KETCHUM BIOGRAPHY, YATES CO., NY

Copyright (c) 1999 by Bonnie Bunce (bmbunce@juno.com).

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Excerpt from HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF YATES COUNTY, NEW YORK by Stafford
C. Cleveland published in 1873 in Penn Yan, New York, pages 296-299 in
the chapter on the Town of Benton,  as well as additional excerpts from
the other pages indicated in brackets.  Note:  One of the daughters of
John Jay and Margaret (Murdock) Kress, Margaret Harriet Kress married
William L. Ketchum, and had a son James L.; they emigrated to Wisconsin. 
See p. 920, vo1. 2.  William L. is not mentioned in the following account
of the Ketchum family of Yates Co., but he may have been a child of Elias
Ketchum, or a relative of this family who later immigrated to Yates Co.

            KETCHUM FAMILY.

    Locey Ketchum married Susannah Scofield, and lived in the town of Kent,
Putnam (then Dutchess) Co.  The family was originally from Long Island,
and of German descent.  Their children were Elias, Jonathan, Joseph,
James and Sarah.  Elias settled near Hammondsport, where some of his
descendants still reside.  The others became residents of this county
about 1812.
    Jonathan, born in 1788, married Matilda Cushman, of Frederickstown,
Dutchess Co.  She was born in 1789.  They came to this county with one
child, Charles, and settled first on Flat street, but subsequently
located on the Pre-emption road, where he died leaving five children,
Charles, Darius, Rhoda, Alvah and Charlotte.  Mrs. Ketchum is still
living, and resides with her daughter Charlotte, in Prattsburg.  She is a
daughter of Consider Cushman, of Duxbury, Mass., who was of the sixth
generation from Robert Cushman, born in England, in 1580, and one of the
Plymouth colony 
of 1620, coming in the second vessel that brought over the liberty
seeking Puritans.  He was prominently associated with the leading
characters of the colony, and preached the first sermon printed in
America, in the English tongue.  This sermon was preached from the text,
"Let no man seek his own, but every man another's worth."  This was a
discourse of two parts; the first proposition of the text a dehortation,
and the second an exhortation.  It was a pointed homily, and has become
memorable, having been printed in 
London, in 1622, and re-published in Boston in 1724, and several times
since at Plymouth and other places in New England.  It is reprinted in
the "Historical and Biographical Genealogy of the Cushmans," descendants
of Robert Cushman.
    Charles, the eldest son of Jonathan Ketchum, born in 1813, married
Aurelia A., daughter of Dr. Nathan L. Kidder, of Benton, and is a
resident of Penn Yan.  [From pp. 239-40:  "Aurelia A., daughter of Dr.
Nathan L. Kidder [who was a son of Ephraim and Sarah (Spencer) Kidder],
and Mary (Stone) Kidder] married Charles Ketchum of Benton."]  He is a
Machinist, Inventor and Patent Solicitor.  They have one son, George A.,
who married Ida Haviland, of Middlesex, and also resides in Penn Yan. 
They have a son, Charles.  Darius was a physician, married Clarissa
Vandenburg, of Jackson, Mich., and died in Penn Yan in 1854.  Rhoda, born
in 1818, married Erastus B. Miller, of Pultney.  They reside near Seneca
Lake, in Milo, and have four children, Lee, Jonathan, Adelaide and Mary. 
Alvah, born in 1821, married Augusta D., daughter of Isaac D. Gage, of
Benton, and resides at Bellona, a mechanic.  [From pp. 232, 234:  "Isaac
D. Gage, the youngest son of Moses Gage, born March 8, 1773, married
Huldah Benedict of South Salem, N.Y., born March 19, 1779. . . . Their
family of fourteen children all reached adult age, viz:  Sally, Betsey,
Moses B., Mariam, Isaac N., Nancy M., Charlotte C., John M., Seneca H.,
Henry H., Huldah A., Lewis D., Armida J. and AUGUSTA D. . . . Augusta D.,
born in 1822, married Alvah, son of Jonathan Ketchum, a harness maker at
Bellona. . . . Isaac D. Gage died in 1854 at the age of eighty-one, and
his wife in 1833 at the age of fifty-four."  Emphasis added.]  Charlotte,
born in 1824, married Lucas Voorhees, of Benton.  They reside in
Prattsburg, and their children are Matilda, Augusta, Emma and Horatio S.
    Joseph Ketchum, born in 1790, married Mercy, daughter of John Randall. 
