Laura Ingalls Wilder was only nineteen years old when she gave birth to baby Rose on December 5, 1886 at their home in De Smet. Almanzo and Laura had married the year before when Laura was eighteen and Almanzo was twenty-eight years old.
The birth of Rose is included in the book The First Four Years (along with the birth of their second unnamed baby boy and his death), which details the first four years of marriage between Laura and Almanzo, and was published after her death.