and most citizens move away, he continues to visit the dying town and helps tend for its moribund founder.
Dr. Baker
Dr. Hiram Baker
Played by: Kevin Hagen
The local doctor.- Frontier Doctor: Doc Baker is the local doctor in the country town of Walnut Grove, often taking care of farming accidents, treating animals despite this not being his area and accepting fruits and chickens as payment for his services when his patients can't afford for treatment in cash.
- May-September Romance: With Mrs. Oleson's niece, Kate Thovald. It doesn't last and he decides to break up due to the age difference.
- Open Heart Dentistry: Inverted. He's a medical doctor, but despite not being a veterinarian, he occasionally tends for ill and injured animals in the town.
- Post-Treatment Lollipop: Often rewards his younger patients with sweets after they heal.
- Those Two Guys: Is often seen hanging around with Mr. Hanson when he's not in his office.
- Undying Loyalty: To Walnut Grove and by extension, Lars Hanson. After the town goes bankrupt and most citizens move away, he's one of the only ones who stay.
Ms. Beadle/Mrs. Simms
Eva Beadle Simms
Played by: Charlotte Stewart
The first and most prominent schoolteacher of Walnut Grove.- Cool Teacher: By means of being a patient, reliable and caring schoolteacher, and all the children love her for that.
- Nice Girl: A kind schoolteacher who always seeks what's best for her students.
- Old Maid: At least by 1800's standards. She's somewhere in her thirties and people occasionally refer to her as a "spinster".
- Put on a Bus: She and her husband leave when the town goes bankrupt and never return.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Cares deeply about her students, not only regarding their academic performances but their wellbeing in general.
- Schoolmarm: She's the first and by far the most iconic example in the series.
- Teacher/Parent Romance: She falls in love and marries her student Luke's widowed father, Adam Simms.
Lars Hanson
Lars Hanson
Played by: Karl Swenson
The owner of Hanson's Mill, where most of the men in town work, and the founder of Walnut Grove.- Benevolent Boss: He's very nice to his employees at the Hanson's Mill, often offering opportunities of promising services for those in need of an extra job.
- Killed Offscreen: He falls ill after most of the people leave Walnut Grove and the place becomes a Ghost Town, and recovers long enough to see the community go back to life, with Laura's narration telling that he died a few months later.
- Our Founder: He founded Walnut Grove in 1840. In a rare case for this trope, he's still alive and active during the first events of the show (after his death, a plaque is put in the town reading "Walnut Grove: Founded 1840 by Lars Hanson").
- Those Two Guys: Is often seen hanging around with Dr. Baker in his free time.
Grace Edwards
Grace Edwards (formeerly Snider)
Played by: Bonnie Bartlet; Corrine Camacho ("A promise to Keep")
A widowed postmistress of Walnut Grove, she and Isaiah Edwards start a romance, and together adopt the three orphaned Sandersons, John, Carl and Alicia.- Good Parents: After adopting the John, Carl and Alicia, she becomes a kind, compassionate mother to them, who had already lost their mother and previously father.
- Grief-Induced Split: After the death of John Jr, her husband's alcoholism worsens and destroy their married life, leading her to tell him to leave for their children's sake.
- Outliving One's Offspring: John Jr is killed in Chicago in an (apparent) accident, which turned out to be related to town corruption.
- Parent with New Paramour: A few months after Isaiah leaves home for Walnut Grove, she sends him a letter revealing she found a new love, Nathan Simms, and will start divorce procedures. Knowing about that almost causes Isaiah to fall Off the Wagon again, but thankfully, he fails to buy more alcohol and finds help at the church instead.
- Put on a Bus: She and her family move to a mining area at the Season 3 and from there to California. She makes two more appearances, including one involving the end of her marriage to Isaiah.
- Second Love: To Isaiah, who was previously married before his wife and daughter died year before.
- Uptight Loves Wild: She's an uptight Proper Lady, who was initially turned off by Isaiah's rather uncouth manners. They wind up falling in love as she gets to know him better.
The Garvey Family
Jonathan Garvey
Played by: Merlin Olsen
A farmer who moves to Walnut Grove with his wife and son. He becomes close friends with the Ingalls family.- Drowning My Sorrows: He delves into an alcoholic spiral of utter despair after the death of his wife in "May We Make Them Proud" (season 6). He starts drinking as soon as the sun comes up, and is neglectful and even harsh with his only son Andy.
- Gentle Giant: One of the biggest guys in town, but a gentle soul.
- Good Parents: Like Charles, he's a loving and protective father to Andy.
- Hunk: He's a tall, bulky guy.
- Put on a Bus: After he moves to another town to start a freight business, he makes a few occasional appearances before disappearing along with his son.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute : To Isaiah Edwards, who had been Put on a Bus in the previous season.
Alice Garvey
Played by: Hersha Parady
Jonathan's wife and Andy's mother.- Dark Secret: It's revealed that she was once married for two weeks and divorced because her husband was arrested for trying to rob a bank, which she never revealed to her current husband and is a source of friction between them when he figures it out.
