Individual Details
Solomon C. Ketchum
(22 Feb 1861 - 5 May 1943)
Jane Wilson.
KETCHUM, Solomon "Sol" C. - In an interview on 9 June 1937, at Vinita, Oklahoma, in an interview by Field Worker, J. R. Carselowy, found in the Indian Pioneer Papers, Sol Ketchum said:
My name is Sol. C. Ketchum. I was born February 22, 1861, in Wyandotte County, Kansas. I now live at Vinita, Oklahoma.
When my father sold our homestead in Kansas and came to the Indian Territory I was just 22 years old, and decided I would sow a few wild oats before settling down in a new country. We got $50 an acre for our land in Wyandotte County, Kansas, and I took my part and went to Kansas City where I trained for a prize fighter. I got good enough that a promoter took me up, and after a little more training he became my manager and we began matching fights.
My manager's name was Billie Morris of Kansas City and he matched me first with John P. Clow of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Our managers got into a squabble and this fight was called off/ My next match was with Paddy Dunn, champion heavyweight of Kansas. He weighed in at about 185 pounds and I weighed in at 156, which put me in the middle weight class. The fight was staged at Vinita and I won in the eighth round and was declared the heavyweight champion of Kansas. My next match was with Billie McCarty of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. This fight was staged at the old fair grounds in Vinita, and I won it in 15 rounds. My next fight was with Ed Burk champion middleweight of Arkansas. While in training for this fight, Burk married a rich woman at Fort Smith where the fight was to be staged and she induced him to call off the fight, and retire from the ring. My manager then matched me with Billie _____, the champion prize fighter of Old Mexico. We fought this battle at Choctaw Park, Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was the hardest fight I ever had in my life. That man nearly broke my neck before I got my Indian up enough to hold my own against him. He was a real fighter, and he had set in to K. O. me in the first few rounds. I soon had both his eyes bunged up so that he couldn't see very well, and in the sixth round I broke his nose and mashed his mouth so badly that he was a mess of blood at the end of the round, I knocked him out in the seventh round. A reporter for the St. Louis Republic was present and had me issue a challenge, through his paper, to any Indian in America, and when none appeared I was declared the champion Indian fighter in the world, and retired.
Cookie Brown, a Cherokee fighter from Pueblo, Colorado, and I decided to put on an exhibition fight at Muscogee, but as both of us were Indians we had to get the permission of Leo E. Bennett, then Indian Agent at the Five Civilized Tribes. Bennett told us that we could fight all right, but if either one of us got to hitting too hard, he was going to shoot us. We fought a few rounds and soon forgot all about Bennett's caution and were soon pecking away like a river welder, when old Leo raised up from a ring side seat, drew a big old .45 from his holster, and I thought sure he was going to make his word good, but it was only a gentle reminder.
Comments by a field worker: When I called on this man, Sol C. Ketchum, now 76 years old, I found him plowing corn on the old homestead where his father settled in 1881. He is the old child left living out of five. He had two grown boys living with him. One was out hoeing out in the orchard and the other was sitting around the house. I asked his wife if this grown boy sitting in the house couldn't go and plow for him, and let him give me his story. She said that they couldn't plow to please him, and that he never let them plow corn for him.; but he did, long enough to give me this story. Sol Ketchum had been a powerful man, physically, all his life, and in a way he has kept up his athletics. I had a young man, who was very strong, and looked to be much of a man, tell me a short time ago that he would just as soon a mule kick him as to have Sol Ketchum hit him one good lick. Sol's address at the time of the interview in 1937 was RFD 3, Vinita, Oklahoma.
KETCHUM, Solomon "Sol" C. - In an interview on 9 June 1937, at Vinita, Oklahoma, in an interview by Field Worker, J. R. Carselowy, found in the Indian Pioneer Papers, Sol Ketchum said:
My name is Sol. C. Ketchum. I was born February 22, 1861, in Wyandotte County, Kansas. I now live at Vinita, Oklahoma.
When my father sold our homestead in Kansas and came to the Indian Territory I was just 22 years old, and decided I would sow a few wild oats before settling down in a new country. We got $50 an acre for our land in Wyandotte County, Kansas, and I took my part and went to Kansas City where I trained for a prize fighter. I got good enough that a promoter took me up, and after a little more training he became my manager and we began matching fights.
