Ralph Loyns (1882-1954) was born in Manning, South Carolina to German immigrant Louis Loyns (1848-1909) and South Carolina native Rose Levi (1853-1915). After his father’s general merchandise business failed in 1899, the Loyns family moved to Timmonsville, South Carolina, where Ralph took up work as a cotton buyer. In the late 1900s, Ralph married Alberta Schwerin (1881-1960). By 1910, the couple had moved to Coweta County, Georgia, where Ralph continued to work as a cotton buyer. By 1914, they were living in Sumter, South Carolina, where Ralph worked as a cotton buyer on South Salem Avenue. The pair remained in Sumter until the mid-1920s, at which point they moved to Orangeburg. Around that time, Ralph took a job as a telegraph clerk with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. For the remainder of his career, Ralph worked for the railroad and as a cotton merchant.