PHILLIPS.
Michael Phillips, the immigrant ancestor, settled in Newport, Rhode Island, where he was made freeman in 1668. He died before 1689. He married Barbara _____, who died after 1706 deeded her daughter's husband, Joshua Clarke, 66 acres of land north of Providence. On May 22, 1689, she and her husband deeded land on Pawtucket river to her sons John, James and Richard Phillips. On August 26, 1706. She married (second) Edward Inman, and on August 17, 1686, her husband deeded her daughter's husband, Joshua Clarke, 66 acres of land north of Providence. On May 22, 1689, she and her husband deeded land on Pawtucket river to her sons John, James and Richard Phillips. On August 26, 1706, she declined administration on her second husband's estate. It is not known that there was any relationship between Michael and Samuel Phillips, who died in 1736, at North Kingstown. Thomas Phillips of Newport may have been a son of Michael. Children: John, married Rebecca_____; William, married Christiana Barker; James, married (first) Mary Mowry, (second) Elizabeth Foster; Richard, born 1667, married Sarah Brown; Mowry; Joseph, mentioned below; Alice, married Joshua Clarke.
(II) Joseph Phillips, son of Michael Phillips, lived in Providence, Rhode Island. His name was on the list of taxable persons in August, 1688, and on June 16, 1713, he was taxed six shillings. His will, dated August 21, 1719, was proved October 5, 1719, his wife Elizabeth being executrix. The inventory amounted to £105 5s. To his wife he left all the housing and lands for life, his son Jeremiah to have them after her decease. He died September 3, 1719. He married Elizabeth Malavery, daughter of John and Elizabeth Malavery, and she died after 1719. Children: John; Joseph; David; Daniel; Elizabeth; Phebe; Jeremiah, mentioned below.
(III) Jeremiah Phillips, son of Joseph Phillips, was born about 1700-05. He married at Providence, November 5, 1730. He lived at Glocester. His brother David Phillips appears to have married (second) at Glocester, in 1741, Susanna Burgess, and David Jr. married, September 8, 1751, Martha Mowry. Jeremiah Phillips, doubtless the same man, married at Glocester, October 23, 1753, Dinah Inman and also, April 6, 1755, Rachel Inman. Children by first wife, born at Smithfield: Andrew, June 4, 1731; Lydia, September 17, 1734: Mercy, September 11, 1741; Joshua, October 14, 1744; Adam, November 15, 1746, married January 24, 1771, Mercy Barnes; Ephraim, October 28, 1751, married January 25, 1774, Jemima Jefferson; Jeremy or Jeremiah, mentioned below.
(IV) Jeremy Phillips, son of Jeremiah Phillips, was born about 1748. He was a farmer at Glocester, where he died in 1822, aged seventy to seventy-five years. He was buried on the homestead near various old graves now unmarked. The farm was afterward owned by William Augur. Children: Robert, manufacturer of cotton goods at Burrillville, buried at Douglas, Massachusetts, had six sons: Stephen; David, mentioned below; Bani, cotton manufacturer in partnership with brothers, married (first) _____ Olverson, (second) Olive Comstock of Thompson, Connecticut, he died in 1835 and was buried at Johnson, Rhode Island.
(V) David Phillips, son of Jeremy Phillips, was born at Glocester, November 10, 1769. He resided at North Scituate, Rhode Island, and died there August 9, 1847. He married Amy Smith. Children: Harley, born November 11, 1792; Betsey, March 28, 1795; Ostrander, August 11, 1796, died February 2, 1822; Stephen, March 17, 1798; Sarah Ann, June 2, 1800; Amy, February 18, 1802; David G., mentioned below; Elmira, July 11, 1806; Maria, November 1, 1808; Louisa, October 9, 1810; Albert B., November 3, 1813; Charlotte, October 3, 1816.
(VI) David Gresham Phillips, son of David Phillips, was born at Scituate, July 10, 1804. He was a cotton manufacturer in partnership with his brothers. He married, and his children, born at North Scituate, were: Emeline Rhodes, born August 25, 1827; Abby Fenner, born August 4, 1829, died January 26, 1832; Ostrander, born November 1, 1831, died January 15, 1873; Elizabeth Braman, born January 9, 1834; Abby P., born March 9, 1837; Herbert, born March 12, 1839, was sergeant of Company C., Eleventh Regiment, of Rhode Island, in the civil war; Alice Arnold, born October 4, 1841; Eugene Francis, mentioned' below; and Charles Field, born October 27, 1827, who died in October, 1847.