- Education Mama: Like Caroline, she's a schoolteacher and very concerned with her son's education. She becomes very harsh on him when she becomes the new teacher and he can keep up with the subject.
- Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: The Firm Hand to Jonathan's Gentle touch. While Jonathan is no pushover and isn't above disciplining his son, Alice the one most prone to reprimand Andy.
- Killed Off for Real: She burns to death alongside Mary and Adam's infant son when the Blind School burns down in the sixth season.
- Schoolmarm: She becomes the schoolteacher of Walnut Grove after the town is brought back to life in Season 5 (Eva Simms had left the town and didn't return), having taught at the public school in Winoka.
Andrew "Andy" Garvey
Played by: Patrick Labyorteaux
Jonathan and Alice's only son. He becomes particularly close friends to Laura and later Albert.- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Albert.Not even Albert's involvement in the school fire that killed his mother was enough to taint their friendship.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: He has bright, blue Puppy-Dog Eyes.
- Like Brother and Sister: His dynamic with Laura.
- Put on a Bus: After his father moves to Sleepy Eye to start a freight business, he and Jonathan would make a few occasional appearances before disappearing from the show.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute : To Carl Edwards, as Laura's closest male friend.
Adam Kendall
Adam Kendall
Played by: Linwood Boomer
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Philippe Maia (Season 6-8)
Mary's love interest, a blind teacher at the Burton School for the Blind and eventually becomes a lawyer.- Canon Foreigner: He was created only for the TV show, as Mary never married in real life and in the books.
- Teacher/Student Romance: He was Mary's tutor when she studied at the blind school, and they became engaged when she became a teacher for the younger children there.
- Temporary Blindness: What his condition turned out to be, as it was caused by a concussion when he slipped and hit his head on a rock. After a freak accident in "To See The Light", the resulting concussion undoes the compression caused in the past and restores his sight.
Almanzo Wilder
Almanzo James Wilder
Played by: Dean Butler
Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese by: Manolo Rey
Laura's love interest, a handsome young farmer who moved to Walnut Grove along with his older sister Eliza Jane.- Abled in the Adaptation: In real life, a stroke left him permanently limp and needing a cane to walk. In the series, while he does become temporarily paralyzed after his stroke, he eventually recovers and shows no lasting damage afterwards.
- Accidental Misnaming: On the receiving side of this by Mrs. Oleson, who can never get his name right. Ironically, his nickname "Manly" comes from this, as when he first met Laura he informed that his friends called him "Manny", which she misheard as "Manly" and stuck as a personal nickname of hers after they became a couple.
- He's also a victim of this in a meta sense, as some fans often misspell his name "Almonzo".
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: His relationship with Laura in the book implied that he'd become interested in her when they first met, even though she was only thirteen. In the series, he meets her when she's fifteen and initially sees her as a "little girl", much to her displeasure. It wasn't until she got a teaching job at 16 and started acting more mature that he saw her as a young lady and fell in love with her.
- Affectionate Nickname: Laura calls him "Manly" the first time she sees him, and keeps using that name after they get married. Manly himself nicknames her "Beth" as a reference to her middle name.
- Age-Gap Romance: He and Laura start a relationship when she's 16 and he's in his mid-twenties.
- Blue Is Heroic: Often wears a blue shirt and is an all-around brave, good-natured guy.
- Happily Married: He and "Beth" may occasionally bicker, but it's clear that they're each made for each other.
Eliza Jane Wilder
Eliza Jane Wilder
Played by: Lucy Lee Flippin
The new schoolteacher, she replaces Alice Garvey (who was filling in for Mrs. Simms when she and her family move from Walnut Grove). She's indirectly responsible for introducing her brother Almanzo to Laura, who falls in love with him at first sight.- Adaptational Nice Girl: Eliza Jane in the books had a rocky relationship with her brother Almanzo and treated Laura poorly after believing Nellie's gossip about her being a troublemaker, and then bullied Carrie to get at Laura. In the series, Eliza Jane seems to have a much better relationship with Almanzo, her relationship with Laura is far more amiable and while her treatment of Carrie isn't seen much, Eliza Jane seems to treat her like every other student.
- Plain Jane: Her rather unflattering looks make her insecure and inexperient in the area of romance.
- Put on a Bus: She makes her final appearance in "Days of Sunshine, Days of Sorrow" before leaving Walnut Grove for good.
- Schoolmarm: The third prominent schoolteacher in Walnut Grove.
Mrs. Foster
Melinda Foster
Played by: Ruth Foster
A postmistress at the Walnut Grove Post Office.- Absurdly Elderly Mother: In Season 7, she's shown to have a husband and twin daughter who are still in diapers, even though she's at least middle-aged and her actress was pushing 60 at the time.
- Odd Friendship: She's in civil terms with Harriet Oleson, even though Mrs. Foster isn't much of a gossip.
