San
Joaquin County
Biographies
FRANK de la RALLS
Among the foremost representatives
of the agricultural industry in San Joaquin County is Frank de la Ralls, who
for the past eighteen years has been the capable and efficient manager of the
Sargent estate. Energetic, progressive
and public-spirited, he has been successful in his own private ventures and has
done much for the welfare of his county and state. A native son of California, he was born at
Woodbridge, October 13, 1871, a son of W. A. G. and Laura (House) Ralls, the
former a native of Missouri and the latter of Kentucky. The father came to California with his
parents when he was four years old and grew up and lived in San Joaquin County
all his life. The mother passed away
when our subject was six years old, while the father lived to be seventy-six
years of age.
Frank de la Ralls received his early
education in the Woodbridge grammar school, and then entered the San Joaquin
Valley College, completing his education at the age of fifteen when he took up
the butcher trade at Woodbridge. He
worked for Thompson & Folger in their shop in Woodbridge for eight years;
then became associated with the Earl Fruit Company of Lodi as a clerk, and
later as outside man, working for the same company for a number of
seasons. For one season also, he was
with the Valley Fruit Company, after which he went into the fruit business for
himself, having his headquarters in Lodi and buying and selling grapes and
fruit. Eighteen years ago he became the
manager of the Sargent estate for the late Dr. J. P. Sargent, but for two years
thereafter continued his own business of buying and selling fruit. For the last sixteen years he has devoted his
entire time to the management of the vast Sargent estate.
The marriage of Mr. Ralls occurred
at San Francisco March 10, 1904, uniting him with Miss Mary Susan Sollars, born
near Clements, San Joaquin County, a daughter of Solomon and Martha (Giles)
Sollars, natives respectively of Indiana and Missouri. Solomon Sollars came to California with his
parents, who crossed the trackless plains with ox-teams, the toilsome and
tedious journey lasting six months.
Solomon Sollars and his wife were married in Jackson in 1867, on September
25, and were farmers at Clements where the mother died. Mr. Sollars spent his last days in Lodi,
where Mary Sollars attended school. Mr.
Ralls owns a very productive sixty-two-acre ranch on the Terminous
Road, under the Stockton-Mokelumne irrigation system. The ranch is devoted to the growing of wine
and table grapes. In politics Mr. Ralls
is a Democrat, and for a number of years has been a member of the Democratic
central committee of San Joaquin County.
He is also a deputy sheriff of the county for land and crop protection
work, and was deputy horticultural inspector of north San Joaquin County for
one term. Fraternally, he was made a
Mason in Woodbridge Lodge No. 131, F. & A. M. He is a member of Stockton Chapter No. 28, R.
A. M.; Stockton Commandery No. 8, K. T.; and Lodi Parlor, N. S. G. W. He has a wide acquaintance in the county of
his nativity, and his success in business is well merited and has served as a
source of inspiration and encouragement to others.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1032-1035. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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