(VII) Eugene Francis Phillips, son of David Gresham Phillips, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, November 10, 1843. His educational training was obtained in the schools of his native city, and while a student in the Providence high school the civil war broke out, and he promptly offered his services to his country, enlisting in the Tenth Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, before he had finished his high school course, and went to the front with many other students, returning after his term of enlistment to finish the course of studies. After leaving school he engaged in different lines of business, among which was banking until about 1878, when he began to manufacture insulated telegraph wire in a very small way in a shed or barn in the rear of his home on Chestnut street. This was the beginning of an industry which has grown to such proportions as to stand to-day as one of the largest if not the very largest wire manufacturing establishment in the world.
Mr. Phillips, the founder of this extensive business of to-day, advanced in it in accordance with the discoveries and possibilities of electricity, and every opportunity to push forward the enterprise was taken advantage of, so that in a short time the first plant of any size, which was at the corner of Stewart and Conduit streets, was too small to accommodate the rapidly growing business, and in 1890, the greater part of the whole square in the same location was utilized by a new factory, which was built for the purpose of accommodating the needs of the rapidly growing company. The first building was occupied in 1880, and at that time it was considered a large plant, but the business grew so very rapidly, that in 1893, Mr. Phillips purchased the location on the Seekonk river in East Providence, on which at the time stood the mill of the Richmond Paper Company, and in this made repairs and alterations such as were necessary for the manufacture of wire. The immense establishment which was soon in operation there furnished the neighborhood with such an amount of business that the village which soon grew up about the plant was named Phillipsdale in his honor. In 1889, Mr. Phillips also established a plant in Montreal, Canada, and it is also the largest establishment of its kind in the Dominion. This plant is known as the Eugene F. Phillips Electrical Works, Limited, and was established to more easily supply the Canadian trade.
The growth of the American Electrical Works, by which name the extensive plant in East Providence, Rhode Island, is known, from its comparatively small factory when it was begun on Stewart street, to its present position as one of the leading industries of the New England states, has not been a result of chance. Only constant effort, intelligently directed, has brought about the present result. The men at the head of this thriving concern are among the best known in the electrical world. The annual output of this concern in the shape of wire and cables of every description, from that for heavy telephone and street railway use, to the most delicate silk covered testing wire, is so very great that were the amount stated, the listener might become a doubter, and which statement would be out of question were it not for the steady extension of the service of electricity into new fields. The most important departments added to the works when the new plant was established in East Providence, were the rolling and drawing mills, which enable the company to receive the copper in ingots, the crude metal being first rolled into bars, and subsequently drawn to any desired size. Mr. Phillips, the founder of this well known establishment, never aspired to public life, preferring to give his undivided attention to his extensive business interests. He belonged to no organizations with the exception of the Agawam Hunt Club, of Providence.
In many respects Mr. Phillips was not only a successful manufacturer, the founder of a great industry despite great handicaps and difficulties, but a model employer as well, planning wisely and considerately for the welfare and comfort of his help. He constructed comfortable houses for his help and kept the dwellings well painted and in good repair. He gave liberally to charity, and was a citizen of exceptional public spirit. He erected the Grace Memorial Church (Episcopal), in East Providence, in memory of his daughter, who died in childhood. In political faith he was a Republican, and in religious belief attended the Congregational church. Mr. Phillips passed away in Providence, Rhode Island, February 22, 1905.
On October 30, 1867, Mr. Phillips was united in marriage to Josephine J. Nichols, who was born June 5, 1849, daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Baker) Nichols (see Nichols family). To Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were born the following children: Eugene Rowland, mentioned below; Edith Josephine, born December 2, 1873, died unmarried, October 19, 1907; Frank N., born July 6, 1874, who is manager of the American Electrical Works, married Edith R. Peck, daughter of the late Leander R. Peck, and they have two children, namely, Charlotte and Donald Kay; and Grace, born May 18, 1882, died in March, 1888.
(VIII) Eugene Rowland Phillips, son of the late Eugene Francis Phillips, was born at Providence, Rhode Island, January 17, 1871. He attended the public schools in his native city, and after leaving the same learned the wire manufacturing business in his father's factory and at the Washburn & Moen Wire Works at Worcester, Massachusetts. He is president of the Washburn Wire Company, of Providence, which company is connected with the American Electrical Works, of which he is vice-president. He is also a director of the Eugene F. Phillips Electrical Works, Limited, of Montreal. In political faith Mr. Phillips is a Republican, and for five years he served on the town council of East Providence, and was also postmaster of Phillipsdale for a period of six years. He is fond of golf and out-door life, and is a member of the Rhode Island Country Club, the Agawam Hunt Club, the Massasoit Club, of East Providence, and the East Providence Business Men's Association. In social and business life he is popular and inherits the fine qualities of his father.
Source: New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, by William Richard Cutter, A.M., Third Series, Volume IV, published by Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915; Pgs. 2239-2240
