History Characters / LittleHouseOnThePrairie

* OnlyChildSyndrome: The sole protagonist with no siblings, which is quite a contrast to her parents-- Laura had three sisters while Almanzo had three sisters ''and'' two brothers.

* LadyOfAdventure: Has inherited her father's 'itching foot'.

** Inverted with Mary, Laura won't hesitate to save her big sister either.
* BrainyBrunette: Has roan brown hair and is very adept in her studies along with having smarts for the farm and wilderness.
* ChekhovsSkill: A meta example, in her ability to describe the things Mary can no longer see after she goes blind. Later, of course, she uses her descriptive skills to write the books.

* WhatBeautifulEyes: Noted to have shining, vivid, and gorgeous blue even "violet" eyes.

* BrainyBrunette: Was a schoolteacher, a scholar, and even utilizes her smarts to make a great variety of food and help run the farm.

* DeterminedHomesteadersChildren: Like her daughter she grew up on the Western Frontier.

** She also inadvertently encouraged a competition between Mary and Laura, telling them to ask their teenage aunt whether she likes golden or brown curls the best/asking them if they're going to give they're beads to Baby Carrie.

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Accomplished seamstress and actually 'likes' it as well.

* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Her attempt to teach the De Smet school are an unmitigated disaster: she goes for a TastesLikeDiabetes approach with a bunch of hard-working frontier kids (which ends exactly as well as you'd expect), [[WhatAnIdiot listens unquestioningly]] to the gossip of one of her students (and doesn't bother to verify any of it), [[MisplacedRetribution abuses]] Carrie to punish Laura's perceived faults while trying to stay sweet as pie to the other students...it's no wonder she only managed one term.

* RegalRinglets: Her curls are from her Mother, but they're more controlled and girly than her boisterous mother's ever were.

* FeminineWomenCanCook: Averted. Martha is a complete {{Tomboy}} despite being an excellent cook. Ironically its her older sister ProperLady Grisie who struggles in the kitchen.

* HotBlooded: Martha's temper causes several...issues during the series. (Like scaring her governess out of a job).
* LadyOfAdventure: Emigrates to America in the 1700's despite having a comfortable and wealthy life in Scotland.
* MarryForLove: Is determined to do this even as a child. In the next series when we see her as Charlotte's mother and HappilyMarried to [[{{InterclassRomance}} Lew]] it's clear she was successful.

* StarCrossedLovers: With Lew. She's the daughter of a wealthy landowner, he's the local blacksmith. Historically it is established fact her parents disapproved of the match and probably a major reason they emigrated to America to get married.

For tropes applying to Laura's mother Caroline see her character in the Little House Spin Off series folder.

Laura's mother and main character of the spin off series ''The Caroline Years'' about her childhood on the Western frontier.

* BrainyBrunette: Was a schoolteacher, a scholar, and even utilizes her smarts to make a great variety of food and help run the farm.
* BewareOfTheNiceOnes: Gentle, ladylike Ma shocks Laura when she remarks with unusual fierceness that Almanzo, who is courting Laura, is likely to get Laura's neck broken driving her around behind half-trained horses and she hopes he breaks his own first. ''Ouch.''
* DeterminedHomesteadersWife: Practically the trope namer.
* DeterminedHomesteadersChildren: Like her daughter she grew up on the Western Frontier.
* CountryMouse: When she visits her aunt and uncle in the city. She grows out of it though.
* ParentsAsPeople: Laura didn't sugar coat the fact that sweet, gentle Ma was also unabashedly racist when it came to Native Americans.
** She also inadvertently encouraged a competition between Mary and Laura, telling them to ask their teenage aunt whether she likes golden or brown curls the best/asking them if they're going to give they're beads to Baby Carrie.
* PluckyGirl: The death of her father, moving across Wisconsin, new changes, moving around the wilderness, a long winter, starvation, and a loose log don't keep Ma down very long.
* ProperLady: As a child and later, an adult. Laura comments on it frequently.
* {{Schoolmarm}}: Unlike her daughter, she genuinely loved teaching, and giving it up to get married and follow Charles wherever he wandered was a difficult decision.
* TheSmartGirl: The most intelligent of her sisters and even goes to the city to further her studies.
* SilkHidingSteel: Seems sweet as pie at first glance... then you realize she's spent her life hiking across the Wild West, facing Indians, wolves and bandits.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Subverted. Although she's an accomplished seamstress, she actually hates sewing as much as Laura.

* ChekhovsSkill : A meta example, in her ability to describe the things Mary can no longer see after she goes blind. Later, of course, she uses her descriptive skills to write the books.