- Really Gets Around: She's seen arms in arms with a different man every few episodes, even though one episode in Season 7 shows that she has a husband and toddler twins.
- Series Continuity Error: One episode in Season 5 mentions one Widow Foster, which combined with Mrs. Foster often being seen alone or in the company of different men, implied that she was a widow. But in one Season 7 episode, she's shown to have a husband and two daughters.
Jenny Wilder
Jenny Wilder
Played by: Shannen Doherty
Almanzo's niece, daughter to his older brother Royal. She's introduced in Season 9, when her father arrives to visit, only to reveal that he's terminally ill and came to leave his daughter (whose mother had died earlier) in his brother and sister-in-law's care.- Canon Foreigner: Royal Wilder never had a daughter named Jenny, she was exclusively made for the show.
- Cousin Oliver: Jenny is introduced at the same time most of the Ingalls family, including all the kids depart from the show, taking over as the main kid character.
- Nephewism: She's left under her uncle and aunt's care after her father dies, becoming their surrogate child.
- Nice Girl: She's a very good-natured girl without a mean bone in her body.
- Series Continuity Error: Her mere existence is this: Her father Royal had previously appeared in Season 7's The Nephews" with a living wife (who reveals to be pregnant in the end) and two bratty sons who give Laura and Almanzo hell. When he reappears, he's terminally ill, his wife is deceased and only has Jenny, whom he asks his brother to look after after he dies. There have been theories to explain this discrepancy, such as that Royal's wife and sons died and there was only Jenny left, that Jenny was adopted or that Jenny is the baby Royal's wife revals to be with in "The Nephews", but it's implied that there was basically a Retcon and the episode with Royal's sons was discontinued.
- Ship Tease: With Jeb Carter, and to a lesser extent Matthew Rogers (the title character in "The Wild Boy").
Hans Dorfler
Hans Dorfler
Played by: Jim Jeter
The local blacksmith and liverier in Walnut Grove.- Asleep in Class: Well, in church, but he was shown to fall asleep during church service.
- The Big Guy: He's a large guy and, as a blacksmith, very strong.
- The Blacksmith: He's the local blacksmith during the first 6 seasons.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After making prominent appearances throughout the first 6 seasons, he disappears and his place is taken, first by Irv Hartwig and later by John Carter.
- Gentle Giant: He shows a soft side when helping Laura prepare for a horse race in "The Race".
- Hidden Depths: Charles once mentions he has a wife, and he wears a wedding ring in his hand (although men didn't usually wear wedding rings at the time period).
Joe Kagan
Joseph "Joe" Kagan
Played by: Moses Gunn
An African-American former boxer turned farmer, he lives in Walnut Grove for a while and later in Sleepy Eye.- Abhorrent Admirer: To Hester Sue, who insists she's not interested in him, although it's implied she is, but is afraid he turns out be as bad as her ex-husband.
- Action Dad: He has a son and continued to fight as he grew up to provide for him and his wife. Unfortunately, his decaying health cost him so much he couldn't make anymore money, and unbeknownst to him, his family never received any money and his son grew resentful.
- All for Nothing: He insisted on his career as an itinerant boxer under the justification that any money he made would be sent to provide for his wife and son. Little did he know that he'd made so little money that his amoral manager never bothered to send a penny, leaving his wife to overwork herself to death and his son to think he abandoned them and despise his memory.
- Black Boxer Stereotype: Well, he's African-American and a boxer. He's actually a darker take on the trope: Joe was a slave, whose master groomed to be a fighter since he was 14, and he fought for ten yeas to earn his freedom, meaning fighting was what he spent most of his life doing but also that he never really had an option to do anything else before he was free, and then that was the one thing he could do earn well as a black man in the 1800's. It also took a toll on him to the point that he could no longer fight and there would be nothing more he as an ageing black man could do. Thanfully, Charles helps him recover after almost killing him during a match and later to start a new life as a farmer in Walnut Grove.
- Everyone Has Standards: When the racist farmer Jud Larrabee is tried for assaulting Andy Garvey and burning the Garvey family's barn (which is a hanging offense), everyone in the juror believes he's guilt and votes for his conviction despite nobody having seen him do it, but Joe, who's often a victim of Larrabee's racism, insists he can't convict a man for something he can't be sure he did, having seen enough of his people lynched for even less evidence.
- Papa Wolf: An interesting example. After finding his son, now an adult and ready to follow in the same self-destructive steps as him in a boxing career, Joe (who'd just quit boxing due to his declining health) forces his amoral manager L Moody (who had exploited and abandoned him after finding he could no longer fight, and now intended to do the same to Tim) to set up a fight between him and Tim, where Joe promptly defeats his son (who doesn't know his opponent is his father) and later encourages him to have a much quieter life helping his aunt at her grocery store. He never reveals himself and it's implied he'll never see Tim again, but it's all for his best.
