The

Edgerton

Database

Home

Index

Sources

Search

Researchers

Notes...

Contact info

Photos

Links

Credits…

Hon. Joseph Ketchum Edgerton, son of Bela and Phebe (Ketchum) Edgerton.                                 PHOTO

Hannah Marie Spies, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Chatterton) Spies.

Children:

1. Frances Elizabeth, b. January 27, 1840; New York City, New York Co., NY.
2. Helen, b. October 2, 1842; New York City, New York Co., NY.
3. Edward Coke, b. December 4, 1845; Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN.
4. Clara, b. July 30, 1848; Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN.
5. Joseph Ketchum, b. December 2, 1851; Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN.
6. Clement Wadsworth, b. September 29, 1854; Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN.
7. Grace, b. March 21, 1858; Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN.
8. Josephine, b. February 23, 1861; Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN.

The following biography of Joseph Ketchum Edgerton, and accompanying photo, are provided by Ms. Ann McRoden Mensch, professional historical genealogist at the Allen County Public Library, as excerpted from the publication Valley of the Upper Maumee River, with Historical Account of Allen county and the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana.  The Story of Its Progress From Savagery to Civilization, Vol. II  (Madison, Wis.: Brant & Fuller, 1889; pp. 63-66).  Our thanks are extended to Ms. Mensch for sharing her research into this notable branch of the Edgerton family.  Those researching Allen County families are strongly recommended to Ms. Mensch’s excellent website – Allen County, Indiana –  History <-> Genealogy.

“Joseph K. Edgerton, who has been prominent in the railroad and political history of Indiana, is the third son of Bela and Phebe (Ketchum) Edgerton, and was born at Vergennes, Vt., February 16, 1818.  His maternal grandfather, Joseph Ketchum, was a merchant and ironmaster at Plattsburg, N. Y., and died in New York, in September, 1794.  He is of the fifth generation in direct descent from Richard Edgerton (or Egerton, as the name is spelled in England), one of the band of English Puritans, who, under the leadership of Maj. John Mason, the hero of the Pequod war, removed from Saybrook to Mohican (afterward Norwich, Conn.), and on the 6th of June, 1659, purchased from Uncas  and other sachems of the Mohican Indians, a tract of land nine miles square, embracing the site of the city of Norwich, Conn.  Another of the English settlers and proprietors was William Hyde, one of whose female descendants, in 1744, married Elisha Edgerton, grandson of Richard.  The late Chancellor Walworth, of New York, who was a descendant of this William Hyde, devoted the leisure of the later years of his life to the compilation of a genealogy of the Hyde family.  In a letter addressed to the subject of this sketch, he wrote:  “I suppose you have seen my Hyde genealogy.  I find, by the congressional dictionary you sent me, that fifty-two senators or members of the house of representatives, were either descendants of our ancestor, William Hyde, of Norwich, or married wives who were descendants.”  Col. Elisha Edgerton represented the town of Franklin in the legislature of Connecticut in 1803, and was a member of the constitutional convention of that state in 1818.  His son, Bela Edgerton, born September 28, 1787, was graduated at Middlebury college, Vermont, in 1809; was a lawyer and magistrate in Clinton county, N. Y., and in 1827, ‘28 and ‘29, represented that county in the legislature. In 1839, Bela Edgerton removed to Hicksville, Ohio, where for many years he was engaged in farming.  In the later years of his life, he resided at Fort Wayne, Ind., in the family of his oldest son, Alfred P. Edgerton, and died September 10, 1874.  He was a man of ability and fine social qualities.  Joseph K. Edgerton was educated in the common schools of Clinton county, and at the Plattsburg academy, until his sixteenth year, when he became a law student in the office of William Swetland, of Plattsburg — “The great lawyer of northern New York,” as he was called by his contemporaries.  In 1835, Mr. Edgerton sought employment in the city of New York, and became a student in the law office of Dudley Selden and James Mowatt.  He was admitted to the bar of New York in 1839, and until 1844 practiced law in that city, associated with George B. Kissam, under the firm name of Edgerton & Kissam.  He was married in 1839 to Hannah Maria, youngest daughter of William and Elizabeth (Chatterton) Spies, of New York.  In 1843 Mr. Edgerton visited the west in the interests of a New York client, and being favorably impressed with the country, he removed to Fort Wayne and established an office here in 1844, occupying the office of ex-Governor Samuel Bigger, with whom he formed a partnership in the following year, which was terminated by the death of his partner in 1846.  Mr. Edgerton soon established a profitable business as a land and collection agent, and from July, 1850, to July, 1851, was associated in practice with Charles Case.  He was one of the first to interest himself in the progress of the Ohio & Indiana and Fort Wayne & Chicago railroads, and on his own account and on behalf of clients made large land subscriptions, including large tracts in LaGrange county, owned by the New York house of Grinnell, Minturn & Co.  Mr. Edgerton was made a director of the Fort Wayne & Chicago road in 1854, and in November, 1855, succeeded Mr. Hanna as president.  He was elected director of the Ohio & Indiana road in January, 1856.  During the critical period of the existence of these companies, Mr. Edgerton was prominent in their affairs, proposed the consolidation which was effected and the formation of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad company, and negotiated the preliminary contract for that purpose and the final articles.  He was the first vice president of the new company, until his appointment as receiver in December, 1859.  From 1857 he had also been financial and transfer agent of the company with his office in New York, and from February until December, 1859, was the legal adviser of the company with office at Fort Wayne.  Owing to the opposition of the Pennsylvania company, which aimed to acquire the new road, he resigned the receivership, and in March, 1860, he was defeated as a candidate for director, though supported by 37,000 shares.  His defeat in this connection was the end of the final struggle of the builders of the road to preserve its independence.  The reorganization and sale that followed, at great expense, put the road forever out of the hands of those who had struggled for its success in the early days.  In July, 1866, upon the solicitation of the Michigan directors, Mr. Edgerton became president of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad company, on the death of Samuel Hanna, and again had an arduous struggle to encounter for the establishment of a great thoroughfare.  In August, 1871, after five years’ service, Mr. Edgerton left the company on the removal of its offices to Grand Rapids, being succeeded by William A. Howard of Michigan.  In the mean time, the land grant had been fully protected by the construction and putting in operation, under a contract with the Continental Improvement company, of 200 miles of the road, from Fort Wayne to Paris, Mich.  In the leisure following the cessation of his railroad duties, Mr. Edgerton, in the fall of 1871, crossed the continent to San Francisco.

