i found this:
A free man, Ralph returned to his diggings and eventually did strike several rich veins of lead – among them was the famed McKinzie lead “which yielded millions of pounds of mineral and resulted in mines of wealth.” Eventually, Ralph sold his claim for a good price, but “being of an easy, confiding turn of mind, he permitted himself to be swindled out of it.” Regardless of his worth, Ralph earned a position as a respected member of the tight-knit German/Irish community of Dubuque and was even invited to become a member of the prestigious Old Settlers Association.
The 1870 Times article described Ralph in his later years as: “[a] tall, slim figure, [with] kinky locks literally besprinkled with gray, [a] benevolent, shining countenance which seemed to be the abode of a perpetual smile, and a kindly eye which had the look of recognition to all.” After losing his fortune, Ralph spent his final years living in the County Poor House where he said, “The beef was poor, the coffee muddy, and the dishes dirty.”
Ralph’s died of smallpox on July 22, 1870, “having contracted the disease while nursing a sick patient.” After his death, “His remains, interred at the hands of charity, now lie in the Potter’s Field,” wrote the Dubuque Times. Ralph, along with many of Dubuque’s earliest settlers, was buried in an unmarked grave on a grassy slope in Linwood Cemetery. https://juliensjournal.com/2017/03/05/trappist-caskets-in-the-matter-of-ralph/