- Put on a Bus: He moves to Sleep Eye as of Season 7 and still makes one appearance before disappearing from the show.
- Will They or Won't They?: He and Hester Sue have this dynamic. He pursues her, she seems fond of him but turns him down because she thinks he's uncouth.
Ebenezer Sprague
Ebenezer Sprague
Played by: Ted Gehring
The first banker in Walnut Grove, he debuts in the eponymous Season 2 episode, where he's shown to be a humourless, inflexible man with no intentions to befriend or make connection with anyone, treating most clients with a cold detachment and refusing any requests outside what is in the contract. As his with his literary namesake, he has a change of heart, thanks to Laura Ingalls, whom he meets when he goes fishing and who doesn't know he's the unpopular banker everyone is talking about.- 0% Approval Rating: His sour attitude is quick to gain everyone's antipathy, before he gets better.
- Defrosting Ice King: When he arrives in Walnut Grove, he's dismissive of everyone who doesn't come to discuss bank business and inflexible with his deals, to the point of taking one day's work off his payment to Mr. Hanson for not completing the bank building before noon. Then, after a few meeting fishing with Laura, and getting to show a different side, he starts warming up to people and becomes a much more reasonable person by his next few appearances.
- Establishing Character Moment: His first appearance involves him arriving in a wagon and telling the rider not to unload his baggage yet, ignoring the man's objections. Then he announces to Mr. Hanson, who received him with delight as he antecipated great improvement for the town with a new bank, he takes one day's work off the payment for the building because the contract said it should be finished by that day by noon and Charles was still hammering the final arrengements at 12:48. Then he says the contract also recquired them to unload his baggage, even though he could have just let the rider do so.
- Expy: Of Ebenezer Scrooge of course. Although his story isn't Christmas-related, he's shown to be a honest, but inflexible, antisocial rich man who eventually has a change of heart after a few experiences force him to confront his ways and become better.
- Freudian Excuse: Laura tells Sprague during their fishing meetings, not knowing who he fishing companion is, that her father says Mr. Sprague is someone who hasn't had it easy for him in life, and now he's hard to everyone he meets as a result. It's also mentioned that he had to quit school on 3d grade and work his way to become a doctor throughout most of his life, and had no time or motive to socialize wih others before, molding him into the cold-hearted banker he is now.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He wasn't unreasonable before his change of heart, just inflexible and unfriendly. However, after getting better he's kind enugh to show sympathy for his clients but firm enough to disencourage business in unfavourable circumstances.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Much like his namesake, Sprague never does anything dishonest or even goes out of his way to harm anyone, he's just cold and dettached from people and refuses to give them any help outside of what's in the contract, such as not letting a client in after the bank closes or penalizing the bank builders for finishing the bank a mere hour after the time his contract says.
Jud Larrabee
Jud Larrabee
Played by: Don "Red" Barry
An ill-tempered, mean-spirited farmer, he makes occasional appearances in seasons 4 and 5. He occasionally clashes with Jonathan Garvey, and later Joe Kagan for his hatred of black people.- 0% Approval Rating: Nobody seems to like him much, and no wonder why.
- Anti-Role Model: Larrabee is essentially everything nobody should aspire to be: He's prideful, selfish, dishonest, incredibly racist and an all-around Jerkass.
- Evil Is Petty: He screwed over just about every farmer in Walnut Grove by not keeping his word about charging the same price for his harvest as everyone else, both out of pure greed and to specifically spite Joe Kagan.
- Evil Old Folks: His age is a bit vague, but Don Barry was in his sixties when he played Larrabee, who's shown to be a racist, bullying jerkass.
- Hated by All: Not that he was well-liked before, but after breaking the deal to sell his harvest on the same price as the other farmers just to get some extra money and screw with Joe Kagan, then assaulting Andy Garvey while trying to confront his father at home, and then being accused of burning the Garvey's barn, everyone is looking forward to seeing him executed for barn burning. Even after he's acquited of the latter crime, everyone is just completely tired of him, including his wife, who leaves with their sons.
- Inconsistent Spelling: The show can't seem to decide whether his name is supposed to be spelled "Larrabee" or "Larabee", as both versions are used in the credits of episodes where he appears.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He finally gets his comeuppance in "Barn Burner", where after he betrays his fellow farmers and tries to confront Jonathan Garvey for berating him at his home, giving Andy a concussion while hesearched for his father, he's accused of burning the Garvey's barn which burnt after an injured Andy left a lantern in the fencepost while preparing a horse to go warn his father. He doubles down on being blameless and that it was all Jonathan and Joe's fault, so his wife, seeing that his influence is beng harmful to their sons, declares she's taking their sons with her to save them from his influence, and then after he's acquited from burning the barn but convicted for assaulting Andy, he's sentenced to pay the Garveys the price for the crop that got burned.
