Anderson-Vriese Family Ties

MY PHILIPSON FAMILY LINE

updated by Staci Anderson, January 2007

SELIG M PHILIPSON

According to Selig Philipson's naturalization record, he was born in Brunswick, Prussia (Braunschweig, Germany) in 1826. Census records approximate his birthdate to around 1820, but on record it is 1826. This declaration of intention is dated 3 April 1869. It also states that he came to the US via NY in October of 1856. It seems that Selig did not have a very good beginning in the United States: A Selig philipson is listed in the 1860 Orange County, New York Census in the county jail serving for “grand larceny”! He was already over 30 years old at this time, and would live long enough to serve in the Civil War, get married and raise several children. Selig Philipson enlisted in the Civil War in 1962. It is unknown how long he was in the jail and if he was released and then volunteered in the Army, or if he “volunteered” in order to get out of jail!

Civil War:

According to the War Department statement in his pension file, Selig enlisted on September 1st, 1862 with Company B, 29th regiment of the New Jersey Infantry Volunteers. He was honorably discharged in New Jersey on June 30th, 1863. Selig then reenlisted on July 2nd, 1863 with Company E, 4th New York Calvary for 3 years. He was later transferred to Company F of the same regiment, and then again transferred to Company E of the 9th New York Calvary and was discharged from service on July 17th, 1865. According to the medical affidavits, on a march from Fredericksburg, he "was sunstruck and was taken in an ambulance a short distance on the way from Fredericksburg to Washington- but being unable to stand the constant jarring and jolting of the ambulance he got out of the ambulance and walked the rest of the way to Washington." It further states that when he was a private in Co E 9th NY Calvary, he received a gunshot wound on his index finger and was also injured when his horse "stepped on the great toe of his right foot." (It all sounds rather comical to read 100 years later, but it probably wasn't so funny at the time....)

(I believe this is Selig Philipson during the Civil War. This is the only photograph I have of him, and I have none of his wife, Anna. If you have photos of these individuals I would love to have a copy!)

He married Annie Faus (also born in Germany) on 2 November, 1865 in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. According to the 1880 Census: Selig is listed as “Math” (middle name or Americanized “Matthew?”), age 60, living in St.Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota in District 6. He is listed with his wife Anna and 7 children: Anna, Amelia, Louisa, Matilda, Ellen and Mary(twins). (Anna had another son, George Heard, from another previous marriage on this census.) Selig was listed as a “laborer”, just as he was in the 1860 NY Census. His pension files show that he also had another son named Henry and another daughter named Ida for a total of 9 children. Also, the 1890 veterans census schedule stated that they lived at 4 Commercial Street in St. Paul. According to a letter by their granddaughter, Selig and Anna had a small grocery store in St. Paul. The letter also says “St. Paul was just a small village, it was called Pig Eye’s Island at first, but they lived on the mainland. They had Indians for friends. Once had Sunday dinner at the Indians home and Grandmother (Annie) kep asking what kind of meat it was as she liked it so well. It wasn’t until they finished the meal that the Indian woman told her it was “puppy dog”. Selig died March 28th, 1901 in St Paul, Minnesota at the age of 82 years and is buried at the Elmhurst Cemetery.

MATILDA FREDRICKA PHILIPSON

(Photo of Matilda Fredricka Philipson and her husban Robert James Cox- perhaps taken on wedding day in 1895?)

At the moment, not a lot is known about Matilda Philipson. She was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on April 17th, 1874 according to her father’s pension file. Family records show however that she was born on June 13th, 1873. She married an Englishman, Robert James Cox, in St. Paul on 12 June, 1895. The names of their children were Howard Selig, Robert Joseph, Madeline Ellen, Lillian Idabel (Isabel?), Hazel Beatrice and George Albert. According to her daughter, Lillian, she worked in a shoe factory when she was very young and made wonderful lemon pies. She died in Downersgrove, Illinois on 23 January, 1929.