My manager's name was Billie Morris of Kansas City and he matched me first with John P. Clow of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Our managers got into a squabble and this fight was called off/ My next match was with Paddy Dunn, champion heavyweight of Kansas. He weighed in at about 185 pounds and I weighed in at 156, which put me in the middle weight class. The fight was staged at Vinita and I won in the eighth round and was declared the heavyweight champion of Kansas. My next match was with Billie McCarty of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. This fight was staged at the old fair grounds in Vinita, and I won it in 15 rounds. My next fight was with Ed Burk champion middleweight of Arkansas. While in training for this fight, Burk married a rich woman at Fort Smith where the fight was to be staged and she induced him to call off the fight, and retire from the ring. My manager then matched me with Billie _____, the champion prize fighter of Old Mexico. We fought this battle at Choctaw Park, Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was the hardest fight I ever had in my life. That man nearly broke my neck before I got my Indian up enough to hold my own against him. He was a real fighter, and he had set in to K. O. me in the first few rounds. I soon had both his eyes bunged up so that he couldn't see very well, and in the sixth round I broke his nose and mashed his mouth so badly that he was a mess of blood at the end of the round, I knocked him out in the seventh round. A reporter for the St. Louis Republic was present and had me issue a challenge, through his paper, to any Indian in America, and when none appeared I was declared the champion Indian fighter in the world, and retired.
Cookie Brown, a Cherokee fighter from Pueblo, Colorado, and I decided to put on an exhibition fight at Muscogee, but as both of us were Indians we had to get the permission of Leo E. Bennett, then Indian Agent at the Five Civilized Tribes. Bennett told us that we could fight all right, but if either one of us got to hitting too hard, he was going to shoot us. We fought a few rounds and soon forgot all about Bennett's caution and were soon pecking away like a river welder, when old Leo raised up from a ring side seat, drew a big old .45 from his holster, and I thought sure he was going to make his word good, but it was only a gentle reminder.
Comments by a field worker: When I called on this man, Sol C. Ketchum, now 76 years old, I found him plowing corn on the old homestead where his father settled in 1881. He is the old child left living out of five. He had two grown boys living with him. One was out hoeing out in the orchard and the other was sitting around the house. I asked his wife if this grown boy sitting in the house couldn't go and plow for him, and let him give me his story. She said that they couldn't plow to please him, and that he never let them plow corn for him.; but he did, long enough to give me this story. Sol Ketchum had been a powerful man, physically, all his life, and in a way he has kept up his athletics. I had a young man, who was very strong, and looked to be much of a man, tell me a short time ago that he would just as soon a mule kick him as to have Sol Ketchum hit him one good lick. Sol's address at the time of the interview in 1937 was RFD 3, Vinita, Oklahoma.
Events
| Birth | 22 Feb 1861 | Kansas City, Wyandott, Kansas, United States | |||
| 1862 Allotment | 1862 | 163. Solomon Ketchum, age 2, W/2 SE/4, 32-10-24, 80 acres - Wyandotte County Kansas |  |  | |
| Death | 5 May 1943 | Shamrock, Wheeler, Texas, United States | |||
| Burial | Ketchum Private Cemetary, Ketchum, Craig, Oklahoma, United States | ||||
| FIND-A-GRAVE | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31679952/solomon-charles-ketchum | ||||
| Wikitree | https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ketchum-401 |
Families
| Father | Lewis Ketchum (1808 - 1904) |
| Mother | Elizabeth Zeigler (1834 - 1913) |
| Sibling | Jane Ketchum (1844 - 1881) |
| Sibling | Mary Louise Ketchum (1847 - 1928) |
| Sibling | Barbara E. Ketchum (1852 - 1894) |
| Sibling | Simon W. Ketchum (1855 - 1894) |
| Sibling | Lucinda M. Ketchum (1859 - 1877) |
| Sibling | Harriet Ann "Hatty" Ketchum (1868 - 1869) |
Notes
1862 Allotment
On the allotment, she is number 163. Solomon Ketchum, age 2, W/2 SE/4, 32-10-24, 80 acresEndnotes
1. Chief James Swiftwater Haun (added by Kirt Fetterling), Chief James Swiftwater Haun, 1862 Allotment (http://www.lenapedelawarehistory.net/mirror/allotment_maps.htm : accessed ), .