Person:Henry Ralston (3)

Henry W Ralston the Blacksmith

• Alexander 'Samuel' Samples, with his wife Lucinda, migrated to the Ohio River and settled on the Kentucky side, at Adair City, in Greenup County, Kentucky. This is directly across the Ohio River opposite Ironton, Ohio. Alexander 'Samuel' and his wife Lucinda both died, leaving four small sons. Their names were Robert (the oldest of the four), Samuel Samples, Hiram Samples and William Samples, the youngest of the four.

• The boys were bound out, as was the custom when the parents died, in those days, to Henry Ralston, to serve apprentice in the blacksmith trade. Henry Ralston's shop was located in Ironton, Ohio which is on the opposite side of the river from Adair City, Kentucky. On arriving at the shop one morning, a note was found on the door saying "Bob's gone". Another account tells this a little differently! On coming to the shop one morning they found a note on the shop door. It said Bob's gone to H---, and they never heard from him again.

• Under the strict rules of apprenticeship, indentured children were required to serve their task master until they became twenty one years of age. Samuel Samples and his brother Hiram thought that they were being worked too hard and mistreated. They planned an escape, crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky. Samuel told his brother Hiram that he heard there was a lot of game up on Elk River and that he was going to go up there and hunt. Hiram wanted to go, too. Sam protested saying Hiram was too young, but Hiram went. They ran away by swimming the Ohio River at night and came up on the Elk River and hunted and killed a lot of game.

• Hiram Samples courted and married Bathsheba Alderson in Adair City, Greenup County, Kentucky. He later moved into Virginia (now West Virginia) and settled on Elk River. He settled near present Clendenin, and from there he moved up in Porters Creek. He went up a hollow that is a tributary to Porters Creek and built his house there. This hollow has its confluence with Porters Creek about three quarters of a mile from Bomont. Today, his hollow is called Samples Hollow. Their Family Record from his Bible remains with his descendants.

• Samuel Samples brother of Hiram went up the Ohio River to Pomeroy and while there he courted and married Jane Samples who was living in (then) Virginia. She was the daughter of Robert Samples, and twin sister of Ralph Smith's wife, Sofa, daughters of old Peter Samples. They raised a large family. Samuel later moved to Virginia (now West Virginia) and settled on the Elk River near Ashley's Dam. He bought the land and the mill that John Ashley owned, along the north side of the Elk River, above the mouth of Upper Dulls Creek.

• A Mr. Ashley owned 400 acres of land along the south side of Elk River, opposite to the land that John Ashley owned. Samuel the II also bought this tract of land. In the year 1850 Samuel and Jane Samples, his wife, made a deed, conveying a part of their land to John Samples. This deed was acknowledged by Alexander Good and Alexander S. Waugh, who were serving as justices of the peace at that time. The last will and testament of Samuel Samples the II is recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Clay County Court of Clay County, West Virginia, in Will Book No. 1, at page two.

1.   Higginson Book Company. The History of Brown County, Ohio: Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns, Churches, Schools, Etc., General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest Territory, History of Ohio, Map of Brown County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, Etc., Etc. (Brown County, Ohio: W. H. Beers & Co., 1883)
   Page 375.

   In 1801, Robert Curry settled on the James Curry Survey of 1,000 acres just south of Georgetown. Maj. James Curry was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and this survey was made on his warrant for military services but, not caring to tempt the wilds of the far West himself, he disposed of the tract to his nephew, Robert, who, in 1799, left his home in Rockingham County, Va., with his wife, Phoebe, and several small children, and with his young brother, John, for the seat of their purchase. They remained two years in Bourbon County, Ky., where John was accidentally killed, and, in 1801, arrived at their future home. Mr. Curry built his cabin in the southern portion of the survey, across the road but not far from the present residence of Mrs. Parker. Until this time, there had been no white occupant on this survey. He spent four years in clearing and improving the place, but had accomplished comparatively little when he was cut off by a sudden attack of fever, leaving his wife with a family of helpless children to struggle on in the wilderness as best she could. Mrs. Curry survived until July, 1822. They had six children – Abigail married William Florer and moved to Kentucky; Mary became the wife of William Moore, of this township; Lucinda married Elijah Evans, and died on the home farm in 1860; William moved to Clermont County; Rebecca married Andrew Moore, and Phoebe, Samuel Colvin both of Pleasant Township.
   
   Henry Ralston, a relative of Mrs. Curry, came about the time the Currys did, settling just east of them, where John T. Brady now lives. He was orginally from Rockingham County, Va., but, like most of the settlers, had lived awhile in Kentucky before coming here. He arived here so late in the spring that the neighbors, who had finished their spring work, “turned in” and helped him clear a piece for corn. He had a family of six children – John, Robert, Jesse, James, Mrs Abbie Derough and Mrs. Phoebe Jolly.
   His brother, James Ralston settled in the western part of the township, on the V. M. Loudon place.

2. ↑ Prepared by: Gordon R. Rolston, in ROLSTON, ROLSTONE, & RALSTON Families of Augusta, & Rockingham Counties of Virginia, and their descendants
   May 8, 2009.