Scott, Ralph H.

Ralph H. Scott, born in Selma, California, on August 27, 1895, was an aggressive and progressive agriculturist in Fresno County. He was the youngest of four children born to the late Honorable L. D. Scott, a statesman from Clinton, Illinois, and Florence A. Persinger, a native of Sydney, Ohio. After graduating from Selma High School in 1913, he initially worked in various fruit-packing houses where he eventually earned a position as foreman. He later ran a dairy on his family estate in the Dunkard district before turning his focus entirely to ranching.

In 1916, Ralph located on an exceptionally fine 320-acre tract eleven miles west of Fresno on Jensen Avenue, which he had inherited from his father. He immediately improved the land for intensified farming by leveling and checking the acreage, sowing alfalfa, and raising stock. To support his agricultural operations, he erected a comfortable residence along with other suitable farm buildings and joined the California Alfalfa Growers Association. At Selma, he married Texas native Laura Fosberg, and together they had a daughter named Harriet.