Phillips in Tennessee

Hi, Carol,

I am not familiar with your Phillips family, but I tried to do a little research for you on the internet. I found a family file that indicated the father of Elizabeth Perlina Traywick was Robert Traywick. Then I found the following message posted by someone named Deb Kennedy on the Traywick board at rootsweb: My ggg grandfather was Rev. Robert C. Traywick born approximately 1804 and married to Mary Lena Phillips. Robert and Mary were born in North Carolina (not sure where) and were living in Smith County District #6 in Tennessee (according to 1880 census). Any information you can share would be wonderful!

So I looked at the 1850 census and I found Robert Traywick living pretty closely to Walker and Elizabeth Phillips. I also found a man named James Phillips who was the right age to be the father of Walker. Here is the info from the census:

1850 N OF CUMBERLAND AND E OF CANEY FORK RIVERS, SMITH CO, NC

Family number 387
Robt Traywick 46 bc 1804 NC
Mary Traywick 39 bc 1811 NC
Chas M Traywick 17 bc 1833 TN
Benj A Traywick 13 bc 1837 TN
Sarah A Traywick 10 bc 1840 TN
Kizzy R Traywick 7 bc 1843 TN
Jane L Traywick 5 bc 1845 TN
Robt Traywick 2 bc 1848 TN
Matilda Traywick 16 bc 1834 TN

Family number 355
Walker Philips 23 bc 1827 NC
Elizabeth T Philips 19 bc 1831 NC
Mary F Philips 2 bc 1848 TN
Eliza J Philips 0 bc 1850 TN

Family number 784
James Philips 62 bc 1788 NC
Christy Philips 47 bc 1803 VA
Mila Philips 25 bc 1825 TN
Emily Philips 23 bc 1827 TN
Tabitha Philips 22 bc 1828 TN
John Philips 20 bc 1830 TN

I also checked the 1840 census and I found James Phillips on that census with a male aged 10-15 in his household who might have been Walker.

Next I tried looking for a family file for Robert and Mary Traywick and discovered one on Ancestry.com that indicates his father was Berryman Traywick of Wake County, NC. My guess is your Phillips family also came from the Wake County area, because families tended to stick together in clans back in those days. Also, my guess is Robert's wife Mary Lena Phillips is somehow related to your Walker Phillips.

Hope this gives you some leads to pursue. If you have any male Phillips relatives who would agree to get DNA tested, it might help tremendously.

Sincerely,
Nancy Kiser
Volunteer administrator
Phillips DNA Project

Don't worry about asking "rookie" questions, Carol - we have all been there! Yes, the female in the line prohibits your brother. The yDNA is passed down from father to son and it is in fact what determines the sex of the child. Daughters do not receive a y chromosome from their fathers. So the person to be tested must be a male relative with the last name Phillips.

Nancy