Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Ralston, Thomas Neely

RALSTON, Thomas Neely, clergyman, b. in Kentucky in 1806; d. in Newport, Ky., 25 Nov., 1891. He was educated at Georgetown college, joined the state conference of the Methodist church in 1827, and was its secretary for twelve years. He was a member of the convention that met in Louisville, Ky., in 1845, to organize the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and secretary of that body in 1850, subsequently becoming chairman of the committee to revise the discipline of the church. He was president of the Methodist female collegiate high-school in Lexington, Ky., in 1843-'7, and in 1851 edited the “Methodist Monthly.” Wesleyan university, Florence, Ky., gave him the degree of D. D. in 1857. His publications include “Elements of Divinity” (Louisville, Ky., 1847); “Evidences, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity” (Nashville, Tenn., 1870); “Ecce Unitas, or a Plea for Christian Unity” (Cincinnati, 1870); and “Bible Truths” (Nashville, 1887).