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We, as Ralphs, have known that my Grandpa Ralph came from Philadelphia as a young boy with his mother. We know his father Charles also came to California. We all know the story of Billy Ralph, we are the story of Billy Ralph.
We don’t know what the Philadelphia story was. We can only guess as to why they moved across the country, why they divorced, or who stayed behind. I have spent years trying to find the answers some of these questions through research and investigation. I think it is important to know the Philadelphia story because it is the reason why we are all Californians, why we were able to meet our spouses, and how all of our children came to exist. These things happened because of the choices made in Philadelphia by our grandparents, Charles and Florence, 100 years ago.
The Ralphs
Charles Ormston Ralph was born in Philadelphia, one hundred years after Benjamin Franklin died there. Charles was the second of four kids, 2 boys and 2 girls (Charles, William, Isabel & Carrie) born to William and Anne. In 1889, the same year Charles was born, Montana and Washington became states, thousands of people rushed to claim land in the Great Oklahoma Land Rush, and 2200 people were killed in the Johnstown flood 200 miles away.
Charles grew up at the end of Fairmount Ave in West Philadelphia. 10 years before Charles was born, international attention fixed on the Fairmount neighborhood, as it hosted the great Centennial Exhibition of 1878 celebrating the 100th anniversary of American independence. 180,000 people visited the exhibition at Fairmont Park on its opening day and President Ulysses Grant presided at the opening ceremonies.
The Ralph home was spitting distance to the very first zoo in America, and Fairmount Park. It was just 200 feet from the ten rail lines that went in and out of Philadelphia, you can bet they listened to the roar of the trains all through the day and long into the night. They lived half a mile from the Museum of Art, but they had no idea that “Rocky” would make those steps famous decades later.
Charles’ father was a letter carrier. Charles lost his mother when he was 18 years old. One year later, 2 days before Christmas in 1908, Charles married Florence Reber at Saint Anne’s parish church in Delaware. We don’t know how they met, but they grew up just 1 mile apart. It was probably either through school or church. After the wedding, Florence moved into the Ralph home with Charles’ family.
Their son, William Henry Ralph, was born two and a half years into their marriage, at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia. When Billy was born, they were still living with Charles’s father. When Billy turned 3, Charles’s father married again, to a 30-year-old spinster, Blanche, giving Charles a stepmother. Little Billy never met his Grandmother, Ann Ormston.
Charles, Florence and Billy moved to their own home in East Lansdowne when his father married Blanche. They purchased a pony for little Billy, and hired Rennie Kane, who lived just around the corner, to care for it. Charles was working as a machinist at a metal shop at 1025 Hamilton St, for H.B. Underwood Co. which made boring bars for locomotives. Things were going fine.
The Rebers
Florence Reber was the first of five children born to Charles And Verana Reber. She grew up in Haverford, which was an upscale neighborhood one mile west on Fairmont ave from the Ralph home. Her mother was born in Switzerland. Her father was a well-to-do traveling businessman in the tapestry industry – mostly dealing in leather goods, which was a fine career in those days. They even had 2 Irish servants living in the home, which was around the corner from the horse-drawn trolly line. By the time Florence married and moved in with the Ralphs, the Rebers had moved into a house on Haverford Ave that was twice as big as their old house. Things were going fine.
But then, in February of 1919, Charles’ brother, William Norman Ralph, contracted the Spanish Flu, and succumbed to pneumonia. Yes, the epidemic 100 years ago took Billy’s uncle. He was 32 and had never married, never had any children. He was buried next to his mother in Bala Cynwyd Pennsylvania.
The notice in the paper read, “RALPH - Feb. 5, William Norman, son of William H. Ralph, aged 32. Relatives and friends are invited to service, Sat., 2 P. M., at the residence of his brother, C. O. Ralph, 242 Melrose Ave., East Lansdowne. Int. private at Westminster Cem. Automobiles will meet cars at 69th St. Terminal at 1.30 P. M."
That very same month that William died, Florence’s father died, sending Florence’s family into financial turmoil. Florence’s mother, brother and 2 sisters had to move to a lodging house on Cedar St.
Her sister Laura had married Niles Orme 5 years previously and had moved to California. Her sister Clara had married James Vivian in 1916, yet she too moved to the boardinghouse. It is likely that her husband was fighting in WWI. When he returned, they went west.
Florence took Billy and moved to California to stay with Laura. In February of 1920, Charles moved to the same lodging house on Cedar where Florence’s family was living. It is unclear why Charles and Florence decided not to live together at this point. Even though the census lists him as married at that time.
The Ralphs
We can only imagine how distraught Charles must have been that his son was gone. There were no planes then, not even cars for cross country travel. He couldn’t call him. Watson had only made that first telephone call to Bell just a couple years before. Train was the only way to cover a long distance. And Charles was going to have to take one.
His sister, Isabel recalled in 1977. “I remember the sad day Dad and I saw him off on a train to the land of sunshine in search of his much-loved son and dad saying, “I will never see him again”, and he never did.”
When his father died 6 months later, in July of 1920, Charles was already living in California.
Isabel
When their father had died, Charles’ younger sister, Isabel, moved in with their older sister Carrie. Isabel was 23 and worked as a secretary at the YWCA. She married Edgar Sherman 2 years after Charles left. She helped Edgar through medical school in New Jersey. He practiced medicine there for a few years. Then they moved to Cape Cod. They had a beautiful home, overlooking Cape Cod Bay. Charles never got to meet any of her 3 children.
Isabel and Edgars son, Richard, became a hospital administrator at Hope Memorial in Danvers MA. He married and had 5 children that grew up in New Hampshire.
