Almanzo James Wilder was the husband of Laura Ingalls, and the father of Rose. Almanzo calls Laura "Beth" and Laura calls Almanzo "Manly". Harriet Oleson always called him "Zaldano".
Family[]
Royal Wilder (brother, deceased)
Eliza Jane Wilder (sister)
Perley Day Wilder (brother)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (wife)
Jenny Wilder (niece, Royal's daughter)
Un-named Kendall (nephew, deceased, Mary's son)
Adam Kendall Jr. (nephew, deceased, Mary's son)
Mary Ingalls Kendall (sister-in-law)
Carrie Ingalls (sister-in-law)
Charles Ingalls Jr. (brother-in-law,deceased)
Grace Ingalls (sister-in-law)
History[]
Almanzo moved to Walnut Grove with his sister Eliza Jane, who taught at the school. This is where Laura first met him, whom she quickly took an attraction to; as did Nellie. The two competed for his attention, which led Nellie to invite him over for dinner at her restaurant. Laura volunteered to do the cooking, which was cinnamon chicken. She however substituted the ingredients and used Cajun pepper instead of cinnamon, this cut the dinner drastically short.
Mud fight
After misleading Laura on an upcoming test, she and Nellie engaged in a wrestling match in the mud. Almanzo broke up the fight and took Laura back to get her cleaned up. Later, after being told a twisted version of her whereabouts Charles and Jonathan went to Almanzo's house, and after seeing her in his robe
Charles punching Almanzo
Charles assumed the worse and punched him; before getting any worse, she explained the situation.
Almanzo courted a few other women unsuccessfully while Laura watched jealously. Though her crush on him was unrequitedfor a while, he finally began to see her as more than a 'little friend' right before her sixteenth birthday, when she got her teaching license and he volunteered to drive her back and forth from the small town where she was teaching. On her sixteenth birthday they shared their first kiss and he gave her a scarf, a traditional courting gift at the time.
Although Charles Ingalls initially resented Almanzo courting Laura due to their age differences, their relationship blossomed quickly. While they clashed several times throughout the courtship, they eventually did get married and
remained in Walnut Grove. Later, he fell ill, and during a hailstorm he made the mistake of going outside and began to go numb; it turned out he suffered a stroke and bitterly resigned life as a cripple. The birth of their daughter Rose still didn't help his new life situation. Only to make matters worse, a tornado leveled their home leaving Laura injured and becoming embittered in self pity just as Almanzo. Almanzo made the decision to get better and eventually did.
After those events, Almanzo's brother Royal arrived in Walnut Grove with his daughter Jenny. He told them that he was terminally ill and the reason he came to Walnut Grove is so that Jenny could get to know her adoptive parents. Royal died and Laura and Almanzo adopted Jenny and lived together in Walnut Grove.
He and Laura had a son who died about a week after he was born. One fateful morning, he and Laura awoke to find their new baby dead. They were undecided on what to name their son before he died, so they never gave him a name.
