Winthrop Welles Ketcham

Winthrop Welles Ketcham

Winthrop Welles Ketcham (sometimes spelled Ketchum, June 29, 1820 – December 6, 1879) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, and later a United States federal judge.

Early life and career

Ketcham was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His father, Lewis N. Ketcham, was a painter and cabinet-maker. At an early age Ketcham assisted his father in painting buildings in the city and lock-houses along the canal.^[1]

Ketcham pursued classical studies, and served as an instructor in Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, from 1844 to 1847 and in Girard College in Philadelphia in 1848 and 1849. In 1846 he married Sarah Urquhart, with whom he had a daughter, Ella, and a son, J. Marshall.^[1] After leaving the seminary, Ketcham read law in the offices of Lazarus Denison Shoemaker and Charles Denison.^[1] He was admitted to the bar in the several courts of Luzerne county on January 8, 1850, and practiced law in Wilkes-Barre from 1850 to 1855.

Political career

Ketcham became a Republican when that party was first organized, having been a Whig prior to that time. He was a delegate to the Chicago Republican National Convention in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and a delegate at large to the Baltimore convention of 1864, when Lincoln was renominated.^[1] In 1868 he was a presidential elector from this state, and cast his vote for Ulysses Grant.^[1] In 1866, 1869, and 1872 he received votes in the Republican state conventions for the office of governor.^[1]

He served as prothonotary of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from 1855 to 1858, and was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1858. He served in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1859 to 1861, then returned to private practice in Wilkes-Barre until 1863. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to Congress in 1864, but obtained a position as solicitor of the United States Court of Claims from 1864 to 1866. He then returned to private practice until 1873.

Ketcham was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth Congress from Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, and served from 1873 until his resignation in 1876.

Judicial career

On June 7, 1876, Ketcham was nominated by President Ulysses Grant to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania vacated by Wilson McCandless. Ketcham was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 26, 1876, and received his commission the same day. He served until his death, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His interment was in Hollenback Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre.

References

• Winthrop Welles Ketcham at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

• Winthrop Welles Ketcham at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• The Political Graveyard