Monday, March 16, 2009

Hope This Helps



Here's a tree (click to enlarge) that has some of the names I've blogged about.

1840 - 1918


Samuel Mathers Ralston, grandfather to Ethel Ralston, is a relative rarity in our family tree. Samuel Ralston served in the military. He was a participant in the Civil War.

Samuel Ralston was born in 1840 in Ohio. When he turned 18, he moved to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania to learn a trade (carpentry). When the rest of his family moved from Ohio to Iowa, he briefly joined them, but returned to Pennsylvania where there was work for him.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, recruited by his pastor, he joined the army and served in the infantry. (Private, 123rd PA Infantry, August 9, 1862 to May 16, 1863---I'll leave it to the military historians who read this to tell us if his group was involved in important battles.)


It was after his service was over that he moved to be with his family in Iowa and where he met Elizabeth Caldwell.
Samuel and Elizabeth lived for many years in Halsey, Oregon.
It was in Halsey that he joined the Presbyterian Church, becoming an elder. It was clear from his obituary that the Presbyterian Church was a central part of his life.
The Brownsville Times, in a "Church Notes" piece after his death, said, "for many years he was a Ruling Elder and, although nearing the four score mark, distance or weather never kept him from attending all the regular church services. His kindly advice and cheerful greeting will be missed by the entire membership."
But it's also clear his military service affected him greatly as well. He died just as the First World War was coming to a close and in his obituary, the Times noted that "his patriotism was deep and fervent, his thought being much with the country for which he had fought in his younger days."
The often florid writing style of the newspapers means we have to read between the lines. I'd say though, given the front page placement of his lengthy obituary in the Brownsville Times, he was probably considered an upstanding member of the community.

The photo on the left shows Samuel Ralston (on the right) in 1916, two years before he died. On the left is his brother, Robert. (The writing on the back of the photo is Ethel's and she refers to them as Grandpa and Uncle Bob Ralston.)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

1844 - 1913

Ethel Ralston, like her husband, Hollister Daniels, came from Oregon pioneers. One of her grandmothers was born in Oregon in 1848, her parents having made the overland trip in 1847.

But her Ralston grandparents, while we’d consider them pioneers, came later to Oregon, arriving in the mid 1870s, almost twenty years after Oregon statehood.

Samuel and Elizabeth Ralston married in Madison County, Iowa in 1869. (Madison County was the setting of the novel and movie “Bridges of Madison County.) There were two children born in Winterset, Iowa, then the family came to Oregon where three more children were born.

Ethel had some information about her grandmother, Elizabeth Ralston. And in my research, I have found more.

Elizabeth Rebecca Caldwell was born August 1, 1844 in Vinago County, Ohio*. Her father was an itinerant preacher, traveling from place to place. Her mother died when Elizabeth was five years old. Elizabeth’s father soon remarried, but it turned out that the new stepmother didn’t like Elizabeth or her two older siblings. So, Elizabeth’s father took her to Dowagiac, Michigan and left her with a family named Conine.

Ethel refers to this time as Elizabeth being a “bound girl.” In a letter written by Samuel Ralston to a granddaughter or niece**, he said:

“She lived with them until she was grown. When Mother was a small girl, they considered it necessary to keep them busy, because ‘Satan finds something for idle hands to do,’ so when there was no work they had her carry chips across the road, and if there was still no work to do, she carried the chips back across the road. When she finished school, she went to Iowa and got a teaching certificate, and taught for quite some time.”

Ethel notes that she sold Watkins Products, traveling by horse and buggy. She was 25 when she married, so she would have had to support herself for a fair amount of time, if she finished school at 15 or 16.

After she married Samuel Ralston, though, she devoted herself to raising her family and working in her church. Her itinerant preacher father was a Methodist, but Samuel Ralston was Presbyterian, so that became her new church. Her son, though, said “I remember her singing the Old Methodist Hymns, while doing the work about the house.”

Elizabeth and Samuel Ralston lived for years in the Halsey, Oregon area, but finally settled in Brownsville, Oregon. Elizabeth died on May 19, 1913 at the Oregon State Hospital (the mental institution) in Salem, Oregon. She had suffered from dementia and eventually died of “La Grippe,” or influenza.

The Brownsville Times, in their obituary, said “All her life she lived a consistent Christian. Her greatest interest apart from her family was in her church . . . Because of her goodness and interest in others, she made many friends, and it was with deep sorrow that these saw her gradual decline in health, and breakdown of her physical energies.”

Elizabeth and her husband Samuel Ralston are buried in Kirk Cemetery near Brownsville.

