Im going to post this in some groups that Im in. Its been a mystery to me for a long time. I dont hardly ever talk about my family, but I feel that maybe its time I open up a bit and talk about some of the mysteries. This is one of my brick walls. This is all the information I have. My 4th great grandfather is William Ralston who came from Ireland and settled in Hopewell, Washington, Pennsylvania. He wrote a LW&T (last will and testament) in 1848 naming all his surviving children. One of them was David Ralston. I believe that David was his first born son, since all the other children were named in birth order, and was born approximately 1807 in Washington Co. PA. In my analysis of the census records, David appears in 1810, 1820, 1830, and 1840. On May 4, 1850, David Ralston married Mary Ritchey, daughter of Thomas Ritchey and Mary McCorkle. She was born in 1825. The ceremony was done by S. Taggart and all were of Hopewell Twp. David Ralston does NOT appear anywhere in the 1850 census. I have looked extensively through every matching name and even misspellings to no avail. William Ralston died in June 1850 and according to the probation records, David received his money. In 1857, Mary Ritchey Ralston died a widow. She left a Will leaving her estate which included her house to her sister, Margaret Ritchey, and brother, Wallace Ritchey. She was buried in a local Presbyterian cemetery along with her Ritchey family. There were no children. There are no deeds to or from a David Ralston in Washington County, PA that I could find. Ive made several trips there looking for anything on him. I have been through Ancestry and FamilySearch hoping to find something, but didnt. I have read through every history I could find for the time period of 1845-1857. I checked surrounding counties, every cemetery, and even the entire States of PA, VA (the panhandle of what is now WV). and OH. Its possible I may have missed him somewhere, but I am certain I was thorough about it. I even had the fortune of going through private collections of history and genealogy too and my family was never in any of them. I feel that I have searched extensively for David and could not find him. I even presumed he may have gone to CA during the gold rush years, but found no record or mention of a Ralston (outside of the famous William Chapman Ralston who had a mansion). In short, David Ralston lived from ~1807 and is last known to be alive from June 1850 to Nov 1851 when the estate was settled. His wife, Mary, died in 1857 a widow. Could anyone offer insight or ideas? Something I dont know, might have missed?
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 06:39:53 +0000