Frederick Charles Ralph was born 29 November 1872. He was the second child born to Frederick George Ralph and Brita Stina (Betty) Roseman. The first child was a little boy still born on 19 August 1871. On 29 September 1873 his father married a second wife named Georgene Ceceila May. In the fall of 1874 his father moved his families to Brigham City where the United Order was being practiced. Approximately a year later in the fall of 1875 the family moved back to Plain City where his father had a small truck farm and a vegetable garden.
Frederick George loved gardening and flowers. He would take his produce to Ogden to sell, however he barely made a living. When Frederick Charles was seven years old in the fall of 1879 his father moved his two families to Hyrum. There were three children in the first family and two in the second family. When Frederick Charles is only nine years old his mother died on 4 March 1881. His father's second wife, Georgene, was left to care for and raise two families. Unfortunately, Frederick Charles did not get along with his step-mother and ran away for a time.
Three years later on 13 August 1884 his father married a third wife, Anna Camilla May. She was a sister to Georgene and had been teaching school and lived with the family About 1897 Frederick Charles began attending Utah State Agricultural College in Logan and was preparing to teach grade school in Hyrum. At about this time he met and began to court Lovina Andersen. The following year Fred and Lovina were married in the Logan Temple on 30 March 1989. In the year after getting married, Fred decided that he did not like teaching school and decided to try sheep ranching with his brother-in-law, Walter Bunot. However, this work took him away from home too much and so he began looking for something different.
While still in Hyrum he found work as a fireman on a raidroad and this work brought him in contact with men who were postal clerks for the U.S. Postal Service. This work appealed to him so he took the Civil Service test, passed, and was soon given a job. As a result of his new job, Frederick Charles moved his family to Ogden in 1905, as that was where the terminal for the trains was located. After living in Ogden for a very short time, he was assigned to a route that ran from Salt Lake City to Butte, Montana and back. As a consequence of this new assignment, he moved his family to Salt Lake City and in the spring of 1906 they moved into a home on Windsor Avenue.
Two years later in 1908 he bought a large lot on 1053-57 South 8th East and built a home on the north end of the lot. The next summer in 1909 Frederick Charles moved his family to Echo, 45 miles east of Salt Lake City for the summer in response to a recommendation by the doctor that Lovina needed to spend time in the country enjoying the fresh air. The family lived in a large tent on the property of Frederick Charles' sister, Mary Ann. The following summer in 1910 Frederick Charles and Lovina bought a cow from one of Lovina's brothers and began selling milk to the neighbors. During this time Frederick Charles worked on his Rail Road route about two days and a night twice a week.
In 1913 Frederick Charles built a duplex to help support his family. Then a year later in the summer of 1914 the family bought a white brick house with one acre out in the country on the outskirts of Salt Lake City at 3396 South and 9th East. By this time Frederick Charles' mail route had changed and he traveled from Salt Lake City to Preston. In 1915 Lovina started her chicken business in which she was engaged for the next nine years.
At the end of March 1934 Frederick Charles was 62 years of age. One day when he went to work he was told that it was his last day and that he was now retired. The entire event was quite a shock to him as he was given no notice and he had a hard time dealing with it. The whole event really bothered himi and some said that he lost his mind over it. In 1942 Frederick Charles built a home on the south part of their lot with an apartment in the basement. Five years later in 1947 they bought a red brick home on Alden Street at about 1350 East. They only lived in the house a short time and then built a red brick duplex at Dearborn and Stratford in Salt Lake City.
When he was older Frederick Charles would take walks and get lost. Because of a mental condition he was placed in the state hospital in Provo where he died on 28 March 1953. Frederick Charles was a tall, thin man. He was quiet and liked to read. He was also a very hard worker and would work in the year, in the garden, with the chickens, and whatever else the family had. When his son Horace lived in Ogden and had a fruit, Frederick Charles came to Ogden to help with apricots and showed Horace how to sort the fruit. He was always busy and could do many “fixing things.” His son Horace helped him in making and repairing most things around the home and farm.
