OTTO L. KETCHUM
RANCHER- SOLIS RANCH
Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: EDSON, SOPER,
Another practical rancher of pronounced executive ability is Otto L.
Ketchum. the experienced and very efficient superintendent of J. E.
Smith's Solis Ranch, on the Watsonville Road, about eight miles
northwest of Gilroy. He was born at San Jose on December 17, 1867, the
son of Elvin M. Ketchum, a native of Michigan who migrated to
California in 1850, by way of the Isthmus of Panama —a worthy, sturdy
pioneer who survived the turbulence of the mining period, and reached
San Jose in the early '60s. He married Miss Henrietta Edson, daughter
of Henry B. and Achsah H. (Soper) Edson, both of whom were natives of
Vermont; and they migrated to California by way of the Isthmus, in
1856, located in the Santa Clara Valley, and finally settled at San
Jose. Mr. Ketchum was an expert carpenter, a man capable of
accomplishing a great deal for the young commonwealth into which he had
come; but he died a premature death in the early '70s.
Otto Ketchum was reared and schooled in the Llagas district; and he
also attended the Reed Street school at San Jose. From the time of
leaving school until coming to his present place, he followed ranching
and orcharding. In 1914 he became a foreman for the Solis Ranch of J.
E. Smith, near Gilroy, his long experience in fruit culture, since he
was a boy, commending him to the proprietor of the famous farm tract.
He has eighty acres of very choice land under excellent cultivation,
and now very fruitful. Mr. Ketchum resides upon the Smith place with
his mother, and he is thus able to give the ranch his closest attention.
A Republican in matters of national political import, but a good,
nonpartisan "booster" when it comes to putting his shoulder to the
wheel, Mr. Ketchum is a member of the Gilroy lodge of Odd Fellows, and
also the Masonic lodge at Gilroy. He takes pride in discharging
responsibility in the most conscientious manner, and devotes as much
personal care to Mr. Smith's choice ranch as if it were his own.
Fellow-ranchers feel the value of an inspiration to do, and to do well,
derived from his stimulating example.
From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 1164
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