John Ketcham (1782)
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John Ketcham b. September 10, 1782 d. 1865 was a self-taught surveyor, building contractor, member of the Indiana Legislature, judge, Indian fighter, and a colonel of the 20th Regiment of the Indiana state militia.
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[edit] From Maryland to Kentucky
Ketcham was born in 1782 in Washington County, Maryland to Daniel Ketcham and Keziah Pigmon Lewis. In 1784, John's father joined the 1794 emigration to Kentucky with several other families whose men had been given land for performing service during the American Revolution. They travelled down the Ohio River on a flatboat with their movable belongings and landed at Louisville, Kentucky in May 1784. The Ketcham family would reside in Shelby County, Kentucky east of Louisville.
[edit] Marriage
In 1803, John Ketcham was married in Kentucky to Elizabeth Pearsy. John and Elizabeth had 6 children born to them in Kentucky. In 1811 the family traveled to the Indiana Territory and settled in Jackson County where the Ketchams had another six children.
[edit] Indian fighting
From 1809 through 1818 fighting Indians was almost an everyday occurrence with the few settlers in south central Indiana. Ketcham's fort was built on Ketcham's land and lay between Huff's Fort and the fort at Vallonia making it of vital importance for settlers for security and safety. Most of the fighting between settlers and Indians took place from 1812-1813.
In 1815, Ketcham was released from the service and returned to his home in Jackson County. He was honored by Gov. William Henry Harrison with rank of colonel in a regiment of the state's militia.
In 1816, before he left Jackson county, he sold to the county government 153.4 acres of ground for 8 dollars per acre, donating the block of land where the Jackson County courthouse now stands for as long as it was used for a courthouse. In, 1816 Ketcham received a judgeship from General William Henry Harrison and remained in that position until 1817.
[edit] In Monroe County
In 1818, Col. Ketcham moved to Monroe County six or seven miles from Bloomington near Ellettsville. He built a grist mill on Clear Creek the first year and became known far and wide for his service. When the city of Bloomington was laid out in 1818, Ketcham was asked to design and contract for building of the first courthouse there.
In 1836, Ketcham was named one of General Andrew Jackson's electors for the Presidential election that year.
Ketcham was later appointed a trustee of the Indiana Seminary which would become Indiana University. Ketcham and a co-worker established a Methodist religious school on grounds at the south end of College Avenue in Bloomington.
[edit] Sources
- Charles Taylor, Ketcham family descendant (article author).
- Brumbaugh, Gaius M., and Hodges, Margaret R., Revolutionary Records of Maryland, Part I, Washington 1924.
- Early Kentucky Tax Records: From the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Baltimore 1984, p. 94 & 242.
- Ft. Vallonia
- Indiana political graveyard
- Indiana Historical Bureau
- Bloomingpedia
- Rootsweb, Richland Township
