Jasper County.
SIMON PHILLIPS was born in Darke County, Ohio, in 1823, and is a son of Valentine and, Abigail (Crawford) Phillips. Valentine Phillips was a native of Maryland, who emigrated to Ohio at an early day, and there married. In 1825, he removed to Rush County, Ind., where he died in 1842, and Mrs. Phillips in 1845, leaving the following issue : John, Susan and Simon. Valentine Phillips was a soldier of the war of 1812, as were also his two brothers— John and Simon, the latter having been a Captain. Our subject came to this county in 1847, where he married Miss Nancy Irvin, daughter of Alexander and Charity Irvin, to which union succeeded eight children— William, Elza, Abigail, Emily, Nancy, Robert, Agnes and Augustus. Mr. Phillips first located in Hanging Grove Township, then on a farm near Rennselaer, which contained the only stone quarry in the county. He was Captain of the vigilance committee in the early time, and was a terror to horse-thieves and such people; he was made Sheriff in 1856, and in 1882 a keeper of the county house. The grandfather of Mr. Phillips was a Revolutionary soldier, and was wounded by a bayonet thrust from the knee to the groin.
Source: Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana, Historical and Biographical, Illustrated, published by F.A. Battey & Co., Publishers, 1883; Pg. 534
