John Ralston

Concerning the ancestors of the subject of this biography but little need
be here said, as they have prominent places elsewhere in this volume. His
father, David Ralston, a pioneer of Scotch-Irish descent, settled in Plum
Creek township, Armstrong county, in 1800 and met with a tragical death nine
years later.

His life was without important events – unless we call important those
seemingly little incidents which tend to develop the sturdy character – to
make the manly man.

When about 22 years of age he entered the dry-goods store of William Lytle
at Elderton as clerk, and he doubtless exhibited in that capacity the
qualities in embryo which eventually made him the successful man of business,
for we find that he was taken into partnership in 1832. This partnership was
dissolved in 1838, and Mr. Ralston immediately opened a business house of his
own, which he carried on with signal ability and success. Keeping apace with
the growing wants of the people, he increased his business until he made it
tributary to the patronage from the farmers for many miles in every direction.
Fair and honorable dealing made him extremely popular. He procured for and
supplied to the agricultural population everything they needed, and in return
bought and shipped their produce of all kinds.

We will remark here that upon June 26, 1833, Mr. Ralston was united in
marriage with Miss Jane Sloan, of Blairsville. Through her good management and
very good judgment, she was a very efficient helper to Mr. Ralston in his
efforts. His business required him to be much away from home, and thus more
than usual care and responsibility fell to her, which she proved fully
competent to assume. Their family consisted of four sons – Andrew S., now in
Titusville; D. Alexander, now a citizen of Kittanning; William M. and Thomas
N., both residents of Elderton.

These sons, as they arrived at a suitable age, were taken into the business
by their father, and thus obtained a practical knowledge of business affairs,
and a successful start in life.

Mr. Ralston was identified with the business of producing petroleum from
the time of its discovery on Oil creek, and was one of the original members of
the Ralston Oil Company, which consisted of himself, his brother and the
Kirkpatricks of Pittsburgh. Later in life he was a member of the wholesale
house of Romberger, Long & Co., of Philadelphia. He was one of the
original stockholders in the Indiana County Deposit Bank, of Indiana; had an
interest in the banking house of John Ralston & Co., of Elderton, and also
in the Fairview Deposit Bank.

Mr. Ralston was far too large a man to be successful in naught but
business. His life was a blessing upon the community in which he lived, and
one rich in good results, material and moral, to individuals and to society.
His kindly counsel was the impetus of many a good career entered upon by young
men, and his influence was one which had much effect upon men who were abreast
of him in the march through years. His liberality was proverbial. He was one
of the original members of the Elderton United Presbyterian church, and until
the close of his life one of its strongest supporters. For a number of years
he sustained with a few others an advanced school, and he was afterward one of
the promoters and steadfast friends of the Elderton Academy. Public-spirited
in a high degree he was the leader in almost, and the hearty assistant in all,
measures for the good of the people among whom he dwelt. His own farms – he
owned several – were among the best improved in the county, and the same
spirit of neatness and order which made them so led him to take advanced steps
in beautifying and practically benefiting the village of Elderton.

Ever a friend of peace and harmony, he stopped many a lawsuit by his
friendly intercession. His intervention was effective because he was highly
esteemed by all who knew him. Owing to his unswerving integrity he was often
called upon to act in the capacity of arbitrator when difficulties arose
between people in the neighborhood.

One of the marked characteristics of the subject of our sketch was his
faculty of close observation and reflection upon what he saw. The difficulty
attending the shipment of petroleum during the early years of its production
set him to thinking whether some more economic method might not be devised
than that of barreling it. He was not long in arriving at the idea of building
tanks upon platform cars. Not long afterward, the plan occurring to someone
else, such tanks were constructed and proved a success. He traveled much, was
quite an assiduous reader, and by these and other means he secured the varied
stock of information which proved a greater education to him than many
possessed who had better school advantages.

Politically Mr. Ralston was a republican and an active worker in politics.
Although frequently urged to become a candidate for the higher offices, he was
unwilling, by accepting them, to break in upon a successful business career,
for which he considered himself better adapted.

He took a warm interest in the prosecution of the war, and aided, by his
influence, the raising of troops in his vicinity. He personally took supplies
to the troops, visiting them in Virginia, and later, during the invasion of
Pennsylvania, he accompanied to the field a company raised in the immediate
vicinity of Elderton, and went with the organization subsequently to Ohio,
where it was engaged in the movements which led to the capture of Morgan.
Although not subject to the draft, he paid a large bounty to one man and sent
him into the field, as in a certain sense his representative, for which he
received an acknowledgment from the government in the form of a diploma.

The death of John Ralston occurred at his home in Elderton, August 24,
1879, and was preceded by that of his wife, who died August 9, 1874.

The following tribute to the memory of John Ralston is contributed by Judge
James B. Neale:

Experience shows that a successful career is often denied to some, not on
account of natural deficiencies unfitting them for every vocation, but because
of special disqualification for certain kinds of labor or enterprise. We often
recognize in the successful, even distinguished professional man, one who has
utterly failed in other undertakings, and as often we discover in the
professions men who have wholly mistaken their calling. They fail, and we
attribute their want of success to general incompetency. A criterion of
success in any pursuit, in a majority of cases, is adaptation. This, in the
individual instance of John Ralston, was peculiarly true; his was a successful
career, because he was admirably adapted, by natural inclination and talent,
to the duties which he had undertaken. He was essentially a business man, and
whether his field of labor was limited or extended, he was bound to succeed,
and he was as certain in the end to embrace all that his circumstances and
surroundings would admit of – even if a whole community must be built up to
accomplish that result.

He made business a study, and life and experience was a constant
development of business capacity. He did not wait for opportunities; he
created them. Out of the unpromising materials of an inland rural village he
developed sources of income, thrift and enterprise. The mere trading that
could be carried on in a village store did not satisfy him. He reached out for
more, and a whole section of country responded. He made a market for the
entire productions of a wide extent of country, and in order to increase that
production and to improve its quality to the highest standard, he took a
personal interest in the seed that was planted, and in all the stock that was
raised upon every farm. He instilled into the mind of every man the true idea
that it cost but little more, and that only in the original outlay, to produce
the superior qualities of grain or to raise the better grades of stock than
the inferior. He managed his own farms upon this principle, and the example
was widely contagious. He did not barter with his neighbors by the narrow
methods usually pursued, but dealt with them always with a view to their own
advantage as well as his own; by allowing higher prices for better articles,
he made it an inducement to excel, and excited a competition that produced
most beneficial results. Standing at the head of the community in which he
lived, his influence was felt in every direction; the higher grade of schools
were established and liberally patronized, churches were erected and religious
observances earnestly encouraged. In the course of time he was recognized as
the arbitrator of all disputes among his neighbors, and by his instrumentality
litigation and strife were measurably restrained. In nearly everything his
counsel was sought, and his advice implicitly followed. It was so fully
understood that he was acting for the good of all, that in everything he did
his conduct was beyond cavil, and his influence prevailed at all times with
old and young alike, and when death finally laid his hand upon him to remove
him from a field of so much usefulness, it was regarded as a bereavement to
every household – the taking off if its truest, most devoted benefactor. 

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