Isaiah M. "I.M." Ketchem[1, 2, 3]
1817 - 1904 (87 years)-
Name Isaiah M. "I.M." Ketchem Born Feb 25, 1817 Pennsylvania, USA 
Gender Male Census Oct 23, 1850 Jefferson county, Texas, USA [4] Census Jun 09, 1880 Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA [5] Died Apr 07, 1904 Buried Sabine Pass Cemetery, Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA Notes - East Texas Historian W.T. Block wrote:
"Isaiah Ketchum, and two partners had founded the Spartan Mill Company, a steam mill with three circular saws, in 1848."
http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/williamf.htm
TEXAS' FIRST 'BIG' SAWMILL
http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/sawmill.htm
"Major Sidney A. Sweet, a former San Augustine contractor and architect, settled there in 1846, and he soon bought one half of the Sabine townsite. In the same year, he erected a steam sawmill, known as S. A. Sweet and Company, as well as a sash and door factory, and a shipyard.1 Sweet was the first East Texan, who floated log rafts down the Sabine River and then towed them across Sabine Lake to his sawmill site. His first mill was probably equipped with a sash gang of two upright saws.
"In January, 1849, Sweet sold his mill to David Bradbury, Orrin Brown. Ben Granger, and Isaiah Ketchum, who quickly changed the firm's name to Spartan Mill Company. The new owners were all ship carpenters, who apparently wished to guarantee to themselves an adequate supply of cypress ship timbers. The Nacogdoches Times of Jan. 20, 1849, described the overhauling of the Sabine sawmill and the installation of three new saws.2
"In 1850, Spartan Mill Company cut 4,000 saw logs, worth $5,500, into 1,200,.000 feet of lumber, worth $28,000. The mill employed 15 men, paid a total of $637 monthly in wages.3 By 1857, the Spartan Mill Company lay abandoned and rusting, and John Sealy of Galveston, the trustee for the lien holder, sold the sawmill at public auction to David R. Wingate of Newton County for $2,000.
Chapter VI: A History of Jefferson County, Texas
Early Town-Building and Government
By W. T. Block
http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/history%20of%20jefferson%20county/chapter%206.htm
"No records of early government at Sabine Pass survive. According to the Galveston Weekly News, the town?s citizens petitioned the state legislature for an act of incorporation in July 1857. The voters elected Isaiah Ketchum as mayor, Abel Coffin as recorder, T. B: Whiting as treasurer, and John McCall as city .marshal. The board of aldermen, which included Otis McGaffey, John Orr, J. H. Garner, and P. D. Stockholm, requested the legislature to change the town?s name to Augusta to end the missending of mail to Sabinetown."
From Cotton Bales to Black Gold
A History of the Pioneer Wiess Families of Southeastern Texas
By W. T. Block
http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/cotton%5Fbales%5Fblack%5Fgold.htm
Abel Coffins brothers-in-law, Orrin Brown and Isaiah Ketchum, were partners in Spartan Mill Company, Jefferson's county's first steam sawmill, built in 1846. See also Beaumont Enterprise, November 22, 1908; "Who'd Think Sabine Was Timber Center?" Port Arthur News, July 18, 1971, and archives of the Grand Lodge of Texas in Waco."
Person ID I44023 mykindred Last Modified Oct 8, 2007
Family Clara Pauline Coffin, b. May 08, 1825, Ohio, USA , d. 1887 (Age 61 years) Married circa 1846 Notes - -
1850 census, TX, Jefferson cty, (M432-912, p.248)
Oct. 23, 1850, HH 203/203
J.M. KETCHEM, 28, M, Carpenter, $1333 real estate, Penn
Clara C KETCHEM, 25, F, Ohio
Mary T (or F) KETCHEM, 2, F, Penn
Abel C KETCHEM, 9/12, M, Do (ditto)
Benj. GRANGER, 31, M, Carpenter, $1333 real estate, N York
M.B. ATKINSON, 30, M, ditto (carpenter), Georgia
Abel COFFIN sr, 50, M, ship carpenter, Mass
Abel COFFIN Jr, 24, M, ditto (ship carpenter), Penn
Wm BURGETT, 34, M, Painter, Vermont
James BROWN, 27, M, Sailor, Rusia (?)
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1880 census, TX, Jefferson, Sabine Pass, pct 3, p. 2, sd 1, ed 42, (T9-1313, p.204)
June 9, 1880, enumerated by Wm. F. McClanahan, HH 16/16
McCLANAHAN, W.F., W, M, printer, 41, MS, TN, SC
McCLANAHAN, C.K., W, F, 25, wife, TX, PA, OH
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KETCHEM, I.M., W, M, 58, father-in-law, ship carpenter, PA, NJ, TN
WOLKARTE, C.K., W, F, 11, niece, TX, LA, TN
WOLKARTE, Ida, W, F, 10, niece, TX, LA, TN
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Children 1. Mary T. "Kittie" Ketchem, b. 1848, Pennsylvania, USA , d. Bef 1880 (Age < 31 years)2. Abel Coffin Ketchem, b. Aug 07, 1849, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA , d. Apr 09, 1939, San Augustine, San Augustine county, Texas, USA (Age 89 years)3. Henry C. Ketchem, b. Jan 1851, Texas, USA , d. Y4. Catherine Ketchum, b. Sep 27, 1854, Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA , d. Jul 07, 1941, Houston, Harris county, Texas, USA (Age 86 years)Family ID F15767 Group Sheet | Family Chart
- East Texas Historian W.T. Block wrote:
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Sources - [S832] Kaeppel, Chris.
http://www.gencircles.com/users/ckaeppel/1/data/167.html - [S1786] Luettich, Kathy, email to Tom Cloud of Oct. 12, 2006.
- [S574] Block, William.T., http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/williamf.htm.
- [S4251] 1850 US federal census, 1850 census, TX, Jefferson cty, (M432-912, p.248).
- [S135] 1880 US federal census, 1880 census, TX, Jefferson, Sabine Pass, pct 3, p. 2, sd 1, ed 42, (T9-1313, p.204).
- [S832] Kaeppel, Chris.
