- Webster Edgerly
Webster Edgerly (1852-1926) was a 19th and 20th century American social reform activist. He believed in a healthy diet and the power of personal magnetism, and began the
Ralstonism movement as a way to live out this lifestyle.Born in
Massachusetts to Rhoda Lucinda Stone and John Foss Edgerly. He graduated from theBoston University School of Law in 1876. That same year he founded the Ralston Health Club. He married Edna Reed Boyts 5 Jul 1892 in McConnellsville,Pennsylvania . He practiced law in Boston, Kansas, and Washington D.C. In 1896 he began living eight months of the year at Ralston Heights, New Jersey, now known as Hopewell.Using the
pseudonym Edmund Shaftesbury , Edgerly was a prolific author ofself-help and utopian religious texts, producing over 100 books, most of them "official" books to buy as a member of the Ralston Health Club.His Ralston breakfast cereal venture merged with Purina Mills founded by William Danforth. Together in 1902 they became
Ralston-Purina .He died 5 Nov 1926 in
Trenton, New Jersey and his wife sold the property the following year.References
* Six, Janet. "Hidden History of Ralston Heights: The Story of New Jersey's Failed 'Garden of Eden.'" "Archaeology" (Vol 57, No 3), p. 30-35.
External links
* [http://www.archive.org/details/instantaneousper031650mbp "Instantaneous Personal Magnetism" by Webster Edgerly at archive.org]
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