- Not Me This Time: After being confronted by Jonathan Garvey for breaking the aforementioned deal, he's accused of burning the Garvey's barn, and he confesses to having been there to confront Jonathan and shoved Andy to the ground, giving him a head injury, but insists on his innocence about the barn burning. As it turns out, Andy had left a lantern over the fence near the barn, and that's probably what caused the fire.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's extremely racist, as shown during his reaction to Joe Kagan being invited to the church service and to the arrival of black kids among the blind students who come to Walnut Grove, and his constant use of the N-word. He also shows ansitisemitic remarks against the Jewish carpenter Isaac Singerman and his influence leads his sons to bully Albert for starting a friendship with the old Singerman to the point of assaulting him as he returned home.
- Put on a Bus: After his trial in "Barn Burner", where he alienates the entire town and his own family, he's seen being walked out by everyone and never appears again, implying he died alone at his farm, or left the town.
- Stupid Evil: In "Barn Burner", he becomes petty to a ridiculous degree. He resents Joe Kagan being at the farmers coalization so he betrays their plans to charge their crop on the same prize, despite knowing that he didn't have that much gain and that doing so would get antipathy from just about everyone in town.
People of Winoka
Mr. Standish
Mr. Miles Standish
Played by: Leon Charles
The main antagonist during the Winoka Arc, when the Ingalls, Garvey and Oleson families move to Winoka. He owned the hotel where the Ingalls were employed, as well as several other buildings in the city, making him one of the most powerful men in Winoka, a position he frequently abuses for his own gain.- Arc Villain: During the Winoka arc in Season 5.
- Bad Boss: He's unnecessarily mean to his employees, verbally abuses Charles and makes no effort to stop his bodyguard Harlan from harrassing Caroline. He also fires Jonathan, whom he'd hired after beating up Harlan, for trying to stop him from tricking Toby Noe into losing all his money in gambling.
- Evil Old Folks: He's grey-haired and a tyrannical tycoon.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears square glasses and is a greedy, tyrannical businessman.
- I Own This Town: He owns most businesses in Winoka, making the place an almost Company Town in his hands.
- Kick the Dog: Not satisfied with buying the blind school building after they couldn't afford for the place anymore, he tricks Adam into accepting a subpar team of horses in exchange for all the furnitures in the old school, taking advantage of Adam's blindness no less. Thankfully Charles and Joe Kagan see the trick and force him to give them a decent team and a wagon.
- Laser-Guided Karma: While he never loses his power, he gets one blow from karma: He and other city elders had neglected funds for the firebombers and refused to allow firecrackers during 4th of July just because he didn't like them. His son Jeb tries to lit one in the basement and accidentally lits all of them, creating a pyrotechnic show for that 4th of July which also destroys his saloon, and he can't put out the fire more quickly because the firefighters couldn't afford for the equipment.
- Pet the Dog: A tiny one, but when the firecrackers start setting everything on fire at the saloon, he yells at everyone to "run for your lives", showing a modicum of concern for other people than himself.
- Villainous Parental Instinct: Has a moment of this where he calls out Laura to Charles for, among other things, "bullying his son" (Jeb kept bullying Laura and Albert, but was smaller than Laura and she could easily overpower him).
Jeb Standish
Jeb Standish
Played by: Adam Gunn
Mr. Standish's spoiled son.- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Although he's established as Standish's son, his mother is never mentioned, and it's not clear whether she's away, deceased or simply out of sight.
- Bratty Half-Pint: He's essentially a spoiled brat like Willie, with even fewer redeeming qualities.
- Jerk Jock: He's captain of the football team at Winoka School and often bullies the Ingalls kids with his position.
- One-Steve Limit: Another kid with the same name, Jeb Carter, would appear in the show, but long after his last appearance in Season 5.
- Put on a Bus: After the Ingalls and friends move back to Walnut Grove, he no longer appears.
- Shadow Archetype: To Willie. He's a Spoiled Brat whose parent's position and wealth make him entitled and it's implied that he'll never change like Willie did.
- Spoiled Brat: He's bratty, entitled and enjoys his position as the son of the most powerful man in the city.
Mr. Ames
Mr. Ames
Played by: David Hooks
The school principal at the Winoka Blind School where Mary stays and becomes tutor.- Like a Son to Me: He was Adam's mentor when he became a teacher at the Blind School and when revealing that he won't be able to travel with him and the blind kids to the new school, he admits to Adam, who had an estranged relationship with his father and saw him as a father figure, that he always saw him as the son he never had.
- Passing the Torch: After the Blind School is realocated to Walnut Grove, he reveals to his pupil Adam that he's too ill to travel and assume the new school, so he passes the responsability to Adam.
- Put on a Bus: After making appearances during Mary's stay at the Blind School, his final appearance is when the place is closing and the kids will be realocated to Walnut Grove, by which time he reveals that he's too ill to travel with them.
John Bevins
John Bevins
Played by: Cliff Emmich
An overweight man who starts working at the Blind school and is targeted by jokes about his obesity, which causes embarrassment to his daughter.- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Played for Drama. His daughter is so ashamed by how people mock and make fun of his obesity she tries to hide the fact that he's her father.