* ThoseTwoGuys : With his brother Royal, and often with Cap Garland.
* VagueAge : In ''The Long Winter'' he's said to be nineteen, to Laura's fourteen. In real life there was a ten year age difference between the two, which would make him 24. In later books the age difference is said to be eight years, while ''The First Four Years'' portrays their ages correctly as nineteen and twenty-nine.

* TheAce : Is there anything Pa can't do?

* DoggedNiceGuy: Drives forty miles in a blizzard to bring Laura home for the weekend. ''After she's said she's not interested in him''.

* SpiritedYoungLady: Hey, it runs in the family.

* ProperLady: Always perfectly demure and well-behaved. Laura, who plays the opposing SpiritedYoungLady, always feels inferior as a result.
** Subverted when she and Laura talk about how Laura feels that Mary is perfect all the time, and Mary admits she's often angry and thinks horrible thoughts.

* SpiritedYoungLady: Spends her free time playing with the boys and driving horses as oppose to sewing and knitting.

* BigEater: In ''Farmer Boy'', he apparently stuffs himself at every meal -- but then the sheer amount of labor required to run a farm in the pre-industrial age burns a lot of calories.

!'''''The Little House Series Spin Off Series - Main Characters'''''

[[folder: Caroline Ingalls]]
For tropes applying to Caroline Ingalls, Laura's mother see her folder in the prequels]]

* [[Characters/LittleHouseOnThePrairie Little House On The Prairie Series Characters]] [[note]] Laura Ingalls Wilder, Almanzo Wilder, Charles Ingalls, Mary Ingalls, Carrie Ingalls, Grace Ingalls, Royal Wilder, Eliza Jane Wilder, Alice Wilder. [[/note]]

* [[Characters/LittleHouseOnThePrairie Little House Spin Off Series Characters]][[note]] Rose Wilder, Caroline Quiner Ingalls, Charlotte Tucker Quiner, Martha Morse Tucker.[[/note]]

[[folder: Rose Wilder]]
Laura's daughter and main character of the spin off series 'The Rose Years'.

* BrainyBrunette: Like her Mother, Grandmother, and Great-Grandmother, she is a very studious and thoughtful pupil and does become a writer in her own right.
* ChildProdigy: Combines three years of Latin study into ''one''.
* DeterminedHomesteadersChildren
* OnlyChildSyndrome: The sole protagonist with no siblings, which is quite a contrast to her parents-- Laura had three sisters while Almanzo had three sisters ''and'' two brothers.
* PluckyGirl
* TheSmartGirl

[[folder: Caroline Quiner Ingalls]]
Laura's mother and main character of the spin off series ''The Caroline Years'' about her childhood on the Western frontier.

* BrainyBrunette: Was a schoolteacher, a scholar, and even utilizes her smarts to make a great variety of food and help run the farm.
* BewareOfTheNiceOnes: Gentle, ladylike Ma shocks Laura when she remarks with unusual fierceness that Almanzo, who is courting Laura, is likely to get Laura's neck broken driving her around behind half-trained horses and she hopes he breaks his own first. ''Ouch.''
* DeterminedHomesteadersWife: Practically the trope namer.
* DeterminedHomesteadersChildren: Like her daughter she grew up on the Western Frontier.
* CountryMouse: When she visits her aunt and uncle in the city. She grows out of it though.
* ParentsAsPeople: Laura didn't sugar coat the fact that sweet, gentle Ma was also unabashedly racist when it came to Native Americans.
* PluckyGirl: The death of her father, moving across Wisconsin, new changes, moving around the wilderness, a long winter, starvation, and a loose log don't keep Ma down very long.
* ProperLady: As a child and later, an adult. Laura comments on it frequently.
* {{Schoolmarm}}: Unlike her daughter, she genuinely loved teaching, and giving it up to get married and follow Charles wherever he wandered was a difficult decision.
* TheSmartGirl: The most intelligent of her sisters and even goes to the city to further her studies.
* SilkHidingSteel: Seems sweet as pie at first glance... then you realize she's spent her life hiking across the Wild West, facing Indians, wolves and bandits.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Subverted. Although she's an accomplished seamstress, she actually hates sewing as much as Laura.

[[folder: Charlotte Tucker]]
Laura's grandmother and main character of the spin-off series ''{{Literature/The Charlotte Years}}'', about her childhood in Boston.

* BrainyBrunette: Has dark, curly hair and is a very studious pupil who becomes both a top-notch dressmaker and a determined homesteader and single mom.
* DeterminedHomesteadersWife: Or just determined homesteader, as she is a ''single mother'' (on the Western frontier no less). This pushes her to become a...
* DeterminedWidow
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: If you can track down a late-'90s/early 2000s printing of the spin-off books, with an unabridged family tree, Charlotte had by far the most siblings of any of the protagonists, though many died young.
* PluckyGirl: Encouraged by her mother, and passed on to her daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughter.
* RegalRinglets: Her curls are from her Mother, but they're more controlled and girly than her boisterous mother's ever were.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: The sole ''Little House'' protaganist who enjoys sewing.

