SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Worthy McKillip, Page 576

WORTHY McKILLIP is one of the oldest living settlers of Sheboygan City, having arrived here in October, 1842.  He is a native of the Empire State, and was born in Salem, Washington County of that State, January 13, 1813.  His father was John McKillip, who was also a native of New York State.  The family is of Scotch-Irish ancestry.  The mother's maiden name was Ada Church.  She was a native of the State of New York, and belonged to an early family of that State.  The father of the subject of this sketch died when his son was about thirteen years of age, leaving the mother with six children, five sons and one daughter.  Of the family, only one member is living besides Mr. McKillip, a brother, John McKillip, who resides in Carbondale, Pa.

    The members of John and Ada (Church) McKillip's family are as follows:  William, the eldest of the family, who died in 1837; Church, the second son, who went South before the was, and returned home after the was over, but again returned South, and is supposed to be dead; Worthy, who is the third in order of birth; Darwin, who died several years ago; Clarissa, who married William Russell, and has been deceased many years; and John, who is the youngest.  The mother died at Carbondale, Pa., about 1861, at the age of seventy-five years.  After the death of her husband, she was again married.  Her second husband was a Mr. Root.  After this marriage she removed to Carbondale, and lived there until her death.

    Worthy McKillip lived in his native place until about twenty years old, when he went to Rochester, N. Y.  In 1840 he removed to Milwaukee from Cleveland, Ohio, where he had lived one year.  In Milwaukee he worked at the harness and saddlery business, which trade he had learned in his native village.  Mr. McKillip came here from Milwaukee, and engaged in the manufacture of lumber.  Soon after coming to the Chair City, he was made Deputy Sheriff of what was then Brown County, of which Sheboygan County was then a part.  In about 1845 he built a large frame building on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh Street.  Previously, Mr. McKillip had served as Register of Deeds, but on the completion of this building he engaged in the mercantile business, which he continued for twenty years.  At the end of that time he removed to a farm, situated about four miles west of Sheboygan, where he lived twenty years.  In 1880 he returned to the city of Sheboygan, which has since been his home.

    In Sheboygan, October 31, 1850, Mr. McKillip was married to Arethusa Jackson, a native of Rochester, N. Y., where she was born June 29, 1831, being a daughter of Joseph and Almira (Kelly) Jackson.  The former was born in New Hampshire, and the latter in the State of New York.  Mrs. McKillip's mother died when she was an infant of six months, and her father when she was a child of about three years of age.  The parents left two children.  The eldest, Elizabeth, married William Woodburry, and died many years ago, leaving five children.

    Mr. McKillip and wife had a family of four children, one son and three daughters, two of whom are living.  Elizabeth, who was born July 8, 1851, is the wife of John Payne, of Menasha, Wis.; and Frank Lansing, who was born June 22, 1859, is a machinist by trade, but is now in the employ of Mr. Lawson as traveling agent.  The deceased are:  Ada Church, who was born April 15, 1854, and died April 26, 1856; and Clara Russel, who was born September 28, 1857, and died January 18, 1858.

    Mrs. McKillip is a member of the Episcopal Church, and both she and her husband are highly esteemed by the pioneers, who have known them for more than a-half century.