Isaac M. Worthington
From Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas, Vol II, pg 1088
Isaac M. Worthington, present county probate judge of Chicot County, and planter of McConnell Township, was born in Washington County, Miss., in 1847, and is the seventh child of the family of eleven born to the union of Isaac and Ann (Taylor) Worthington. The father was a planter of some note in Washington County. Miss., being one of the pioneers of that county. He was a native of Green River County, Ky., and born in 1793. He followed this occupation in Mississippi for a number of years, and was probate judge of the county in which he lived there. His death occurred in 1855. The mother died in 1882 on the old homestead which was settled by Judge Worthington in 1828. Mr. Worthington was a soldier in the Black Hawk War. The family is of English descent, and upon first reaching America settled first in Kentucky, and afterward a portion of the family, including the father of the subject of this sketch, moved to Mississippi. One of the brothers settled in Arkansas in 1844, one remained in Kentucky. The Worthington family have never been office-seekers, but have always been noted for the strict integrity of deed and purpose that characterizes the family as a whole.
Isaac M. was educated at home by a private tutor until old enough to attend college, when he was sent to Canada and finished his education by attending the St. Louis University for two vears, graduating from there in 1867. After coming home he engaged in farming in his native county, and in 1872 came to this State, where for a time he worked with his father-in-law, and was made administrator for the estate of Elisha Worthington. To-day he owns much valuable real estate, and is a highly successful man in every sense of the term. In 1889 he was elected as one of the directors of the Arkansas & Gulf Railway Company, and in 1889 was elected probate judge of Chicot County. He is an ardent Democrat, but was the unanimous choice of both Democrats and Republicans. He was married, in 1870, to Miss May Johnson, daughter of Lycurgus and Lydia (Pain) Johnson, and Mrs. Worthington's grandfather was Joel Johnson, a brother of Richard M. Johnson, Vice-President of the United States, and it is claimed in history that Johnson killed Tecumseh the Indian chief. The Johnson family have always been prominent people of the South, being originally of English aud French origin. To Mr. and Mrs. Worthington have been born nine children, of whom the following are living: Lydia, Annie, Lycurgus, Linnie, Jimmie, Isaac, May, Thomas Dean and Lucy. Judge Worthington was elected one of the members of the levee board in 1882, and still holds this position. Both himself and wife are members of the Christian Church.