Ralston, Samuel, Dd

Ralston, Samuel, D.D.

a Presbyterian minister, was born in the county of Donegal, Ireland, in 1756; studied at the University of Glasgow; and, after entering the ministry, emigrated to this country in the spring of 1794. After itinerating about two years in Eastern Pennsylvania, he went West, and in 1796 became pastor of the united congregations of Mingo Creek and Williamsport (now Monongahela City), where he remained for the rest of his life, being pastor of the latter branch thirty-five years, and of the former forty years. In 1822 he was made D.D. by Washington College, Pa., and died in Washington County, Pa., Sept. 25, 1851. As a preacher, he was eminently didactic and distinctive, clear, copious, and profound in the exposition and defence of truth. His published works are mostly of a controversial character; among them we find — The Curry-comb (1805): — a work on baptism, comprising a review of Campbell's debate with Walker, and letters in reply to his attack upon this review: — A Brief Examination of the Principal Prophecies of Daniel and John: — A Defence of Evangelical Psalmody. Sprague, Annals, 4:146.