- Big Fun: Deconstructed. He's as warm and kind as he's wide but his obesity also makes him a target of cruel jokes and makes his own daughter ashamed of him.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After being bullied and mocked for his weight, learning that his own daughter is ashamed of him, and suffering an accident which recquires surgery, he's so depressed he refuses the doctor to operate him, thinking his family are better off without him. hen, after he's convinced to be operated, his daughter, who had eavesdropped the children at the blind school comment on what a kind a benevolent man John was, gets a Heel Realization and goes to visit him to apologize and reassure him that she and the others love him and want him to make it. Then he wakes up and recovers, now at peace with his daughter and reassured that he's more than a source of mocking and shame, walking his daughter to school and no longer intimidated by the guy who mocked his weight every day.
- One-Shot Character: Only appears in Season 5 episode "The Man Inside", where he's the title character.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He's morbidly obese and balding, in contrast with his gorgeous wife. She doesn't care about his appearance though, as she's in love with the mean he is inside.
Toby Noe
Toby Noe
Played by: Ray Bolger
A drifter who appears in the last episode of the Winoka arc, where he takes a lucky strike at the lottery,m only to lose everything toone of Standish's schemes. He later visits Walnut Grove where he has a romance with a cranky lady.- Big Eater: When he stays at the Ingalls place, Charles is quick to notice how he keeps eating evrything he can get his hand on.
- A Fool And His Money Are Soon Departed: In his debut, he gets $5000 dollars, a fortune in today's money big enough to give him several years of luxury. But alas, his gambling addict ix exploited by the disnhonest tyrant Mr. Standish, who convinces him to try his luck until he loses his last penny, rendering poor again.
- Maybe Ever After: His second and final appearance ends with him sharing a dance of romance with One-Shot-Character Amanda Cooper, who also never appears and the outcome of their affair is left unclear.
Relatives of the Ingalls family
Lansford Ingalls
Lansford Whiting Ingalls
Played by: Arthur Hill ("Journey Into The Spring"), Nicolas Coster ("I Remember, I Remember")
Charles's father.- Bus Crash: After appearing in the present and in a flashback to Charles and Caroline's past, he's confirmed dead in one line from Charles in Season 5, when he casually mentions his father died sometime ago.
- Death by Adaptation: One Season 5 episode reveals he's dead sometime around Laura's early-teens. In real life, Lansford Ingalls lived to 1896, by which time Laura was 29 and had a 9-year-old daughter.
- Doting Grandparent: He makes a strong bond with Laura after moving to their land in Plum Creek, which seems to get him out of his depression, only to be challenged when Laura's horse Bunny is injured, and Lansford tries to convince her he can tend for the horse, only to break his promise.
- The Oathbreaker: One of his greatest furstrations, is that he made many promises during his life he couldn't keep: every year he promised his wife he'd take her to visit their son and granddaughter and postponed, until it was too late. He promised his family his farm would make them prosper, only to fail his crops and lose most of his farm. These furstrations come back as he gets depressed after his wife dies.
- Papa Wolf: When a cruel teacher who had been punishing Charles over minor infractions tries to demand that Lansford let him punish his son for trapping him inside the outhouse in retaliation, which Lansford briefly allows, only to warn him that he heard about the teacher's cruel treatment of his son and that if he ever hears about him giving Charles unfair punishments again, he'll trash him in front of the entire class.
- Parents as People: He was a loving, well-meaning father, but his many failures, along with his frustrations over them led his family to distance themselves from him.
Laura Colby Ingalls
Laura Colby Ingalls
Played by: Jan Sterling("Journey Into The Spring"), Sarah Miller ("I Remember, I Remember")
Charles's mother.- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Unlike Lansford, she seems to be well-remembered by their children.
- Hidden Depths: She's remembered as an avid dancer even in her old age, earning the nickname of "Dancing Grandma".
- The Lost Lenore: Her death sends her husband into a state of depression and grief.
- One-Steve Limit: Laura was name after her, but she's mostly refered to as "mother" or "grandma". Only in a flashback scene is she refered to as "Laura Ingalls".
- Plot-Triggering Death: Her death kicks off the events of "Journey Into the Spring", in which Charles tries to convince his depressed father to come and live with them and get better.
- You Remind Me of X: Lansford often comments how their granddaughter Laura reminds him of his namesake wife.
Peter Ingalls
Peter Riley Ingalls
Played by: Mark Lenard ("Journey Into The Spring"), David Considine ("I Remember, I Remember")
Charles's older brother. He appears as an adult in "Journey Into The Spring", when Charles goes to visit his widowed father, and as a boy during a flashback from Caroline's childhood in "I Remember, I Remember".- Big Brother Bully: Downplayed. He likes to tease Charles about his feelings for Caroline, but otherwise has a good relationship with him.
