The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 1094 SAMUEL B. RAGSDALE. Samuel B. Ragsdale, whose ranch property of thirty-five acres is carefully cultivated and developed, was born at Shoal, Indiana, February 7, 1876, and is a son of Silas and Romaine (Salyards) Ragsdale, both of whom passed away ere their son Samuel had reached the age of five years. Thus left an orphan, he lived with a guardian until he was fourteen years of age, when he started out to provide for his own support and for seven years worked for wages. He was desirous, however, of engaging in business on his own account and when he had attained his majority he rented land in Indiana and there carried on farming until 1903. In that year he removed to Yakima county and purchased forty acres of land near Grandview. It was an undeveloped tract covered with the native growth of sagebrush and it required much arduous labor to transform it into a state of fertility and productiveness. He afterward sold twenty acres of that place but later purchased fifteen acres more, so that he now has thirty-five acres in all. On this he raises fruit, hay and grain, and he also rents one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he devotes to the raising of hay and grain. He has thus become one of the extensive ranchers of the district with a well developed and highly productive property from which he is annually deriving a most substantial income. He is also one of the directors of the Grandview Irrigation Ditch. On the 31st of October, 1897, Mr. Ragsdale was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Brown, a native of Indiana and a daughter of T. E. Brown. The children of this marriage were eleven in number: Edward, Roy, Otto, Walter, Pearl, Gladys, Clarence, Albert, Nellie, Gertrude and Nellie. Mr. Ragsdale votes with the democratic party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but has never been an aspirant for office preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, which have made him one of the men of affluence in his community. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.