Isaac Ketcham, ^^{[1, 2]}

1734 - Yes, date unknown

• Name	Isaac Ketcham
  Suffix	^
  Birth	14 Feb 1734	Huntington, Suffolk, NY   [3]
  Gender	Male
  Possessions	7 May 1792	Fire Place (now Brookhaven), Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY   [4]
  	land on the east side of Beaver Dam Creek
  	Entered in the Town of Brookhaven Records as follows: "Trustees granted and sold to Isaac Ketcham a certain piece of land in the Town ship of Brook Haven, on the South side of Long Island, East side of Beaver Dam River, joining to the North end of Capt. Nathan Rose's Lot that joins sd River, running Northerly ten rods [165 feet] along by sd River from the North end of said lot, and extending so far Easterly as not intrude upon the Highway that is laid out East side of Beaver Dam River, sd peice (sic) of land was granted to said Ketcham for the consideration of 16 shillings in paid, paid for thre use of said Town." As is often the case with old land boundary descriptions, it is not entirely clear exactly what parcel was being described, since the north end of Capt. Nathan Rose's lot is unknown. The main body of the Ketcham farm was on the west side of the highway described, the northerly boundary being modern Chapel Ave., the southern boundary apparently about at the modern memorial triangle intersection of South Country Road with Fire Place Neck Road, and stretching eastward to Little Neck Run. That this parcel might have been west across modern South Country Road (the "highway") from the old farm seems likely, giving the Ketchams direct access to the creek for livestock watering. This parcel therefore would be that which later became the Ellison store (the "Brook Store") and homestead. It is interesting to note that Isaac's son Scudder Ketcham and Nathan's daughter Elizabeth Rose, were married.
  Possessions	5 Aug 1793	Fire Place (now Brookhaven), Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY   [1, 5, 6, 7]
  	property
  	Recorded in the Town of Brookhaven Records as follows: "At this meeting [August 5th, 1793] the sd Trustees did grant and sell to Isaac Ketcham a certain peice (sic) of upland and swamp lieing at the South side of Long Island, lieing on each side of Beaver Dam River, being instimation six acres, the same more or less. It is bounded as followeth, begining at the North side of Capt. Nathan Rose's lot, so takeing all common land on the East side of sd. Beaver Dam River from sd. Rose's lot to the Highway that crosses sd Beaver Dam River at the going over against the house of Seuder Ketcham [probably Scudder] and all common land below said going over that was reserved on the West side of said Beaver Dam River in a Division of land laid out December 10th, 1733, by Biggs and Samuel Smith, from the said uper going over as far Southward as the Division extends, allso the stream of water from the uper going over to the lower going over." The principal effect of this deed seems to have been to grant to Isaac Ketcham the remaining common land, mostly on the west side of the creek, as well as the creek itself, from the upper going over (South Country Road) to the lower going over (Beaver Dam Road). It is unclear whether much remained on the east side (much of that land southward from about the upper going over to Beaver Dam Road likely being owned by Capt. Nathan Rose), except perhaps swamp immediately along the creek. (See also transaction of 7 May 1792.) The Ketchams now appeared to have owned all of Beaver Dam Creek and the immediate shoreline northward from Beaver Dam Road to roughly the northern boundary of their farmstead (now modern Chapel Avenue).
  Death	Yes, date unknown
  Person ID	I5726	Brookhaven & South Haven Hamlets
  Last Modified	11 Aug 2008

  
  

  Father	Phillip Ketcham, >,   b. 7 Mar 1691, Huntington, Suffolk, NY d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Phoebe Smith, >   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	Y  [8]
  Family ID	F2026	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Freelove Carll   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	28 Apr 1760	Huntington, Suffolk, NY   [1, 9]
  	Both were of Huntington, and were married at Huntington, NY. The marriage was recorded in the Records of St. George's Church, Hempstead, NY.
  Children	1. Scudder Ketcham, ^,   b. 15 Mar 1761, Huntington, Suffolk, NY d. 6 Jan 1799, Fire Place (now Brookhaven), Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY (Age 37 years)
  Family ID	F2025	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	16 May 2023

  
  

• Documents

  Ketcham/Nelson farmstead "Middlebrook" ..The original house was probable built about 1793 by Isaac and Scudder Ketcham. Purchased by Alfred Nelson in 1906. This document is Site Datasheet Br06A, and includes both historical and modern pictures.

  
  

• Notes

  [It is not yet proved that the Isaac Ketcham recorded here is the father of Scudder Ketcham, although it seems likely.] He was living in 1770 at Huntington, Suffolk Co, New York. He was arrested on suspicion of being a counterfeiter for the British, also arrested were Henry Dawkins, who had purchased the printing press, and Israel and Isaac Youngs (brothers). Henry Dawkins rented a room from or stayed in the home of Israel and Isaac Youngs, whom Dawkins persuaded to purchase a printing press in order to start a printing business. They purchased a "rolling press," which could be used to print the engravings and curriencies being printed by Congress and the new state governments, and installed it in the house's attic. Isaac Ketcham went to Philadelphia to purchse the type of paper used for currency, where suspicions were aroused by his inquiries. He was arrested soon after in May 1776. He was in exchange for leniency, Isaac Ketcham offered to and did inform on fellow prisoners, primarily Thomas Hickey, who were involved in a Tory plot to kidnap and perhaps kill George Washington. "With no motive higher than the preservation of his own skin, Ketcham betrayed them and then began service as a stool pigeon in the jail, so that the Tory plots were quashed in time. Without these sorry rogues, George Washington would never have been the father of anybody's country A new world power would never have arisen. No starry flag would fly from coast to coast. No one is likely to build a monument to Henry Dawkins or the brothers Young or Isaac Ketcham. Still, unintentionally and from the worst possible motives, they saved America." (Bakeless) This story, in a somewhat different form, appeared in Newsday, Long Island Our History series.

  
  

• Sources

  [S186] Email: Lucia Nelson. [S188] Turncoats, traitors, and heroes., p. 97-98, 973.385. [S77] WorldConnect, http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=djkamakaze& id=I5886. [S214] Brookhaven Town Records, up to 1800, p. 206, http://historical.library.cornell.edu:80/Dienst/UI/1.0/Display/cul.nys/nys619. [S106] Post-Morrow: Historical Collection, Box RG7 Series 4. [S187] Brookhaven Town Records: 1690-1798, p. 253 [113]. [S214] Brookhaven Town Records, up to 1800, p. 213, http://historical.library.cornell.edu:80/Dienst/UI/1.0/Display/cul.nys/nys619. [S77] WorldConnect, http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=djkamakaze& id=I3339. [S156] NYGBS Record, April 1882. p. 95.