Lancaster Raulston and Sarah E. Kemp Raulston. She was named after Jobyna Howland. She had a younger brother, Edward Angus (born 1905). Ralston's mother, a portrait photographer, carefully groomed her daughter for a show business career.

At the age of 9, she gave her first stage performance as Cinderella during the grand opening of the Wilson theatre/Opera House in 1909. Around 1915, Ralston attended acting school in New York. She later danced chorus and sang in Broadway productions, her first being