[[folder: Martha Morse]]
Laura's great grandmother and main character of the spin off series ''{{Literature/The Martha Years}}'' about her childhood in Scotland.

* FeminineWomenCanCook: Averted. Martha is a complete {{Tomboy}} despite being an excellent cook. Ironically its her older sister ProperLady Grisie who struggles in the kitchen.
* FieryRedHead: In spades.
* HotBlooded: Martha's temper causes several...issues during the series. (Like scaring her governess out of a job).
* LadyOfAdventure: Emigrates to America in the 1700's despite having a comfortable and wealthy life in Scotland.
* MarryForLove: Is determined to do this even as a child. In the next series when we see her as Charlotte's mother and HappilyMarried to [[{{InterclassRomance}} Lew]] it's clear she was successful.
* OutdoorsyGal: Is increasingly frustrated as she is forced to stay inside, instead of exploring the Scottish highlands.
* QuirkyCurls: Has wild curly hair that's hard to brush and a fiery personality.
* RebelliousSpirit: Martha does not appreciate being told what to do.
* SiblingYinYang: With older sister Grisie. See Tomboy and Girly Girl for more details.
* SpiritedYoungLady: Hey, it runs in the family.
* StarCrossedLovers: With Lew. She's the daughter of a wealthy landowner, he's the local blacksmith. Historically it is established fact her parents disapproved of the match and probably a major reason they emigrated to America to get married.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tomboy to Grisie's girly girl. Martha likes footracing and playing with the village boys. Grisie prefers to stay inside sewing.
* UptownGirl: Again for Lew, as Martha is the daughter of a landowner and he's working class.

[[folder: Royal Wilder]]
Almanzo's older brother. He hassles Almanzo somewhat, but they get along well. Unlike Almanzo, he has no love for the hard work involved in farming and decides to become a storekeeper. Royal moves to De Smet about the same time Almanzo and Eliza Jane do, and owns the town's feed store.

* AdventureRebuff: When Almanzo initially proposes going to find the wheat, Royal wants to be the one to go with him, but Almanzo says one of them has to survive for their parents' sakes.
* TheCaretaker: When Laura and Almanzo come down with diphtheria, he's the one who comes out from town to nurse them, figuring that he's single and there's no one he can spread it to.
* ThoseTwoGuys: He and Almanzo sometimes come across as such, from Laura's point of view.
* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: Twice. First, Almanzo names a mule "Roy" after him, probably meant to be unflattering. Later, he names a colt "Royal," saying that Royal was the crown prince of his family and that this colt would be so of the Wilders' horses-- this was probably meant to be flattering.

[[folder: Eliza Jane Wilder Thayer]]
Almanzo's bossy older sister, and later, Laura's detested school teacher, and later still, Rose's devoted old aunt.

* CoolAunt: To Rose, as she's much more modern and forward thinking than Laura and Almanzo, who are generally content with things as they are. While Rose grew up on her mother's stories of homesteading with her family, E.J. homesteaded ''as a single woman''.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Not at first, but when she was a child, she caught head lice from another girl at school, and the other children took to calling her "Lazy, lousy, Lizzie Jane". Possibly why she went by E.J. as an adult
* DotingParent: To her son, Wilder Thayer, and to Rose when she lives with her during high school.
* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Her attempt to teach the De Smet school are an unmitigated disaster: she goes for a TastesLikeDiabetes approach with a bunch of hard-working frontier kids (which ends exactly as well as you'd expect), [[WhatAnIdiot listens unquestioningly]] to the gossip of one of her students (and doesn't bother to verify any of it), [[MisplacedRetribution abuses]] Carrie to punish Laura's perceived faults while trying to stay sweet as pie to the other students...it's no wonder she only managed one term.

[[folder: Alice Wilder]]
Almanzo's other older sister, and the sibling he's closest to. Very fond of her hair ribbons.

* CoolBigSis: She is probably Almanzo's favorite sibling.
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She likes playing outside with her little brother and helping with the farm chores, but when Almanzo asks if she wouldn't rather be a boy, with less restrictions on behavior, she eventually tells him no.
-->"Boys aren't pretty like girls are, and they can't wear hair ribbons."

[[/folder]]
----

Laura's grandmother and main character of the spin-off series ''The Charlotte Years'', about her childhood in Boston.

Laura's great grandmother and main character of the spin off series 'The Martha Years' about her childhood in Scotland.

** "Are you sure Laura? Sometimes, I think you care more for the horses, than you do for their master."