John H. Ketcham

John Henry Ketcham (December 21, 1832 – November 4, 1906) was a United States Representative from New York for over 33 years. He also served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

John H. Ketcham was born in Dover Plains, Dutchess County, New York. 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 a supervisor in 1854 and 1855 and a member of the State assembly in 1856 and 1857. He served in the New York State Senate 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 delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876 and 1896 and then the Commissioner of the District of Columbia from July 3, 1874, until June 30, 1877, when he resigned. 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 was 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. John Ketcham is buried in Valley View Cemetery, Dover Plains, New York.

External links

*CongBio|K000152 Retrieved on 2008-02-12
*findagrave|5892263