When Ralph Charles Ketchum was born on 14 November 1892, in Flat Rock, Wayne, Michigan, United States, his father, George J Ketchum, was 41 and his mother, Weltha E. Nichols, was 40. He married Laura L Reedy on 21 January 1916, in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons. He lived in Detroit Ward 12, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States in 1920 and Detroit Ward 18, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States in 1940. He died in September 1968, in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States, at the age of 75, and was buried in Wayne, Michigan, United States.