William Thomas Ralph

 

William “Long Will” Thomas Ralph

1818-1888

 

       William Thomas Ralph was the son of James Lawrence Ralph, Sr. and Elizabeth McClane, born in 1818.  He was known as “Long Will” and settled on a farm called “The Knob.”  He built a fine two-story colonial home with a stone chimney at each end. Rooms in the house measured 8 feet by 10 feet. 

       At the time of the 1850 Ohio County census, Long Will was 32 years old, married with three children, and farmed 1,200 acres, which was part of the original farmland owned by John Lawrence Ralph I and his brother, William P. Ralph. 

       The Knob Farm was located on a knob above the farmed bottomland a mile southwest of the Ralph Community Store located at Ralph Station on the junction of Morgantown Road and Kentucky 1414. 

       William Thomas Ralph was the first to be buried (in 1888) on the farm in what is now known as the Knob-Ralph Cemetery.  Most of the children, their spouses, and a few grandchildren were also interred in the cemetery. 

       Charlotte Jane Moseley was born 26 Feb 1869, died at age four and was buried in the Ralph Cemetery where her great-grandparents, John Lawrence Ralph I and Elizabeth McClane Ralph, were interred, along with other Ralph kin. Charlotte Jane, the namesake of her grandmother, Charlotte Jane Powers Ralph, (the wife of William Thomas Ralph) was the daughter of Martha Vitula Ralph Moseley and Dillis Perry Moseley, Jr.  Since the Knob-Ralph Cemetery was not established until 1888 she (Charlotte Jane Moseley) was buried at the Big Family Cemetery. 

Researched and recorded by Judy E. Russell, Hartford.  Published in Kentucky Family Records, Vol. 38, No. 4, Winter 2014, at page 125, by the Mclean County History Museum & Regional Family Research Center.

Please note that I previously posted some information about the Ralph family on this blog. The date of that post is 5 June 2012. 

I think I found the location of the Ralph Community Store mentioned in the article.  Old Morgantown Road intersects Old State Route 1414 roughly 5 miles west of Fordsville and roughly 4 miles south of Whitesville.  The article says The Knob farm was a mile SW of the store.  Ralph Cemetery Lane is a short distance to the East, off of Megan Road.