If you watch the Little House on the Prairie TV show, you are familiar with the character of Albert Ingalls, the orphan that the Ingalls family adopted. But it was the same true in real life?
In the real life of the Ingalls family, they did have a son who died in infancy, a situation that was depicted in the show, albeit greatly dramatized. And later, the character of Albert was introduced as a son for Charles Ingalls. But did they actually adopt someone in real life?
No, the Ingalls family did not adopt an orphan boy at any point. The character of Albert Ingalls is completely fictionalized and was created solely for the purpose of the show so there could be a central male child for storytelling purposes and for a son figure for Charles.
A great deal of what happens on the show did not actually happen in the real life of the Ingalls family, especially once you get past the first few episodes that were somewhat loosely based on the earlier books in the Little House series.
