Sacramento County
Biographies
EARL M. RALLS
EARL M. RALLS.--The practical work of the broadly experienced painter is coupled in an interesting manner with that of the artistic decorator in the extensive operations of the enterprising contractor, Earl M. Ralls, a native son hailing from Bieber in Lassen County, where he was born on January 17, 1887. His father was Morgan Ralls, who crossed the great plains with oxen and settled in Lassen County, where he met and married Miss Laura Shinn, whose father and mother had likewise made their way with oxen across the continent, and had settled in the same locality. In the beginning, Morgan Ralls raised cattle; then he took up general farming; and later, and until his death, he sold pianos and organs, while Mrs. Ralls taught music, particularly piano, in Sacramento, passing away in 1921. Both parents were among the worthiest of pioneers.
After Morgan Ralls’ death, Earl M. Ralls came with his mother to Sacramento, and having had to commence working for a living rather early, he studied under his mother’s instruction, for she had also been a school teacher. He was ambitious, however, and by evening study he made up for a lot of what he lost through his manual work in the daytime; and he succeeded in closing the period of his apprenticeship with credit. Since then, for the past two years, he has been in business for himself. He painted and decorated the Keeney private school, and also the buildings on the new Moreing Field baseball grounds, and he has given his most artistic decoration to many private residences. He belongs to the Builders’ Exchange, is an independent in politics, and when tired of the ordinary affairs of business and social life, he hies himself off to hunt for deer and ducks.
Transcribed
Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 979-980. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Joyce Rugeroni.