Carpenter, trapper, gun lover and choir boy…all of these labels applied to “Old Ketch,” one of Glen Ellyn’s original citizens.
The Village’s early years were populated with a number of people who could be called “characters.” Near the top of this list would be Erastus Ketchum Jr., who, in 1834 at the age of eight, was a member of the first family to settle what would later become Glen Ellyn. His mother was Christiana Churchill Ketchum, one of the four daughters and five sons of Winslow and Mercy Dodge Churchill. Christiana lived to the ripe old age of 97, passing away only six years before her son Erastus. (See “Oldest Twins Dish About Boys and Hoop Skirts,” on page 16.)
Erastus was one of the 13 grandchildren who made the arduous trek from upstate New York to homestead the area along today’s St. Charles Road, east of Main Street, soon to become known as Stacy’s Corners. In 1849, when he was 23, he married his cousin Mary Jane Churchill,a not uncommon practice in the days when the population around Stacy’s Corners was still pretty sparse and choices for spouses could be slim. They lived for more than 50 years in a house that Erastus built at the southeast corner of St. Charles Road and Main. It was held together with handmade nails and had beautiful hand-crafted doors. The house stood at this location until 1970, when it was demolished to make room for a gas station.
Erastus was a farmer and an excellent carpenter, but his greatest exploits were in hunting and trapping wild animals for food and fur. His territory ranged east to the Des Plaines River and beyond. His skills were legendary, even among the remaining groups of Native Americans with whom he became friends. Supposedly, a group of Indians once saved his life.
Erastus made his home his armory, where he kept an extensive array of guns and traps. Historian Ada Douglas Harmon described it as a “veritable arsenal.” He also maintained a cider mill in one of his outbuildings. Farmers would bring wagonloads of apples every fall, which he would crush into cider for them, hard cider being a favorite beverage in that era.
On the other side of the ledger, Erastus was married to the same woman for 50 years and was one of the founders of the Free MethodistChurch in town, a church that actively supported the abolitionist (anti-slavery) movement in the pre-Civil War days. He also sang in the church choir and is said to have had a beautiful tenor voice that soared above the rest of the congregation. Erastus died in his home at Stacy’s Corners in 1905 at the age of 79.
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by Dan Anderson