Jennifer Marie Jenny Wilder was the niece of Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Biography[]
Jenny is the niece of Laura and Almanzo. After her father, Royal Wilder dies, while grieving over his death, she attempts to kill herself by trying to drown hoping that she could reunite with her father in heaven. Her friend, Jeb Carter gets there just in time to save her even though he doesn't know how to swim. Laura later teaches Jenny that her parents would want her to live even if they couldn't be with her. In school, Jenny was teased frequently by Nancy. (Episode 901: Times Are Changing (Part 1), Episode 902: Times Are Changing (Part 2)
Jenny was temporally held hostage with Laura by the madman Thomas Stark who believed them to be his wife and daughter Constance and Elizabeth who he had recently shot in a fit of rage and madness. Jenny demonstrates wit and great courage as she helps her aunt play along with Stark's madness. Jenny and Laura manage to survive being hurt by the crazed Stark until help arrives. Stark, however was shot dead outside their door when he refused to drop his pistol. (Episode 904: Rage)
One day while swimming in a lake in Walnut Grove with Jeb, Jason, and Willie, Jenny realizes that she has lost her locket at the bottom of the lake and desperately wants to find it. She finds it but gets stuck on something attached to the bottom and falls unconscious before she is rescued. She is taken to Dr. Baker and he tells her adoptive parents that due to her being down too long she has suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen, which will make it hard for her to speak and move. Laura and Almanzo accept this and care for her accordingly. Later, she meets and becomes friends with an old and retired doctor named Marvin Haynes who helps her heal by convincing her, Laura, and Almanzo that she can be normal again. After a few months, Jenny recovers and can speak and move properly again. (Episode 912: Marvin's Garden)