Isabel’s son William became a contractor. He married and had 4 daughters. In 1977, Isabel wrote, “Bill is still building houses but tells me he is going to retire any minute and do his many hobbies. I expect he will always keep busy. He still has 2 girls to put through college. His one lucrative hobby is doing over antique cars and selling them. You would be surprised how easy they are to sell to rich car buffs. A man came clear from California to buy his Ford woody. He claims when Ford built these they were sold on the east coast and none got as far as the west. Then he sold his Lincoln Continental to a man from Canada.” William passed away in 2004.
Their daughter Mary had 3 daughters (Debby, Sandra and Linda) but died in 1976 after a long illness. She was 48.
Edgar passed in 1969, but Isabel lived until 1988.
Carrie
Charles’s sister, Carrie, 7 years older, had been married to Walter Hays for 17 years by 1920. Carrie and Walter had Miriam in 1906, then the twins, Hazel & Meredith, in 1908. Little George didn’t arrive until 1923. They raised their family in Ocean City, NJ. Miriam was the only grandchild to be born before Charles’ mother passed away.
Charles never got to meet George.
Carrie’s son George enlisted in the Army Reserve and was soon called to active duty and assigned to the Army Signal Corps. He took part in the invasion of Normandy, the battle of the bulge in Belgium, and the battle for Germany. He earned his Master of Arts degrees from Montclair State and his Doctorate in Education from New York University. He was Professor Emeritus of Education at Glassboro State College for 28 years. He and his wife, Ruth, had 6 children (including a Cindy & Wendy!). George passed in 2004.
Carrie’s daughter Miriam “Mimi”, married William Boone. He was VP of an oil company. They lived their days in Ocean City. William held some local elected titles. They had a daughter, Shirley, in 1940. Mimi died in 1984.
Carrie’s daughter Hazel Married David Wright. They were farmers in West Goshen Pennsylvania. They had 2 daughters and a son. (Bonnie, Caroline and Sam) Hazel and a friend founded the first kindergarten school in West Goshen, in 1959. She passed away in 2000. Her son Sam and Daughter Bonnie both passed away in 2020.
There are no records of Hazels’ twin, Meredith, beyond her birth.
The Ormstons
Charles’s mother, Ann Ormston, had died quite young, (33) but she came from a large family. The Ormston family also lived in Philadelphia and remained close to the Ralphs. In letters, Isabel wrote about them.
“Ann Isabel Ormston’s mother, Ann Ormston came from Scotland. Her father Richard Ormston England. He was a sea captain. Quite a respectable job in those days. Tho I have heard he was a lusty fellow with a loud voice. Aunt Emma would run and hide in the closet when he came home. He must have been in port often as they had 10 children. 5 girls 5 boys. Edward, Ida, Jesse, Emma, George, Mary, Charles, Laura, Harry, Isabel. It is fun to think about Richard Ormston – I like to think I had one colorful ancestor.”
(the 1870 census lists Richard Ormston as a railroad engineer)
According to Isabel, “Uncle George was the proverbial bachelor uncle who in my youth always appeared on Sunday dressed to the teeth in blue suit a frosted silk tie and a box of candy under his arm for Sunday dinner. Always took the young children to pick flowers in the spring time – no home should be without one. I guess you have heard the old saying “It is a poor family who cannot afford one lady” well Uncle George comes under this category. A perfectly turned out English gentleman. Your dad remembers him because in later years he was living with Charles as a part of gentleman handy man.”
Uncle Charles Ormston, for whom our Charles was named, was a bookbinder.
His family had all been physically close, the Ralphs had all lived in West Philadelphia. The Ormstons were all downtown. I have only been able to find a single photo of any Ormstons.
The Rebers
Florence and 2 of her sisters had left for California, leaving behind their mother, brother and youngest sister, Edna.
Her sister, Edna, married George Milligan a year after her family moved away. George had served in WWI and became a salesman after his service. For a while they moved to Michigan and George was selling safes, and Edna’s mother, Verana, was living with them. But it didn’t last long, and they moved to Camden NJ. They never had any children. Ten years later, her mother Verana was living in California with Laura and Niles.
Florence’s brother, Charles Jr, lived with Edna and George for several years. He tried his hand at selling real estate for a while. Then he started doing carpentry, eventually working at the shipping yards in Camden. He never married or had any kids. He never owned a home and he lived as a boarder until his death in 1970.
Florence’s father only had 2 siblings, so there were only 4 cousins left behind. Her mother had come from Switzerland, and we have no record of any siblings. The only thing we know was that her mothers’ maiden name was Trumpy. (No relation the current administration. I triple checked) It may have been a little easier for Florence than Charles to leave Philadelphia because the only ones left behind were her sister and brother.
When Charles left for California in 1920, he missed a lot of family left behind. His mom and brother had passed before he left. But he missed the burial of his father, wasn’t around for the birth of his nieces and nephews, he didn’t get to witness his two sisters becoming grandmothers to 22 kids! He also left his 12 cousins and several aunts and uncles.
I see Charles’s life as one of sacrifice and loss. He lost his marriage to Florence quite early on. He sacrificed having a career and his family support to leave and start a new life, alone. The most important thing in his life must have been his only son, and he gave up everything to be with him.
Charles passed away in 1950. He never even met his granddaughter. I wish I had known him. I wish he had known us.
The following photos are of several – but not nearly all – of the descendants of William Henry Ralph and Ann Ormston. These are our cousins, the ones we didn’t get to know, because Charles loved his son.
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