(1) Source: Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas, by Josiah Hazen Shinn, published by Genealogical Publishing Co., 1908;
James Phillips
Pg. 277
……The Daughters of the American Revolution at Van Buren cannot find the grave of James Phillips, a revolutionary soldier, and the founder of Phillips Landing, the original name of Van Buren. The cemetery in which Phillips was buried in 1829 is now in all human probability in the very center of the bustling city of Van Buren. It is enough to know, however, that the revolutionary soldier Phillips died there, and was buried there in the very center of his last forceful endeavor, and a monument made of Crawford County stone, of which there is a superabundance, will not only honor the soldier, James Phillips, in the highest degree, but honor the Daughters of the American Revolution at that city and every citizen who shall contribute his part to the erection of a monument at any point within the corporate limits of Van Buren.
(2) Source: Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, by Daughters of the American Revolution, Volumes XXXVIII , January-June, 1911; Pg. 276;
Queries.
1993
(2) Phillips.—James Phillips, a Rev. soldier, who d. at Van Buren, Ark., July 25, 1831, aged 85, is supposed to have been the father of Thomas and Daniel Phillips, owners of Phillips' Landing. Wanted, official proof of service.—C. B. E.
(3) Source: Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington D.C., April 14-19, 1913
Pg. 730
ARKANSAS.
Preservation of Historic Spots of Arkansas.
Chairman (Mrs. Robert Guy Atkinson).
…..Arkansas has immense boulders which are of equal value with the more artistic and with these we should build our monuments. The "Mary Fuller Percival Chapter" have at last located and marked the grave of James Phillips, a Revolutionary soldier, and founder of Phillips' Landing, the original name of Van Buren.
(4) Source: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock St, Little Rock, AR 72201
Van Buren (Crawford County)
Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood
The area that became Van Buren began as a land claim on the Arkansas River owned in the 1820s by Revolutionary War veteran James Phillips and his two sons, Thomas Phillips and Daniel David Phillips. The site, named Phillips Landing, became a busy port over the next several decades. Early traffic included American traders bound for Santa Fe, New Mexico, who assembled their cargo there. The Phillips family established the future town’s earliest business enterprises: a fuel depot/wood yard for steamers, as well as the first post office, which opened in 1831 with Thomas Phillips as postmaster. The post office was named after the secretary of state (and later president), Martin Van Buren.
