Gc M.l- 929.2 I P543p 1 1235120 GENEALOGY COLLECTION "^ ll^^'l^Mi,99,yf^.T,y. PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00726 7419 ^0 c\> ^ • ; PHILLIPS GENEALQaiES INCLUDING THE FAMILY OF GEORGE PHILLIPS, First Minister of Watertown, Mass., through most of the traceable branches from 1g30 to the present generation; ALSO THE FAMILIES OF EBRNEZER PHILLIPS, OF SOUTHBORO, MASS., THOMAS PHILLIPS, OF DUXBURY, MASS., THOMAS PHILLIPS, OF MARSHFIELD, MASS., JOHN PHILLIPS, OF EASTON, MASS., JAMES PHILLIPS, OF IPSWICH, MASS. WITH BRIEF GENEALOGIES OF WALTER PHILLIPS, OF DAMARISCOTTA, ME., ANDREW PHILLIPS, OF KITTERY, ME. MICHAEL, RICHAED, JEREMY AND JEREMIAH PHILLIPS, OF RHODE ISLAND; And Fragmentary Records, of early American Families of this name. AUBURN, MASS. COMPILED BY ALBERT M. PHILLIPS . 1885. PRESS OF CHAS. HAMILTON, WORCESTER, MASS. INTRODUCTION. ' A popular historian has said that the study of history ' sets before us striking examples of virtue, enterprise, courage, generosity, patriotism ; and, by a natural principle of emula- tion, incites us to copy such noble examples." We, of the present generation, know but little of the trials, fatigues, hardships, fears and anxieties, which our fathers and mothers of early New England days experienced and willingly endured, that they might establish a government and found a nation, where the privileges of civil and religious liberty, and the benefits of general education, should be the blessed inheritance of their posterity for all time. Having been accustomed to the even temperature and mild winters of the British Isles, the abrupt change of location, with unavoidable exposure to the harsher climate and rigorous win- ters of New England, caused many of the delicate ones among the first settlers to waste rapidly away with consumption or other unlooked-for diseases, while even the most vigorous of the first one or two generations after immigration, being subjected to the unceasing toil and the perils incident to early settle- ments, rarely attained the age of three-score and ten. But they looked beyond the present with the affairs that concerned them- selves only and comprehended the possibilities of the far- distant future, and with laudable self-sacrifice and persistent eftbrts amidst harassing discouragements, made such provision for the well-being of their descendants as their oppoilunities afi:brded. It was evidently a chief desire and great aim with them so to establish in the lives of those committed to their care, principles of piety, morality and virtue, and habits of industry, mental culture and economy, that they in their turn, and each succeeding generation, should, in the words of the IV INTRODUCTION. Psalmist, "make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children." When it seemed certain that they were securing the germs of the blessings they had so fondly sought, they were sorely embarrassed by having their precious liberties curtailed, and were suddenly deprived of the privilege of having rulers of their own election, and obliged to submit to the arbitrary dicta- tion of governors appointed from beyond the sea. Their best men were often demanded as soldiers, and required to take long and perilous marches through the unknown wilds of the forest, and wexe exposed to the dangers of camp and battle- field in distant parts of the land, in order to carry on wars for the crown of England ; and then, as if this were not enough, they were burdened with taxes to defray the expenses of those wars. They were often in terror of midnight attacks, when their homes were liable to be reduced to ashes, and they or their families slaughtered by a foe more wily and treacherous in his nature, more cruel and unrelenting in his hate, than any previously known in history. They were obliged to work early and late with but little diversion, in order to wrest from a stern and unyielding soil, the products necessary for the comfortable maintenance of their several households ; the num- bers of whose members as compared with the size of some of the families of modern civilization, could our hardy ancestors be permitted to see the startling change, might well cause them to blush for their posterity and feel alarm for the future existence of their race. They would have spurned the prac- tices followed by modern voluptuaries in the pursuit of ease and pleasure. Constant bearing of life's heavy burdens, expe- rience of trying hardships and the practice of sturdy virtues, enabled them to build the foundations of a race whose charac- teristics of energy, perseverance and general progress, have excited the admiration of the world. Although occasional per- sonal misdemeanors and a few public acts, which might be cited, show that we must not extravagantly claim for all of INTRODUCTION. V them unexceptionable purity and integrity, or that as a body they always