Rose Wilder Lane
Rose Wilder was the only living child of Laura and Almanzo Wilder. Rose was known to be an independent child. The story goes that in the picture above, the photographer wanted Rose to hide her ring so he placed her one hand on top of the ring. However, Rose loved the ring and wanted people to see it so she switched her hands. When the photographer saw this, he went back and replaced Rose’s other hand over the ring. The story goes that this went on for a while until, at the last minute, Rose switched her hands so the ring was showing in the picture.
Like her mother Rose loved school. She went to grade school in Mansfield, Missouri. For her high school years, Rose went to California where she lived with her aunt, Eliza Jane Wilder Thayer. Once she graduated, she briefly went back to Mansfield, Missouri in 1904, but did not stay long. Soon after, Rose ended up moving to Kansas City where she became a telegrapher until 1909 when she moved to San Francisco. Following in her mother’s footsteps, she obtained a writing position for the San Francisco Call.
It was in San Francisco that Rose married Gillette Lane and started a family. Unfortunately, Rose and Gillette would walk the same steps Rose’s parents did and their only child, a son, did not live. Throughout their marriage, Rose continued to write for the newspaper, the San Francisco Bulletin. She would write articles about people like Charlie Chaplin with some of her stories being published into books. She also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, titled Diverging Roads. Marriage for the Lanes would not last as in 1918, Rose and Gillette divorced. Rose continued to live and write in California until she became concerned about her parents’ failing health, and moved back to Rocky Ridge in 1928.