John H. Ketcham

John Ketcham
John Ketcham
	Portrait by Mathew Brady, c. 1860–1865
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from New York
	In office; March 4, 1897 – November 4, 1906
Preceded by	Jacob LeFever
Succeeded by	Samuel McMillan
Constituency	18th district (1897–1903); 21st district (1903–1906)
	In office; March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1893
Preceded by	John O. Whitehouse
Succeeded by	William Ryan
Constituency	13th district (1877–1885); 16th district (1885–1893)
	In office; March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	Homer Augustus Nelson
Succeeded by	Charles St. John
Constituency	12th district
Member of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia
	In office; July 3, 1874 – June 30, 1877
Appointed by	Ulysses S. Grant
President	William Dennison Jr. (de facto)
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Thomas B. Bryan
Member of the New York State Senate
	In office; 1860–1861
Preceded by	Henry C. Wetmore
Succeeded by	William H. Tobey
Constituency	11th district
Member of the New York State Assembly
	In office; 1856–1857
Preceded by	Albert Emans
Succeeded by	Albert Emans
Constituency	Dutchess County's 1st district
Personal details
Born	John Henry Ketcham; December 21, 1832; Dover Plains, New York, U.S.
Died	November 4, 1906 (aged 73); New York City, New York, U.S.
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States; • Union
Branch/service	United States Army; • Union Army
Years of service	1862–1865
Rank	Brigadier General; Brevet Major General
Battles/wars	American Civil War

John Henry Ketcham (December 21, 1832 – November 4, 1906) was an American politician and military officer who was a United States representative from New York for over 33 years from 1877 to 1893 and from 1897 to 1906. He also served as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Biography

John H. Ketcham was born in Dover Plains, New York on December 21, 1832.^[1] He pursued an academic course and graduated from Suffield Academy at Suffield, Connecticut. He then became interested in agricultural pursuits, as well as politics. He was Supervisor of the Town of Dover in 1854 and 1855; a member of the New York State Assembly (Dutchess County, 1st District) in 1856 and 1857; and a member of the New York State Senate (11th District) in 1860 and 1861.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army and was appointed as colonel of the 150th New York Volunteer Infantry, on October 11, 1862. Ketcham was brevetted as a brigadier general on December 6, 1864, and promoted to the full rank of brigadier general in the volunteer army on April 1, 1865. He was brevetted major general of Volunteers March 13, 1865.

Following the war, Ketcham resumed his political career. He was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1873). He was the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands Forty-second Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress.

Ketcham was a Commissioner of the District of Columbia from July 3, 1874, until June 30, 1877, when he resigned.^[2] During this time, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876. He was subsequently elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1893). He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Fifty-seventh through Fifty-ninth Congresses). Ketcham declined to be a candidate for renomination.

He re-entered politics and became a delegate to the 1896 Republican National Convention and was then elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fifth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1897, until his death in New York City on November 4, 1906.^[1] John Ketcham is buried in Valley View Cemetery in Dover Plains, New York.

John H. Ketcham Elementary School in Washington, DC is named for him.

References

1 2 "General Ketcham Died Last Night". The Evening Republican. New York. November 5, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved May 2, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ Tindall, William (1903). Origin and Government of the District of Columbia. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 210. Retrieved January 1, 2021.