W. H. RALLS, undertaker and wagon-maker, Thebes, is a native of Henry County, Tenn., and was born June 27, 1847, a son of James and Nancy Ralls, natives of Illinois. In that county, subject received the rudiments of his education, but when ten years of age, moved with his parents to Johnson County, Ill., where the father settled near Vienna, and there the son attended school until seventeen. He started out in life as a farmer and followed it until he was twenty-one, and then commenced work in a saw mill, in Union County, owned by B. F. Livingston and H. B. Hubbard; here he remained for about eight years and then went to Elco, Alexander County, where he opened a carpenter shop. Soon after his arrival in this place, he commenced to learn the trade of a wagon-maker under Samuel Briley. He remained in that town until 1882, when he came to Thebes, where he has since carried on the trade of a wagon-maker. About a year ago, he also opened an undertaker's shop. Subject was married, December 3, 1871, to Miss Elenora Briley, daughter of Samuel Briley (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work). She is the mother of six children, three of whom are living — Oscar Francis, Olive Ionie, and William Henry. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Twentieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. McCabe, Company H, Capt. Porter, November 15, 1864, and was honorably discharged December 16, 1865. In politics, Mr. Ralls is a Republican. Is a member of Elco Lodge, No. 643, I. O. O. F., and is a member of the Thebes M. E. Church.
Extracted 29 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, page 233.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
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Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
