Col. Oliver P. Phillips, one of the pioneers of Sullivan County, is a native of Kentucky, in which State he was born in 1816, and a son of George M. and Margaret (Johnson) Phillips, natives of Virginia, and born in 1764 and 1766, respectively. They were married in 1794, and in 1800 sought a new home, locating in Mercer County, Ky., where they spent the remainder of their lives. Both were members of the Baptist Church, and they died in July, 1838 and April, 1837, respectively. Mr. Phillips was a son of Jeremiah Phillips, a native of England. Both he and his son, George M., served in the war for independence, where the former received a wound in the knee during the battle of the Brandywine, from the effects of which he died many years after. George M. was present at the surrender at Yorktown. Our subject received a common-school education, and remained at home until the age of twenty, then came to Howard County, Mo., and the year following went to Linn County. In 1838 he was married, in Howard County, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Daniel and Penelope Lay, formerly of Kentucky, but who removed to Missouri in 1816. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips had twelve children, only two of whom are living: Margaret, wife of David Waterfield, of Barton County, and John P. Mrs. Phillips died in 1854, and the following year our subject married Miss Maria C., daughter of Marshall B. and Martha Witter. To this union eight children were born, half of that number being alive at present: Eliza, wife of G.W. Meadows, of Kansas; Maria Louisa, wife of Wilbur McDonald; Hattie, wife of Edward Jones, and Cora. Mr. Phillips’ first visit to what is now Sullivan County was in 1837, when there was but one settlement within its limits. He is, perhaps, the only man now living who was in the county at that early date. The first and only screech of a wild panther which he ever heard was at the present site of Milan. In 1838 he was one of a body of troops, organized in what is now Linn County, to proceed against the Indians, whom they drove to the northern part of the county. Mr. Phillips remained a citizen of Linn County until 1852, when he removed to Milan, where he was engaged in the grocery business until 1853, when he was made deputy sheriff, which position he occupied until 1856. At the same time he was town commissioner and jailer. In 1860 he was elected sheriff of Sullivan County, and two years later was re-elected to the same office, thus serving two terms. In January, 1862, he joined the Union army as captain of Company C, First Missouri State Militia Cavalry, and operated throughout northern Missouri until August, 1862, when he resigned on account of disability. After his return he was commissioned as colonel to raise a regiment for home protection, and remained at the head of this regiment until the close of hostilities. Since that time he has principally been engaged in farming, having located in Penn Township in 1864, and for about five years has been a resident of Greencastle, where he is living a retired life. He was reared a Whig, and cast his first presidential vote for Gen. Harrison, but since the war has joined the Democratic ranks. Formerly he was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and the I.O.O.F., and a member of the G.A.R. Mrs. Phillips is a Methodist and he is a Universalist.
Source: History of Adair, Sullivan, Putnam and Schuyler Counties, Missouri, Volume II, published by The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1888; Pgs. 876-877
