Families catch up in small town
Web posted March 31, 1999


By Johanna Wilson
Associated Press

KETCHUP TOWN, S.C. -- They know their history, and they know it well.

The people of Ketchup Town, better known for its name than anything else, are experts when talk is of their roots.

Ruth Marie Small Ham, who died last year at 81, was a great history teacher. Her talks of the community's past are still fresh in even the oldest of memories.

The past is what causes families to live generation after generation in this peaceful place.

Ketchup Town, however, wasn't always ``ketchup'' -- it was ``catch up.''

During the 1920s, farmers flocked to this nook 10 miles north of Aynor in Horry County to catch up on the news.

Residents and visitors to this area couldn't afford newspapers; finding out what was going on in the world was extremely difficult.

Catch Up Town, as it was spelled then, became even more of a news center when Ms. Ham's father, Herbert ``Hub'' Small, built a community store in 1927.

Farmers near and far came to the country store to get the news and purchase goods on credit. They paid their debt to Ms. Ham's father in the fall when they sold their crops.


Because the store stayed busy constantly, Ms. Ham, along with her two sisters and brother, would help their mother, Blanche Stroud Small, in the store.

Still, there were a few idle moments, and Ms. Ham passed the time by writing the letter K. She would print them over and over again until her help was needed.

So Catch Up Town became Ketchup Town because Ms. Ham adored the letter K.

Frances Strickland, 64, said if there was any history to learn, Ms. Ham was the go-to person.

``She knew everything and everybody,'' Ms. Strickland said.

One of Ms. Ham's grandsons, Andrew Ham, 20, who has worked on the Strickland farm since he was 10, recalled his grandmother's breadth of knowledge.

``She kept up with everybody but herself,'' he said.

Ketchup Town is a haven filled with white-collar workers and blue-collar workers pursuing various occupations. Everybody knows everybody in this population of about 75.

No stores are here. Mullins is 10 miles away and is the preferred place to go grocery shopping.

Mary Ann Gerald, 57, has been deemed the resident historian. She says Ketchup Town is a small corner of the world where people look after one another, feel safe and work extremely hard.

Through the years, Ms. Gerald said, the population of Ketchup Town has been mostly stagnant.

``Our younger people don't stay around; not too many of them come back to the farm,'' Ms. Gerald said. ``That's why we don't grow any.''