She was born in Dutchess Co., in 1790.  [From p. 293-94:  "John Randall
was from Frederickstown, Dutchess Co., where he married Elizabeth
Buckbee.  He was born in 1746, and died at the age of eighty-six.  They
came to this county and settled between Flat street and the South Centre
road, bringing but one unmarried daughter of their family, their daughter
Mercy, who married Joseph Ketchum, in 1812. Their sons were Elijah, John,
James B.,  Lewis and Samuel; their daughters, Esther, Elizabeth, Anna and
Mercy. . . . Mercy born in 1790, became the wife of Joseph Ketchum."] 
They settled on lot 45, on Flat street, where he died in 1860, at the age
of seventy.  They had thirteen children, of whom eight reached adult age;
Abel, Norman, George R., Celina B., Anna M., Oliver J., Caroline E. and
Charles H.  Norman and Oliver C. died in early life.  Abel married Phebe
Ann, daughter of Lewis Boyd, of Michigan, formerly of Benton.  [From p.
299:  "Lewis Boyd [one of three children of Ebenezer Boyd of Kent,
Putnam, Co., who came to Yates Co. in 1813] married Sophia Cushman, a
sister of Mrs. Jonathan Ketchum, and settled on the Pre-emption road, and
finally in 1834, emigrated to Washtenaw Co., Michigan, where he died in
1848, and where his widow has since died.  Their children are Emeline,
Harvey, PHEBE A., Mial, George, 
Sarah, Ebenezer, Robert, Almira, Mina and Adaline." Emphasis added.]  He
was a merchant in Penn Yan, and afterwards lived on the Jonathan Ketchum
farm, in Benton, where he died leaving five children, Henry W., Sophia,
Frank, Emma C. and Edward.  Norman and Oliver, sons of Joseph Ketchum,
died single and the remaining children are unmarried, and reside on the
homestead with 
their mother.  The sons are enterprising farmers, and noted for raising
choice and thorough-bred stock, especially short horn cattle.  Charles H.
is the present President of the Yates County Agricultural Society.
    Joseph Ketchum was by trade a tanner and shoemaker.  He served his
apprenticeship with Abel Peck, and came to this county under his
patronage, two years before Judge Peck.  He started a tannery, and
established the shoe and leather business, which, on becoming twenty-one,
he assumed on his own account, and conducted prosperously for many years.
 His industry and economy were such, that wealth could not resist his
grasp, and he had the sagacity to invest his gains chiefly in adjoining
lands, sometimes at prices others thought high, until his home farm
embraced five hundred acres; and he was the owner of other farms of much
value, amounting to twelve hundred acres.  He was elected Sheriff of
Yates county in 1834, and served three years in that office; and in the
militia rose from corporal to colonel.  His life was remarkably busy and
laborious, though he was identified with the Democratic party, and
finally with the Republican.  Religiously, his tendencies were toward the
Quakers, having been reared within their influence.  He was a man of
integrity, and highly honorable character.  His wife, who has survived
him ten years, is still in the enjoyment of health and vigor of body and
mind, and has evidently been a strong stay to her husband and family in
their remarkable history.
    James Ketchum married Clarrissa Dean, of Putnam Co., settled first in
Benton, and subsequently in Barrington, where he owned the Old Teeples
place, and kept a tavern many years.  His widow still resides on the
homestead.  Their children are Susan, Harriet, Joseph and Tyler.  Susan
married Joshua D. Corey.  They reside on part of the Ketchum homestead,
in Barrington, and have one child, Hattie.  Harriet married Lewis
McConnell, of Barrington, and resides on the homestead, occupying the
house long used for a hotel.  Joseph married Angelina DeGraw, of
Barrington, and resides near Hammondsport.  They have two children,
Edmund and one other.  Tyler married Miss Ellis, of Barrington, and
emigrated to California.  
    Sarah Ketchum died single at Prattsburg.
    The Ketchums were noted for patriotism in the revolutionary struggle. 
In August, 1775, an association was formed in Dutchess and adjoining
counties, for prosecuting the war.  Twenty-eight of this name signed the
compact of this league, in the counties of Dutchess, Orange and Suffolk. 
(See Appendix to Cushman's Genealogy.)