John W. Phillips.—Prominent among the agriculturists of Kent county is John W. Phillips, who has been a resident of this section practically all his life, his present home being in the Sand Lake community. All his interests from boyhood have been closely associated with this locality and no man hereabouts is better known. He has developed and built up an excellent property, upon which he is carrying on extensive general farming operations, and his success is all the more gratifying to him, in that it has been self-achieved, he having started life with only his own ability and industry to aid him.
Mr. Phillips was born in Worcestershire, England, Aug. 9, 1856. His father, Thomas Phillips, was also a native of England, where he passed his life as a farm laborer and did not live to see his plans materialize. He married Ann Butcher, daughter of William Butcher, of Worcestershire, England, the latter of whom was for a time postmaster of his native town there, and of this union were born three children: Emma, who died at Sand Lake as the wife of Perry Bradford, a mill worker of Cedar Springs; William, who is engaged in farming and still resides in England; and John. John Phillips was but four years of age when he was orphaned by the death of his father, and as he had no relatives in England who were in circumstances which would permit them of taking care of him, he and his sister were tagged by an aunt, placed on a vessel, and shipped to America. Here they found relatives at Sand Lake who reared them and saw to it that they secured a public school education, and when John Phillips left school he at once became a member of the army of world's workers, securing employment in the mills, where his boyhood and youth were spent in unending daily toil. He is still in possession of a picture of one of the mills in which he worked, one of the oldest in this section of the country. It was not Mr. Phillips' intention, however, to grind out his life as a mill-worker, for he had ambitions beyond such a career, and with this end in view he carefully saved what he could of his earnings. When he was ready to make the change he was married and settled down to an agricultural life, in which he has been engaged to the present time. He is now owner of a valuable property which brings him a good income, and he has worked his own way to a position where he commands and receives the esteem and respect that is only given men who have worked and achieved with their own hands and through their own brains. Mr. Phillips married Martha Saece, a daughter of David Seece, a farmer of Nelson township, and of this union have been born eight children, all of whom are living: Thomas, living on the home farm and assisting his father; Charley, also engaged in farming; Mary, wife of Phillip Lawrence, a chemist of Chicago; Minnie, wife of Edward Johnson, of Grand Rapids, Mich., connected with a creamery of that city; Blanche, who is married to Andrew Westegard; Ruth, wife of Carson Cramer, a railroad man at Muskegon, Mich.; John, who was connected with the Grand Rapids Power Company but is now with the 339th Infantry, U. S. Army, Company A.; and Bertha, who was connected with a dye works at Grand Rapids and is now at Norfolk, Va. Mr. Phillips was married for his second wife to Fannie Giddings, of Sand Lake, daughter of Jonas and Anna (Joice) Giddings, of English stock. Mr. Phillips has never aspired to public office, but is a good citizen who realizes and discharges his responsibilities. He is a Mason, belonging to Cedar Springs Lodge No. 213, F. & A. M., for the past thirty-eight years, and in political matters he is a Republican.
Source: Grand Rapids and Kent county, Michigan, Volume II, by Ernest B. Fisher, published by Robert O. Law Co., Chicago, 1918; Pgs. 296-297
NOTE: The surname of Mr. Phillips’ wife, Martha, is transcribed as published - of spellings of SEACE and SEECE.
