Morris Ketchum was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 banker and financier

Financier

Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

 of the 19th century. In 1832 he partnered with Thomas Rogers

Thomas Rogers (locomotive builder)

Thomas Rogers was an American mechanical engineer and founder of Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey...

 and Jasper Grosvenor

Jasper Grosvenor

Jasper Grosvenor was an American financier of the early to mid 19th century. In 1832 he partnered with Thomas Rogers and Morris Ketchum to form the manufacturing firm Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor which became the second most popular steam locomotive manufacturing company in North America in the...

 to form the manufacturing firm of Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor

Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works

Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the world. Most railroads in 19th-century United States...

; this firm eventually grew into Rogers Locomotive Works, the second most popular steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 manufacturing company in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Ketchum was also a director of the Illinois Central Railroad

Illinois Central Railroad

The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...

. During his time on the board, he was able to funnel many of that railroad's locomotive orders to Rogers.

Morris Ketchum, with his son Edward B. Ketchum, led the financial firm of Ketchum, Son and Company in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Edward was later found to have embezzled nearly $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

2.5 million to cover his losses in the 1860s; it was Morris's good reputation that kept the public from suspecting Edward of embezzlement for a time.