Mr. Edgerton’s political career has also been a notable one.  Prior to 1860, though until then never active in politics, he had been a whig, and voted with the party up to 1853.  In 1852, after the taking effect of the new constitution making judges elective, he was an independent candidate for judge of the court of common pleas for the district of Allen and Adams counties.  Judge James W. Borden was the democratic nominee and was elected, the district being strongly democratic.  In October, 1860, Mr. Edgerton made his first political speech in Indiana in favor of Stephen A. Douglas for president.  The address was printed, and with other publications from his pen, gave Mr. Edgerton prominence as an advocate of the democratic doctrine of popular sovereignty, represented by Mr. Douglas.  In August, 1862, Mr. Edgerton received the democratic nomination for congress in the then tenth district of Indiana, against William Mitchell, of Kendallville, the republican nominee, who had been elected in 1860, by nearly 3,000 majority, and Mr. Edgerton was elected by 436 majority.  In the summer of 1863, Mr. Edgerton visited Europe, but just before his departure published a letter in the Indianapolis Sentinel, concerning the right to free discussion, which was widely commented upon.  It was called out by the military order No. 9, of Gen. Milo S. Hascall, commanding the district of Indiana, following military order No. 38, of Gen. Burnside.  In the XXXVIIIth congress, Mr. Edgerton was a member of the committee on naval affairs, but for over two months of the first session was kept from his seat by sickness from small-pox.  During his term in congress, he spoke in opposition to the republican measures of confiscation, the constitutional amendment as to slavery, and on reconstruction, taking conservative democratic ground.  He was re-nominated for congress in 1864, against Joseph H. Defrees, of Goshen, but was defeated by 580 majority.  Pending the canvass of 1864, and the enforcement of the draft of that year, the state was greatly excited, and Mr. Edgerton was invited to attend a meeting at Indianapolis, on the 12th August, of the democratic state central committee.  He was requested to prepare a brief address, in the name of the committee, and his draft, with some modifications, was adopted, and the address published, which was made an occasion by Gov. Morton, for a proclamation “To the people of Indiana.”  Since engaging in railroad service in 1855, Mr. Edgerton has never fully resumed the practice of his profession, although he has continued to be an active business man.  He is among the largest owners of land in Allen county, but these for a long period proved more of a burden than a profit.  In 1866, he established the Woodburn lumber and stave mills, on his property in the eastern part of Allen county, but the mills were burned in 1867, involving a large loss.  In 1871, he aided in establishing the Fort Wayne steel plow works, and in 1875, became sole owner, and so continues.  This house manufactures the Fargo harrow, the Pioneer plow and Osborn fanning mill, and is an extensive establishment.  In 1878, on its organization, he was made president of the board of trustees of the Fort Wayne medical college, and is the author of the law of Indiana, of 1879, to provide means for obtaining subjects for scientific dissection.  For many years, Mr. Edgerton has been a member of the Vestry of Trinity Episcopal church.”

The household of Joseph K. Edgerton was recorded in the 1880 Federal Census of Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana (pg. 651; dwelling #85; family #94; enum. June 26, 1880), as follows:

The household also included two servants, Bridget Whalen and Bertha Todd.  At the time of this census, the family was residing at 87 Wayne Street.

The household of Mrs. Hannah M. Edgerton was recorded in the 1900 Federal Census of Fort Wayne (Ward 4), Allen County, Indiana (pg. 13; dwelling #271; family #276; enum. June 13, 1900), as follows:

According to the above census record, Hannah was the mother of eight children, seven of whom were still living.  Her occupation was listed as “landlord”.

The congressional biography of Joseph Ketchum Edgerton is as follows:

“EDGERTON, Joseph Ketchum, (brother of Alfred Peck Edgerton), a Representative from Indiana; born in Vergennes, Addison County, Vt., February 16, 1818; attended the public schools of Clinton County, N.Y.; studied law in Plattsburg (N.Y.) Academy; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in New York City in 1839; moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1844 and continued the practice of law; director of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Co. in 1854 and later its president; president of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Co. in 1855; director of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad Co. in 1856; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress; died in Boston, Mass., August 25, 1893; interment in Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, Ind.”