Conflicting Sources
I recently discovered two Find-A-Grave memorials for David W. Ketchum. The memorials contain conflicting information. Memorial #16296735 lists his date of birth as October 13, 1838, and date of death as April 19, 1893. The memorial has a photo of Ketchum’s tombstone with the birth and death dates inscribed on it. The other memorial, #232308092, gives date of birth as 1843 (year only) and date of death as April 19, 1903. This memorial states that the grave is unmarked. Both memorials reference the same grave plot in Wilmington’s Oakdale Cemetery, section K, Lot 13.
Each memorial contains brief biographical information for David Ketchum. Both biographies are short and incomplete, but they do not contain conflicting information. They just contain different facts about Ketchum.
Using data I had already collected plus fresh information from Family Search and the Georgia Archives, I created a biography for Captain David W. Ketchum, 51st Regiment North Carolia Troops.
David Ketchum’s Biography
David Waters Ketchum was born in New Hanover County in 1838. He was born either on October 13 (tombstone) or October 14 (pension records, from family bible). David was the first-born child of Reverend Jonathan Ketchum and his wife Clementina.
In 1860, David was employed as a clerk. He worked for James M. Clark, a commission and forwarding merchant in Wilmington.
On July 7, 1861, David Ketchum enlisted as a private in Company F, 1st Regiment North Carolina Volunteers. He served with the regiment in Virginia and fought at Big Bethel. Ketchum mustered out of service in November 1861, when the First Volunteers’ enlistments expired, and the unit disbanded.
On March 22, 1862, Ketchum reentered service as a second lieutenant in James Lippitt’s infantry company in Wilmington. Lippitt’s men were later assigned to the 51st North Carolina as Company G. When the regiment organized on April 30, 1862, Ketchum was appointed Assistant Commissary of Subsistence (rank of captain) and transferred to regimental staff.
On September 10, 1862, David Ketchum married Jessie Huggins in New Hanover County. The couple had three children before Jessie tragically died in 1869 at age 26.
In February 1863, Captain Ketchum was dropped from the rolls of the regiment for failing to execute the surety bonds required of an Assistant Commissary. Ketchum must have rectified the issue with the bonds, because he continued generating commissary reports to Richmond. Then the Confederate Army abolished the position of Assistant Commissary in May 1863. However, Ketchum remained with the regiment, submitting reports to the Commissary Department, through November 16, 1863.
Captain Ketchum’s whereabouts after November 1863 are unknown, but his wife later claimed that he served with the regiment until the end of the war and was paroled at Goldsboro in May 1865. Considering the chaos created by Richmond’s dismissal of all regimental commissaries, it is possible that Ketchum continued to serve with the regiment or brigade in an unofficial capacity. [The gap in Ketchum’s service record would become a huge issue for Sarah Ketchum after the war.]
For a short time immediately after the war, Ketchum and his family lived in Whiteville, North Carolina. The family relocated to Whiteville temporarily because of a smallpox outbreak in Wilmington.
In 1870, the recently widowed David Ketchum was living near Mullins, South Carolina and working as a merchant and “window glass” rosin manufacturer. He headed a full household that included his three small children, a nurse, a cook, and the cook’s daughter. David’s mother was also living with him, as well as his two younger brothers. Both brothers were employed by Ketchum as clerks.
The following year, David married Sarah Parker in Fair Bluff. The couple had two children. In 1880, the family resided in Baltimore County, Maryland. There, Ketchum was occupied as a contract merchant of naval stores.
In 1894, the Ketchum’s moved to Cordele, in Dooly County, Georgia. In Cordele, David was employed as a rosin buyer for a soap company. Ketchum invented a bleaching process for rosin and formed the Star Rosin Company. He grew the company into a successful business and served as its president until his death on April 18, 1903. His remains were transported to Wilmington and laid to rest in Oakdale Cemetery.
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