FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS PHILIPS, second son of Andrew and a grandson of Nimrod, the noted early ferryman, was born at
the ferry August 21, 1831, less than three months after his grandfather's death. He was educated mostly in the
pioneer schools at Griggsville and in the earlier part of his life assisted his father in running the Philips Ferry.
He was engaged at the ferry when the Mormons crossed there in one of their great early-day migrations.
On January 13, 1856 Flavius Philips married Miss Elizabeth Ann Jester, a sister of Sarah Jane Jester who had married
his brother, James Monroe Philips. Elizabeth was born July 27, 1838, a daughter of Nathan Jester and Elizabeth
Hurd. The parents are both buried at Bethel, in Newburg; he died December 19, 1870, in his 75th year, while she
survived until February 12, 1877, dying 18 days after her 69th birthday.
Flavius Josephus Philips and Elizabeth Jester had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. The eight who lived
included James Richerson, John Cartwright, Ella Elizabeth, George L., Salina Ann, Howard Miller, Mary Alice and
Rhea Monroe Phillips. (Note: Although the elder Philipses always spelled the family name with one "l,"
the descendants generally spell it with two.)
James Richerson Phillips, born January 27, 1857, married Elizabeth H. Ball at Griggsville, October 25, 1888, she
a daughter of Theodore K. Ball and Anna Cadwell. The Reverend J. F. Smith performed the ceremony, which was witnessed
by T. K. Ball and Anna Elledge. They had two sons, Harvey and Charles Albert Phillips, both of whom are deceased.
Harvey, born at Griggsville August 22, 1889, married Miss Lucile Bonnet. He died at Griggsville January 31, 1915,
as the result of burns sustained when a can of gasoline exploded in the rendering house of Bartholomew Brothers,
in whose employ he was. He is buried in Griggsville cemetery.
Charles Albert Phillips, born at Griggsville October 12, 1892, married Miss Hazel Dunniway and was employed in
the garage and shop of his father-in-law. Frank Dunniway, at Griggsville. They had six children, namely: Kathryn
Elizabeth, born June 22, 1914, who married Kenneth Butler of Griggsville, June 22, 1937; Wilmetta Elaine, born
April 17, 1916, who married Leonard Venicombe of Barry, February 12, 1932, he a son of George Venicombe and Gertrude
Hulse; Lois Edna, born September 13, 1918, who married Wayne R. Hooper of Pittsfield, December 15, 1936, he a son
of Hermon P. Hooper and Emily Josie Moore; Hazel Esther, born February 12, 1922; Harvey Dean, born November 19,
1924, died February 13, 1926; and Elberta Elnora, born March 18, 1927. The father, Charles Albert Phillips, died
at Griggsville, September 8, 1927, and is buried in Griggsville cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. James R. Phillips separated and she is again married, being now Mrs. Elizabeth Hunt of Detroit, Michigan.
Mr. Phillips resides with his sister, Mrs. Mary Athey, near Route 107, between Pittsfield and Griggsville.
John Cartwright Phillips, born October 3, 1859, resides in Griggsville, in the home of Mrs. May Nettleton. He is
unmarried.
Ella Elizabeth Phillips, born February 7, 1861, married James Mack in Jacksonville, Illinois. She died at Griggsville
August 14, 1932, aged 71. She is buried at Griggsville. Mr. Mack resides in Springfield, Illinois. They had no
children but adopted a boy, Allen Rucker, now employed in a restaurant in Davenport, Iowa.
George L. Phillips, born November 18, 1864, married Emma May Hampton at Griggsville, May 30, 1889. She was a native
of Penville, Canada, a daughter of Jonathan Hampton and Mary Calhoun, both Canadian born. They were married by
the Reverend J. F. Wohlforth, with Salina Phillips witnessing. They had four children, namely, Leah, Mona, Earl
and Helen Louise. Leah married Harry Weems; they reside in California and have two sons and a daughter, Max, Richard
and Dorothy. Mona married Harry DePue and they reside in Peoria, Illinois. Earl married Mrs. (St. Peters) Smith
in Pittsfield, January 18, 1937, with Judge Lee Capps of the county court officiating. She is a daughter of William
St. Peters and Delia Smith, and a native of Promised Land, Oregon. Earl resides with his father on the John Hale
farm, southwest of Griggsville. Helen Louise married, first, a McKinney, and on October 8, 1932, at Griggsville,
with the Reverend Oscar F. Jones officiating, married Harry L. Hale, a son of John S. Hale and Julia B. Dunham.
They reside on the Judge A. Clay Williams (old Henry Brown) place near Maysville Junction. Emma (Hampton) Phillips,
born November 11, 1869, died at Griggsville June 16, 1932, aged 62. She is buried in Griggsville cemetery.
