Wasco-Lane County OR Archives Biographies.....Ketchum, Delaney Paulin 1849 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 28, 2009, 12:26 am Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company DELANEY PAULIN KETCHUM. For thirty years Delaney Paulin Ketchum has successfully engaged in ranching in Wasco county, doing much to stimulate the development of this section of the state along agricultural lines, and he has also achieved prominence as a sheep raiser. A native of New Jersey, he was born in 1849 and his parents, Henry P. and Rebecca (Cox) Ketchum, were lifelong residents of that state. His father followed the occupation of farming and died in 1853, when a young man of thirty-two. He was long survived by the mother, who passed away about the year 1904. D. P. Ketchum attended the public schools of New Jersey and was reared by his great-uncle, William Watson. After the latter's death Mr. Ketchum took charge of his farm, which he cultivated until 1870, when he was married to Miss Adelaide Keeley, also a native of New Jersey. He then became a dealer in live stock, buying cattle and sheep throughout the state of New Jersey and selling them in the Philadelphia markets. In 1879 he traveled westward to Kansas and for a few years was the manager and part owner of a large stock farm near Garden City, also continuing his speculations in sheep. On disposing of the place he returned to Philadelphia and in the spring of 1883 made another trip to the west. After a short stay in Portland, Oregon, he proceeded to Lane county and leased a large stock ranch owned by the father of Joaquin Miller, who was known as the "poet of the Sierras." For two years Mr. Ketchum operated the Miller ranch and then disposed of his stock. Returning to Portland, he entered the employ of Page & Son, commission merchants, and for one season was their fruit buyer in the Willamette valley. In 1887 he came to The Dalles and bought a band of sheep, allowing them to graze in the mountains during the summer. He purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres ten miles southeast of The Dalles, where he placed the sheep during the winter, and increased his flock. In 1889 he sold the place and went to Wisconsin, becoming manager at Trevor for Charles Butler, a sheep dealer of eastern Oregon. Later Mr. Ketchum returned to The Dalles and was made sheep buyer for the Union Meat Company of Portland, traveling throughout eastern Oregon in the interests of the firm, with which he spent four years. On the expiration of that period he ventured in business for himself, buying sheep in Oregon and shipping them to the large stock ranches in Montana. An expert judge of sheep, he prospered in the undertaking and in 1898 invested in a ranch of four thousand acres, situated seven miles east of The Dalles. His son William is his partner in the sheep business but Mr. Ketchum is sole owner of the ranch. He has one thousand acres planted to wheat and the remainder of the land is used for pasture. Of this a tract of one hundred acres is devoted to the growing of alfalfa, and irrigation enhances the fertility of the land. In 1925 Mr. Ketchum sold his partnership interest in the large band of sheep to his son William. The place is well equipped and scientific methods are utilized in its operation. In 1910 Mr. Ketchum moved to The Dalles, purchasing an attractive home, in which he has since resided. Mr. Ketchum's first wife passed away in 1886, leaving a son, William, who was born in New Jersey, and a daughter, Carolyn W., who was educated at Columbia University and is now living in Seattle. He completed his studies in Oregon, graduating from the old Bishop Scott Academy in Portland, and for a number of years was associated with his father in farming and stock raising. The son now owns five thousand acres of land lying along the Deschutes river, in Wasco county, and also a stock ranch of three thousand acres, situated southwest of The Dalles, in the foothills of the mountains. These tracts were owned cojointly by his father and himself, the son purchasing the father's interest in 1925. He harvests large crops of wheat and keeps three thousand head of breeding ewes. Every detail of the work is carefully planned and his ability and enterprise have placed him with the foremost agriculturists and sheep raisers of Oregon. He is married and has two children. His son, William Ketchum, Jr., was born in Wasco county and since his graduation from The Dalles high school has attended the Oregon Agricultural College, specializing in animal husbandry. The daughter, Adeline, was graduated from the local high school and is taking a course in home economics at the State Agricultural College. From babyhood D. P. Ketchum has reared his nephew, Delaney P. Schanno, who was born March 23, 1913, and is in The Dalles high school. In 1896 Mr. Ketchum married Miss Alice Hall, a daughter of John and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dawson) Hall. Mrs. Ketchum's father was a native of New York state and a well known educator, who at the time of her birth was a member of the faculty of the University of Washington at Seattle. Early in 1845 Mrs. Hall's father crossed the plains in a covered wagon and settled near Monmouth, in Polk county, Oregon. There he passed away in 1889 and in 1910 Mrs. Hall was called to her final rest. Mrs. Ketchum attended the Anna Wright Seminary at Tacoma, Washington, specializing in kindergarten work, and after her graduation established a school of that nature at The Dalles, conducting it successfully until her marriage. Mr. Ketchum is an Odd Fellow and is connected with both the York and Scottish Rite bodies of Masons and has crossed the hot sands of the desert with the Nobles of Al Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Portland. He has conformed his life to the beneficent teachings of the order and is known and honored throughout this section of the state. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 780-783 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/wasco/photos/bios/ketchum712gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/wasco/bios/ketchum712gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 6.5 Kb