- Big Brother Instinct: Although he never misses a chance to tease his little brother, he promptly gets back at two boys who cowardly beat him up to keep him from having a dance with Caroline in "I Remember, I Remember".
- Casting Gag: Mark Lenard is best known to play a father who doesn't get along with his son. Here, he plays a son disappointed on his father.
- The Cynic: In regards with their father, Peter thinks he's unreachable and snaps at Charles when he thinks the latter accused him of not trying to do enough for Lansford.
- Double In-Law Marriage: He and Charles married sisters Eliza Ann and Caroline Quiner, respectively. Their sister Polly also married Caroline's brother Henry in real life, though that's not mentioned in-series.
Eliza Ann Ingalls
Eliza Ann Quiner Ingalls
Played by: Hersha Parady ("Journey Into The Spring"), Kristi Jill Wood ("I Remember, I Remember")
Caroline's sister and wife to Charles' brother Peter.- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: She's more gentle ajd patient to Charles in her little screentime in contrast to the cynical Peter, who got furstrated with his father and makes it clear to a visiting Charles who tried to get him to try and connect wuth their old man.
- Double In-Law Marriage: She's Caroline's sister and married Charles's older brother Peter. Truth in Television as three of the Ingalls siblings (Peter, Charles, Polly) married three of the Quiner siblings (Caroline, Eliza Ann, Henry respectively).
- Happily Married: She and Peter seem to be a happy couple.
- Out of Focus: She has little screentume in her sole appearance in "Journey in the Spring" compaed to Peter, who gets more focus in his argument with Charles about their father and later in a childhood flashback where he instructs a kid Charles on how to court Caroline and Eliza Ann only makes a few appearances in the background.
Frederick Holbrook
Frederick Marshall Holbrook
Played by: Greg Forrest ("I Remember, I Remember"), Barry Sullivan ("Author! Author!"), Newell Alexander ("A Christmas They Never Forgot")
Caroline's stepfather. He married her mother Charlotte and raised her children like his own, including Caroline. He's first seen in a flashback to Caroline's childhood, and reappears when he and his wife come to meet Mary's baby, only to lose Charlotte during the trip.- Age Lift: The real Frederick Holbrook was ten years younger than Caroline's mother and died at 54, ironically ten years prior to his wife. Here, he seems about the same age as Charlotte, if not older, and lives to old age, even outliving his wife.
- Good Stepmother: He was a loving father-figure to his wife's children from her previous marriage, and although they had reservations, they eventually accepted him as their new Pa.
- Most Writers Are Writers: His family convince him to write his life stories and turn it into a sucessful book, giving him a new purpose after falling depressed from his wife's death.
Charlotte Holbrook
Charlotte Wallis Tucker Holbrook
Played by: Virginia Kiser ("I Remember, I Remember"), Holly Villaire ("A Christmas They Never Forgot")
Caroline's mother. She appears in a flashback during Caroline's childhood when she meets Charles, and later said to be coming to meet Mary's baby, only to die during the trip. She later appears in another flashback from Caroline's first Christmas after she remarried to Frederick Holbrook.- Bus Crash: She dies on the path to Walnut Grove when she was coming to meet her great-grandchild.
- Good Parents: She seemed to be a loving, supportive mother, as Caroline remembers her warmly. She was also very patient at her daughter's hostility against her new husband.
- Parent with New Paramour: She remarried to Frederick Holbrook, sometime after losing Caroline's biological father. Caroline was shown to clash with her about replacing her father, but eventually warmed up to him during their Christmas' Eve together.
Relatives of the Oleson family
Anabelle
Anabelle Oleson
Played by:
Nels' estranged sister. She was shunned by him when they were kids because of her overweight, so they spent years without seeing each other. She reappears when the circus she joined shows up at Walnut Grove, where she is the Fat Lady.- Family of Choice: The circus crew received her with open hands and became her new family after she got estranged from hers.
- Only One Name: She's currently exclusively known for her first name, though it's not clear whether she abandoned her last name Oleson.
- Rejected Apology: At first, when Nels tries to approach her and make amends for his treatment of her in childhood, she's still resentful and thinks he's still ashamed of her. This changes when Nels, who had been offered the role of announcing the circus, proudly announces Anabelle as his sister at the end of the show.
- White Sheep: To the extended Oleson family. Harriet is a gossipy Rich Bitch, her nieces and nephew are/were Spoiled Brats and even her good-natured brother Nels was once a Big Brother Bully to her, whereas she's shown to be a good-natured woman through and through.
Kate Thorvald
Kate Thorvald
Played by: Anne Archer
Harriet's niece, who comes to spend a vacancy in Walnut Grove, and winds up falling in love by the much older Dr. Baker. They almost marry, but Baker calls off the engagement when he realizes she deserved somebody younger.- Age-Gap Romance: She falls in love with Dr. Baker, who delivered people about her age.
- Spirited Young Lady: She has shades of this, as she's a very confident upper-class young woman who knows what she wants.