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*Census records don't show a Vinago County, Ohio, but there is a spelling similar in Pennsylvania.

**The letter excerpt is courtesy of a distant cousin back east. He received it from Mary Lou Cooley, who would be descended from Winifred Ralston. The confusion comes because he assumes the letter was written by Elizabeth's husband Samuel. I'm thinking it was written by Elizabeth's son Samuel.

1889




The Ralston Family





This photo was taken in 1889, about 15 years after the Ralstons had come to Oregon. When this photo was taken, they were living in Halsey, Oregon.




In the back row (left to right) are Fred Ralston (1870-1955), Willie (1876-1896) who lost a leg in a thresher accident, and Ernest Carlton Ralston (1878-1955), father to Elward, Ethel, Lois, Bill, Lee, and Virginia.



In the front row are Samuel (born 1872), Samuel Mathers Ralston (1840-1918), Winifred (1882-1941), and Elizabeth Rebecca Caldwell Ralston (1844-1913).

Thursday, March 5, 2009

1917


Hollister Daniels's wife, Ethel Ralston, was born in 1903 and grew up in Oregon. Much of her childhood was spent in Lane County, in Eugene and Springfield. She was the second child of Ernest and Lottie Ralston. She had four younger siblings--Lois, Bill, Lela, and Virginia--as well as an infant brother who died.

But she also had on older brother, Elward Carlyle Ralston. Elward was born June 27, 1900 in the Salem area. In this photo, taken about 1905, Elward is on the left. The baby is Ethel.



A later photo, taken about 1910, shows that he would grow to be a good looking young man.

But in 1917, tragedy struck the Ralston family. On June 25, 1917, Elward, just days from turning 17 years old, drowned in the Willamette River near Seavy's ferry.

The Springfield News article was on the front page of the newspaper.

"Elward Ralston, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Ralston of Douglas Gardens* was drowned in the Willamette River . . . last evening at 5:30. . . . Young Ralston was a good swimmer and was very fond of the sport. Yesterday afternoon he in company with Lorris McBee was just above the ferry and he said he could swim across. The water was swift and Lorris warned him not to attempt it but he jumped in and when nearly across the swift current took him under and that was the last that was seen of him. . . .

"The accident was at once reported to the family and neighborhood searching parties worked until a late hour without results. This morning the work was resumed and a party including some members of the Coast Artillery Corps went from Springfield to assist in the work. The body was found about 8:30 this morning."

The funeral was held two days after he died and the headline in the newspaper after that was "Boy Buried With Military Honors."

After the services in the chapel, Elward was taken to Mt. Vernon Cemetery**. The newspaper tells us that

"the Coast Artillery [was in] charge of the last rites. The body was lowered into the grave and three volleys were fired over it. After which taps were sounded and Reverend Jensen read the burial services."


Elward Ralston was a member of the Third Company Coast Artillery Corps. The United States had declared war on Germany only two months before. It's possible that Elward would have joined the fighting forces the following year when the United States sent large numbers into Europe.

A newspaper clipping, undated and yellowed with age, survives in the family "trunk."
E.C. Ralston, a senior at Springfield High School, had a poem published in the newspaper.
Ethel was 14 years old when Elward drowned and she became the oldest of the children. Lois was ten, Bill was seven, and Lela was four years old. The youngest sister, Virginia, was born five years after Elward died.
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*Douglas Gardens was a Springfield neighborhood and the easiest way to place it is to use the current Springfield School District map. There is a Douglas Gardens Elementary School, as well as a Mount Vernon Elementary.
** I have walked all through the Mount Vernon cemetery and cannot find a headstone for Elward. It's possible I missed it, but it's also possible that the expense was too great for the Ralstons.















Tuesday, March 3, 2009

1893 and 1910

Elizabeth Susan Pluard.


The younger photo is part of the family photo of the Pluard family, taken outdoors, in about 1893.


Perhaps you spot some family resemblances?


The family photo was taken about 1910. Elizabeth Pluard Daniels is holding Violet on her lap, and the children, counter clockwise, are Bertha, Hollister, and Rose.

Yesterday and Today







Hops farming played a huge role in Willamette Valley agriculture. Samuel Daniels was a hops farmer. His step-father, Robert Whitney, was a hops farmer. The Pluards most likely worked in the hops farms. And don't forget Lincoln Whitney and his trysts among the hop vines.

The work was historically labor intensive. For a look at modern day hops farming, this blog has some great photos.

Hops fields still exist in the Willamette Valley. The color photo is one I took while exploring the Hubbard area.