acted wisely and justly ; yet, considering the state of society in England prior to their emigration, and the injus- tice and abuse to which they and their ancestors had in some cases been subjected, we can but be surprised that high moral principles were so generally exemplified in their lives, and that their public decrees toward those whom they regarded as propagators of error were so seldom characterized by vindic- tiveuess. As well do the deeds of piety, patriotism and benevo- lence which they actually performed, as the rigid self-denials which they practised and the crushing hardships which they patiently endured, entitle them to our admiration. In seasons of danger to the body politic they voluntarily and promptly offered their time and services to relieve the community from the threatened perils. And taking a later and less general view, subsequent to the first century of settlement, after per- sistent industry united with manly energy and judicious man- agement had won the smile of Providence in the accumulation of ample fortunes, we see, in several instances, a large propor- tion of those fortunes yielded up and benevolently and piously contributed for the promotion of education, morality and religion. It is a sacred duty that we, especially as their descendants, owe to such nol)le men and women as these, to preserve carefully the memory of their lives, that their posterity to the remotest generation, being incited by the " natural principle of emulation," may be led "to copy such noble examples." "Phillips," a name spelled in a variety of forms, is of ancient and classical origin, being derived from the Greek, Philos-hippos, or horse lover. In Wales and other parts of Great Britain its use as a surname has continued for a long period, evidently for five hundred years, and perhaps much longer. It is said that " Phillipse " is Welsh and that "Philips" is from Worcestershire. It is stated by good authority that the Watertown family of this name were of the " Philips " of Worcestershire. Some are positive that all the VI INTRODUCTION. English families of this name had their origin from Wales and subsequently spread over Great Britain. Several different ways have been employed in spelling, as Phillips, Philips, Phillipse, Philipps and others, some of them so peculiar as hardly to be recognized as having a common origin. Families and individuals of this name began to emigrate from the Old World at a very early date in the history of this country, as early as 1630, and some a little earlier, and locate at different points near the sea-coast, but more especially in New England. From that time to the present they have con- tinued to multiply and spread, by natural causes and by emi- gration, until now they are to be found in every State from Maine to California ; and those in this country who spell their name by the more common form of Phillips, are numbered by thousands. It is now exceedingly difficult to establish the relation which existed between many of these earlier Phillipses or to trace out satisfactorily the several lines of their descendants. Of the family of Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, Mass., there have been at least ten generations. There may be some now of the eleventh, but if so, no notice of them has come to the writer. None of the first five generations are now living. The last one, probably, of the fifth generation died in 1865 at the great age of nearly 105 years. There are five divisions of this family so marked by long continued residence in particular localities that they might well be designated as distinctive branches. These are the Andover Branch, from Rev. Samuel Phillips who located in that town in 1711 ; the Boston Branch, from Hon. John Phillips who went there to live about 1718; the Brookhaven Branch, from Rev. Geo. Phillips who located in Brookhaven, Long Island, 1697 ; the Makblehead and Salem Branch, from Jonathan Phillips who removed from Watertown to Marblehead about 1719 ; the Oxford Branch, from Joseph Phillips who went there from Watertown not far from 1725. It will perhaps be noticed that the Christian name Samuel occurs in nearly every genera- tion of the Andover branch ; while in the Oxford branch there INTRODUCTION. vii is an almost entire absence of either of the names Samuel, Sarah or William. Some members of each of these branches might have been found living in or near the several towns from which the respective branches take their names, at any time during the last one hundred and fifty to two hundred years. Some of the earliest progenitors of the New England families of this name of which the line of descent has not been fully traced appear to have been the following : Nicholas Phillips (Deacon) of Weymouth, 1640, seems to have had a large family, and a large number of the name at the present day are doubtless his descendants.