- Upper-Class Equestrian: She's shown to be a skilled equestrian, though she fakes a riding accident to have an excuse to spend time with Doc Baker.
Minerva Farnsworth
Minerva Farnsworth
Played by: Irene Tedrow
Harriet's cousin who seeks to adopt Alicia Sanderson at the same time her brothers will be adopted by a farming family before Isaiah and Grace decide to adopt them.- Cool Old Lady: She's shown to be a charming, classy older lady, and takes the Edwardses' decision to adopt Alicia and her brother in stride.
- Graceful Loser: After Mr. Edwards announces it's not right that the Sanderson brothers will be split up from their sister and proposes to Grace that they marry adopt all three of them together, pulling off Minerva's plans to adopt Alicia, her reaction to this? "I call it beautiful".
- Old Maid: She was never married and intended to adopt Alicia as more of a surrogate granddaughter.
Sterling Murdock
Sterling Murdock
Played by: John Hillerman
A distant cousin of Harriet's who comes to Walnut Grove to start the first newspaper in town. His work turns out to be full of gossip rags, which Cousin Harriet takes advantage of to write on and spread all kinds of rumours and gossip.- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He has tiny glasses and is a yellow journalist.
- Immoral Journalist: He has absolutely no concern for the integrity of what he publishes, merely excusing his slandering articles and gossip as being protected under freedom of speech.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a thin-veiled Rupert Murdoch; Michael Landon commissioned the episode he appears in as a response to tabloids and celebrity gossip-type entertainment programs publishing stories about his personal life, including several (alleged) extra-marital affairs, and Charles' public berating of Murdock and Mrs. Oleson is his response to the real-life tabloid stories. (The fact that Katherine MacGregor – and Jonathan Hillerman, who played the cold-hearted Murdock – were sympathetic to Landon due to his name always being drug through the mud made their own performances all the more convincing.)
- Redemption Rejection: After Charles makes a speech calling out the townspeople on buying and feeding a newspaper full of hurtful lies, all the congregation seems moved by his words, except Murdock, who quietly gets up and leaves the church. Later, he leaves town after the townspeople stop buying his newspapers.
Almanzo's Relatives
Royal Wilder
Royal Gould Wilder
Played by: Woody Eney ("The Nephews"), Nicholas Pryor ("Times Are Changing")
Almanzo's big brother. He first appears in a season 7 episode where he has two incredibly spoiled mischievous sons and his wife is revealed to be expecting a third child. However, his next appearance shows him in a completely differen situation, widowed with only one daughter and revealing he's terminally ill.- Big Brother Bully: One flashback from Almanzo's childhood showed that he once tried to reveal to his brother that Santa Claus didn't exist just to spoil his Christmas.
- Death by Adaptation: The real Royal Wilder lived to 1925, but here, his final appearance has him reveal he's dying and it's set in 1887.
- Demoted to Extra: In the books, he lived with Almanzo and was an acquantaice to the Ingalls family. Here, he only has two appearances (three counting a childhood flashback).
- Like Father, Unlike Son: His parents are described as very strict during a flashback to Almanzo's childhood, and their fatjer even punished Royal for telling Almanzo there was no Santa Claus by taking away his Christmas presents that year. His characterization in "The Nephews" has him as a
- Retcon: A rather glaring one. Royal's first appearance was in Season 7's The Nephews where he was shown to have two incorrigible sons and a wife who revealed to be pregnant again. His next appearance as a widower, with only a daughter called Jenny and terminally ill, arriving at Walnut Grove to leave his daughter with Almanzo after he dies.
Perley Day Wilder
Perley Day Wilder
Played by:
Almanzo's baby brother, he appears in Season 6's "Wilder and Wilder". He's initially shown to be a fairly charming boy but quickly revelas a dishonest side, playing tricks at both Nellie, who was infatuated by him and Dr. Baker, when he pretends to not be as good on a horse race as he was so he could win a race, running an injured of horse of Almanzo's, which turns out to be the final straw for the elder Wiler.- Age Lift: The real Perley Day Wilder was born in 1869 and a couple years younger than Laura. Here, he's slightly older and about the same age as Nellie.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He appears to be a chamring young man, but quickly show s a shady side. He uses Nellie's crush on him to get him in her good graces while having lunch at her restaurant, only to steal money from her box to pay for his meal when she's not looking. Then he takes Almanzo's horse, which was still recovering from a leg injury to try and win a horse, despite knowing it could be crippled in the process and would have to be put down.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Although little is known about the real Perley Day in his late-teens, nothing indicated he was the irresponsible, dishonest boy as he's portrayed here.
- Lean and Mean: In contrast with his brother's Heroic Build, Perley Day is lanky and a conniving dishonest teen.
- One-Shot Character: Only appears in Season 6 episode "Wilder and Wilder".
- Practically Different Generations: He's in late-teens when his older siblings Royal and Eliza Jane are in their 30's, and Almanzo is in his 20's.
