February 7, 1867

The childhood of Laura Ingalls (February 7, 1867 to February 10, 1957) provided the stories in the Little House on the Prairie series, which provided the author with an income during the economic devastation of the 1930's. That vision of familyhood is part of the American mythology. In the book titled Little House in the Big Woods, (1932) we learn the family had a cat named Black Susan.

A recent article maintains that some misunderstandings are current regarding the author and her family. Though I haven't studied the situation it seems likely that the author of "Big Mistakes about Little House," is correct. The Little Prairie books are not romanticized, and didn't contribute to the current (2018) US political situation. I did not know this however:

'Wilder’s libertarian leanings are well known. Her daughter and co-author/editor, Rose Wilder Lane, was quite a prominent libertarian—prominent enough to have been cast out of Ayn Rand’s circle for supporting mutual cooperation, a stance that Rand considered a collectivist heresy.'

I am just happy to recall that the Ingalls had a series of cats in their prairie life.