Some years ago I added a “Clan Ralston” as the forefather to the men I presumed to be brothers. I wrote an indepth theory about this relationship and in it I identified a possible 2 sisters as well. They immigrated in mid 1798 by my theory. I also discussed how not all of them of came at the same time either. They lived primarily in Washington County, PA and some of their descendants moved to Guernsey County, OH later on.According to my theory, there are 4 brothers and two sisters viz:
James Ralston* + Esther Lyons
John Ralston* + Rebecca Mustard
Joseph Ralston* + Eleanor Reed
William Ralston* + Jane Elliott
Catherine Ralston + James McAdoo
Elizabeth “Betsy” Ralston (?) + George Irwin
I added a “Mr. X” to add 2 children, John and Robert Ralston who were also born in Ireland lived in Guernsey County.
Each marked with a * also used R(a/o)(l/ll)st(a/i/o)n variations. Sometimes a W was thrown into the mix. The only letters that didn’t change were the R, ST, and N. The L could be singular or double, LL, or not at all. The 6 I have listed were born between 1764 – 1786.
James moved to Guernsey County, OH soon after the State was formed. I know that there are descendants of James, but I have since lost their contact email years ago. I have collected as much documentation on site as possible about each of these people James had children James Jr, Rachel, Martha, Rebecca, Joseph, John, and Esther “Alsey”.
John had only 1 child that I know of: Esther.
Joseph had William, Rebecca, Paul, Theresa Elizabeth “Betsy”, Ann, Joseph Jr, and Jane.
William had Martha, David, John, Agnes “Nancy”, Sarah, Jane, Margaret, William Jr, James, Thomas, Elisabeth J, and Mary Jane. Catherine by James McAdoo had Catherine McAdoo who married Paul Ralston, son of the aforementioned Joseph. There were other children, but I did not record them yet.
Elizabeth “Betsy” by George Irwin had children (in no particular order) Nancy, James, Margaret, Mary, George, Andrew, Jane, Esther Acy, Rachel, John, and Rebecca.
The Robert Ralston of “Mr. X” married Mary Jane Ralston, daughter of the aforementioned William. My line is William and I have tried to document his descendants as much as possible to the current day. I only have documentation of James and John as being brothers per John’s will, naming his nephews. As stated, the two primary counties were Washington County, PA and Guernsey County, OH. There were others, but this is where a majority of the children listed lived. Some moved to other States also. I do have reason to believe that Joseph Ralston of Belmont County, OH could have been a brother to James and John and that Joseph Ralston of Hopewell, Washington, Pennsylvania was possibly the only brother to William of the same township.
I would like to find living descendants of any of these families.
I can be reached at kralston@heritageforensics.com for any who can connect.
