SIMEON PHILLIPS.
BY SAMUEL O. LAMB.
Simeon Phillips, son of Simeon Phillips, a highly respected and much esteemed farmer of Ashfield, in the County of Franklin and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was born in that town in the year 1815 on the birthday of Washington. The family resided in Ashfield until young Simeon was about twelve years old when they removed to Conway where he resided under the parental roof until he reached the age of nineteen.
He enjoyed and improved such opportunities of education as were furnished at that time by the educational institutions of Ashfield and Conway. The education thus attained enabled him to discharge in a faithful and honorable manner the duties which devolved upon him as a citizen of the Commonwealth.
At the age of nineteen, he left his home in Conway and went to Terryville, Conn., to learn the trade of clock and watch maker. He spent about four years at Terryville and then returned to Conway and the establishment of the Conway Tool Company. He entered the employment of that corporation as a mechanician and machinist. On the removal of that Company to Greenfield about 1851 he came with it in the same capacities. He soon left the employment of the Company, however, and entered the jewelry store of Noah Moody in the Mansion House Block now and for many years past occupied by Charles P. Forbes. He remained in the store of Mr. Moody for five years, then re-entered the employment of the Greenfield Tool Company and remained there until the failure of the Company. That failure involved the loss of all the accumulations of his previous years of industry and economy.
He then entered the employment of the Warner & Sanderson Mfg. Co., in which he continued so long as health and strength enabled him to labor. He was distinguished for his intelligence, his industry and his devotion to the cause of good morals. He was a careful observer of all the events of the day concerning which he was well informed. He was a studious reader of good books and eschewed novels which he considered as poison.
He took the liveliest interest in all measures calculated to promote the interests of the community, but took no active part in the discussion and management of public affairs.
Aside from his devotion to the details of his profession as a maker and repairer of clocks and watches, he was particularly interested in the observation and study of the habits and customs of honey bees in their wild and domestic states. He possessed a rare faculty for the lining of wild bees and fixing the location of the trees in which they hoarded their treasures. Many a "bee tree" was discovered and their contents taken for the delectation of rural feasts. In his acquaintance with the habits of domestic bees he was probably excelled by no one in Franklin County except perhaps the late Rev. L. L. Langstroth with whom he enjoyed an intimate acquaintance. He had studied Mr. Langstroth's work on the honey bees and devoted his attention to the subject of that work nearly to the close of his life.
Mr. Phillips was in the strict sense of the term, a devout Christian and of the Protestant Episcopal persuasion. He was a constant and punctual attendant of the services of the church. He was for many years and at the time of his death, one of the wardens of the St. James Episcopal church. He was acquainted with the Rev. Dr. Strong, the first rector of said church, and with all his successors in that office. He was a close friend and a warm admirer of the Rev. P. V. Finch, whose society he enjoyed in the highest degree and whose memory he warmly cherished.
Mr. Phillips died on the fifth day of July in the year 1904. He was three times married and left a daughter, Mrs. Wood of Greenfield, of the second wife, and a son, Mr. Raymond Phillips, of the third wife.
Mr. Phillips became a member of this Association February 27, 1872, and was a constant and interested attendant at our meetings. He served in the Council three years and was for three years on the Field Day committee. He lived an industrious, honest and honorable life, died in the faith and left a good name.
Source: History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, 1905-1911, Volume V, Deerfield, Mass., U.S.A., published by the association, 1912; Pg. 9
