Ralph B. Strassburger

Who was Ralph B. Strassburger?

Ralph Beaver Strassburger was an American businessman born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, who was also a prominent Thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder.

Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1905 and served in the U.S. Navy until 1909. He then went into business and in 1911 married May Bourne, the daughter of Frederick Gilbert Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. An unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in the elections of 1914, following America's entry in World War I he rejoined the Navy and served as a transport officer until being discharged in 1919.

In 1921, Strassburger entered the newspaper business in his hometown, acquiring the Herald then the following year the other local, the Times. He merged the papers to create the Norristown Times Herald which still operates to this day. Of importance to historians and genealogists is Strassburger's book Pennsylvania German Pioneers: a publication of the original lists of arrival in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808 published in 1934 in two volumes.