Chapter 10: 1635-1655, From Cambridge to Ipswich and Long Island

Edward Ketcham had married Mary Hall at the Church of Saint Andrew the Great (in the County of Cambridge, in the realm of England) on August 22, 1619. Over the years that followed, his children (Mary, John, Hester and Anna) were all christened in that same church. To be sure, there was a familiarity and sense of continuity about life there that had the effect of lulling one into a comfortable rut.

2 Even so, like many of his countrymen, Edward had heard about the possibility of a new life in England’s colonies in America. “There is nothing for us here,” he told Mary. “But our home is here, and there is so much danger and uncertainty in that place,” she protested.

3 Edward’s restlessness, however, won out in the end. The young family settled at Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. The settlement was less than two years old when they arrived, and there was enough hard work and sacrifice to keep everyone preoccupied for years. There was, however, too much of both for Mary. She was dead within two years.

4 “I cannot stay in this place,” Edward confided to a friend. “Mary and I were going to build a new life for ourselves and our children here,” he continued. “It is no good without her.” “The whole land is before you - your children need a mother and you need a wife,” his friend pointed out.

5 Edward took his friend’s advice. He collected his children and what few belongings he had and moved to Long Island. He had also remarried within the year.

6 Now these are the generations of Edward Ketcham:

7 Edward was the father of John, Sarah, Rebecca and others.

8 John Ketcham married Bethia Richardson, the daughter of John Richardson and Martha Mead. They were the ancestors of Edward Ketcham.

9 Sarah Ketcham married Joseph Whitman, and they were the ancestors of Walt Whitman and Warren Buffett.

10 Rebecca Ketcham married Thomas Taylor, and they were the ancestors of William Tecumseh Sherman.

11 Edward Ketcham begat Peter, Elizabeth and other children.

12 Peter Ketcham was the forefather of Green Berry, Samuel and Thomas.

13 Elizabeth Ketcham married Edmond McAnally, and they had twelve children together.