[p. 740] cashier of the First National Bank of Ellwood City, was born in Franklin Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1867, and is a son of Francis W. and Margaret C. McKim, and a grandson of William and Margaret (Gilkey) McKim.
The McKim family is of Scotch-Irish extraction. The maternal grandfather of William J. McKim, was an early settler in Beaver County, but subsequently moved from the farm he owned there to Scotland County, Missouri, where both he and wife died.
Francis W. McKim, father of William J., was born in Big Beaver Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1834. He married Margaret Campbell, who was born January 29, 1844, a daughter of James Campbell, and to this marriage were born seven sons and four daughters, all of whom survive except one daughter who died of scarlet fever, when aged seven years. The surviving daughters, Ella, Martha and Mary Angeline, all reside in the old home. Of the sons, William J. is the eldest. Charles Morrow married Elizabeth Box, of Youngstown. Robert Lewis, a resident of Ellwood City, married a Miss Hazen. John Glenn and Wilbert Calvin are both engaged in a furniture business. Frank Campbell occupies his own residence on Fourth Street, Ellwood City.
After his marriage, the late Francis W. McKim purchased the homestead of his father in Big Beaver Township, which he sold in 1864, when he moved to Beaver County and bought the present family estate, 175 acres of valuable land situated in Franklin Township, which his heirs own. In 1903 he moved to Ellwood City, where he died December 14, 1907. His widow resides with her sons at the corner of Park Avenue and Fourth Street, Ellwood City. In politics, Francis W. McKim was a Republican. In his church relations he was a United Presbyterian.
William James McKim was educated in the public schools at North Star, in the Wurtemberg High School and took a four-years' classical course at Geneva College, leaving in 1888, in his junior year, in order to enter into the machinery business, with which he remained identified until he came to Ellwood City, July 15, 1895. Mr. McKim then entered the first National Bank in the capacity of clerk and bookkeeper and has continued with this financial institution, at present being its cashier. He established his home in Ellwood City, July l5, 1905. In addition to his banking he has other interests here, being president of the Ellwood City Lumber Company.
On June 28, 1898, Mr. McKim was married to Miss Carrie Ida Irwin, who is a daughter of Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Hillman) Irwin. Mrs. McKim was reared on her father's farm in North Sewickley Township, Beaver County. She is a highly educated lady and was a member of the first class that graduated at the Slippery Rock State Normal College and subsequently spent a number of years teaching school, during a part of this time in the State of Washington. Mr. and Mrs. McKim have three children: Margaret Jeanetta, born April 19, 1899; Dorothy Beatrice, born July 5, 1901; and William Irwin, born December 17, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. McKim are members of the First Presbyterian Church. In politics, he is a Republican and for six years he has served as school director and was treasurer of the board when the new High School building was erected. His fraternal connections are numerous. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason and is past master of Ellwood City Lodge, F. & A. M., belongs to the Lodge of Perfection at New Castle, and to the Consistory at Pittsburg. He belongs also to Alma Lodge, Knights of Pythias, originally of North Sewickley, of which he was past chancellor, and to the order of Ben Hur, together with several beneficiary organizations.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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