Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 718 -720

JOSIAH M. RALSTON, Jr., the scion of an excellent old family of Irish and Scotch descent, and among the early pioneers of McDonough County, Ill., was born there on the 8th of September, 1847, and is now one of the leading farmers of Grand River Township. He has a fine tract of fertile land which has been thoroughly cultivated and which yields in abundance the rich crops of Southern Kansas. As a citizen and a member of society he enjoys the esteem and confidence of the people around him.

             The parents of our subject, Josiah M., Sr., and Rosy (Smith) Ralston, were natives respectively of Kentucky and Virginia. Josiah M. Ralston, Sr., was born Oct. 9, 1809, and departed this life at the residence of his son Wesley, in Jasper County, Mo., at the age of sixty-eight years, one month and twenty-seven days, Dec. 6, 1877. A local paper of that date has this to say of this most excellent man: "Mr. Ralston was a most worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for forty years, a liberal supporter of the public schools, and of all other laudable enterprises. The last two years of his life were especially devoted to religion. He died as he lived, in the faith of the Son of God. A large and much affected concourse of people followed him to his last resting-place."

             The father of our subject left Kentucky when nineteen years of age, and located in Springfield, Ill. He was married in Sangamon County. He served as a soldier in the Black Hawk War, and subsequently owned a large extent of land in both Sangamon and McDonough Counties. Mrs. Rosy Ralston, the mother, died July 4, 1882.

             The parental household included ten children, of whom one, William, died in infancy, and eight are still living. Wesley during the Civil War was a Sergeant in an Illinois regiment; he is now married, and the father of ten children, and lives at Carthage, Mo. James H. served two years as a Union soldier, being then discharged on account of disability, and now receives a pension; he is married, and makes his home in Missouri; he has no children. Nancy is the wife of Stephen E. Roberts, of Hancock County, Ill., and the mother of seven children, two deceased; Harriet, Mrs. Jack Duncan, died leaving no issue; Josiah M., of our sketch, was the sixth child; Elza C., a resident of Neosho, Kan., is a conductor on the Frisco Railroad, and the father of two children; Mary, Mrs. Thomas C. Hood, is a resident of Joplin, Mo., and has seven children; Samuel B., a conductor on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, is married, has two children, and makes his home at Ottumwa, Iowa; Nathan H., the father of three children, lives in Carthage, Mo.

             Mr. Ralston became familiar with farm life during his boyhood, and acquired his education in the common school. He was little more than a lad at the outbreak of the Rebellion, and was obliged to restrain his inborn patriotism until in July, 1864, and then before he was seventeen years old enlisted in an Illinois regiment. He went with the troops of Gen. Sherman from Atlanta to the sea serving under the immediate command of Capt. Michael McGinty, in the 12th Regiment, which had at its head Col. VanSeller, now of Paris, Ill. In less than a year the Confederates surrendered, and our hero received his honorable discharge on the 10th of August, 1865.

             Young Ralston returned to his father's farm upon leaving the army, where he remained a year, then engaged as a traveling salesman for E. C. Kellogg, of Rome, N. Y., handling an automatic stock-pump. He now made his headquarters at Plymouth, Ill., where he continued to stop at intervals until his marriage. This event occurred in Quincy, Ill., on the 24th of September, 1868, the maiden of his choice being Miss Helen R. Holton, who was born in Rutland County, Vt., Oct. 28, 1851. After his marriage Mr. Ralston farmed in Illinois until 1876, then crossed the Mississippi into Jasper County, Mo., and purchased eighty acres of land in Union Township, where he lived four years. In the meantime he was elected County Assessor by the Republican party, and served two years. In the spring of 1883 he came to this county and purchased the quarter-section of land which comprises his present homestead. Like his father before him he is a man of strict integrity, and politically, one of the most reliable adherents of the Republican party, and a member of the County Central Committee.

             The seven children of our subject and his wife were born as follows: Minnie E., Jan. 2, 1870, in Illinois; Centurius Holton, July 26, 1871; Arthur L., March 7, 1874; Grace A., Dec. 13, 1876; Ora May, June 29, 1878, and Jay M., April 1, 1886. An infant son, born on the 10th of March, 1883, died a few weeks later. Mrs. Ralston, a lady greatly esteemed in her community, was reared a Methodist, and still adheres loyally to the doctrines of that church.

             The parents of Mrs. Ralston, Lines T. and Lucinda (Allen) Holton, were natives of Rutland County, Vt., the father born Feb. 20, 1817, and the mother Oct. 5, 1817. They emigrated to Illinois about 1855, when their daughter, the wife of our subject, was a child four years of age, and were classed among the most worthy pioneers of that section. At the time of their removal their family consisted of two children, Helen R. being the elder. Her sister, Nancy E., died when three years of age; Wallace L., a resident of Jasper County, Mo., is married and the father of three children; Emily, who lives at Plymouth, Ill , is the wife of William D. Ralston, a nephew of our subject. Mr. Holton died near Plymouth, Ill., on the 6th of November, 1868. The mother is still living, making her home with her daughter at Plymouth.

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