Salina Ann Phillips, born July 11, 1871, married Arthur James Brierley of Griggsville, August 25, 1897, with the
Reverend W. H. Young officiating, and Maud Ramsay and S. M. Ramsay witnessing. He was a native of Bolton, England,
and a son of Joseph Brierley and Martha Davis, both English born. They had four children, namely, Ernest E., Vincent
V., Henry H., and one son who died in infancy. Ernest E., formerly of La Grange, Illinois, is now a resident of
Congress Park, Illinois. Vincent V. married Ruth Jones of Ashland, Illinois, and they have two sons, La Rue and
David Brierley; he is a teller in the Farmers State Bank of Pittsfield. Henry H., unmarried, is a resident of San
Diego, California. Mrs. Brierley, the mother, died at Griggsville March 2, 1928; her husband, born January 12,
1872, died November 29, 1932. Both are buried in Griggsville cemetery.
Howard Miller Phillips, born January 19, 1875, married Miss Beulah C. Northup of Griggsville, July 19, 1908, she
a daughter of the late Ashley Benton Northup, and his wife, Lillie Jane Rader. The Reverend J. Andereck performed
the ceremony, which was witnessed by Arthur and Salina Brierley. They had eleven children, Namely: Stanley Winfred,
born January 10, 1909; Rachel Salina, October 16, 1910; James Howard, August 29, 1912; Harold Arthur, September
27, 1914; Kenneth Clifford, December 9, 1916 (died in infancy); Ella Odetta, May 23, 1918; Bernadine, November
4, 1919; Flavius Bentley, March 10, 1921; Edith Elizabeth, April 25, 1923; Wanda Rose, January 28, 1926; Lillian
Irene, August 8, 1930.
Winfred Phillips resides in California. Rachel married Harvey Speck and lives in Quincy; she has three children.
James married Phoebe E. Watkins of Griggsville, May 23, 1933, she a native of Virden, Illinois, and a daughter
of Eugene M. Watkins and Mabel White. The Reverend H. R. Brown of Pittsfield married them, with Frances Linville
and John C. George witnessing. They reside in California. Ella married Thomas Stroud of Griggsville October 11,
1935, he a native of Essex, Missouri, a son of William Stroud and Bernice Calwell. The other children are single.
The father, Howard Phillips, died at Griggsville, June 1, 1935, aged 60 years, four months and 12 days. He is buried
at Griggsville. His widow resides in Griggsville.
Mary Alice Phillips, born February 4, 1877, married Charles Athey in Pittsfield September 4, 1909, with the Reverend
F. L. Hanscom of the Pittsfield Congregational church officiating, and W. S. Binns and Mrs. Hanscom witnessing.
He was a native of Kane, Greene county, Illinois, and a son of William and Sherman, both at home. The family resides
north of Pleasant Grove school house, on the Pittsfield-Griggsville road.
Mrs. Athey, who remembers much of the thrilling history of her family from the narratives of her forebears, recalls
that she was born in a log house that stood about a half mile west of the old William Glenn place in Flint. She
thinks that all of her brothers and sisters, with the exception of the youngest, Rhea Monroe, were born in a log
house.
Rhea Monroe Phillips, born December 11, 1881, married Agnes Bonnet May 12, 1910, she a native of New Salem and
a daughter of Julius Bonnet and Sarah O'Donnell. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend J. M. Duff, a pastor
of the Griggsville circuit. They have two children: Esther Margene, born May 10, 1915, who married Alvin McCleary
and resides with her husband on the same place with her parents, north of Griggsville; and Eleanor Elizabeth, born
November 7, 1920. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips reside on the Ben Newman farm, near Doane's bridge, north of Griggsville.
Liddie J. Phillips, one of the children of Flavius who died in infancy, was born in February and died the following
March in 1867.
Flavius Josephus Philips died on the Arthur Lightle place near Griggsville, August 26, 1887. His wife, Elizabeth
Ann Jester, survived until October 3, 1918, dying at the age of 81 years, two months and six days. Mr. and Mrs.
Philips are buried in Griggsville cemetery.
Of Sarah Ann Philips, daughter of Andrew, there is no other record than that of her birth, which appears in the
Philips family Bible possessed by Andrew's grandson, John Cartright Philips of Griggsville. Her birth date is recorded
as January 5, 1835.
Andrew Philips operated the old Philips Ferry until the year 1836, when he sold it to Charles C. Perry, a gentleman
from Ohio, who in the fall of 1836 opened a store and hostelry at the landing, and operated the ferry with Otis
Parsons as a working partner.
Philips relinquished the ferry at the time of the great town lot fever which grew out of the internal improvement
boom that all but ruined the state's financial structure at that time. It was related that a group of men going
to the river to take a boat for St. Louis had to stay all night at Perry's and during the night property to the
amount of $50,000 worth changed hands, only part of which was paid down. Later came the inevitable crash, and,
the debtors being unable to pay, the noted early-day lawsuit between Tyler and Perry, long remembered in the county,
wound its tedious way through the courts.
Perry, in 1837, sold a half interest in the Philips Ferry and 200 acres of land adjacent to it a group of distinguished
gentlemen, among whom were the Honorable Orville H. Browning and Judge Richard M. Young of Quincy, Judge Samuel
D. Lockwood of Jacksonville (who occupied the bench in the last sessions of the Pike circuit court at Atlas and
the first at Pittsfield), Gordon S. Hubbard and Thomas Mather. These gentlemen paid Perry $6,000 for his half-interest
in the early seat of the Philipses, and at once laid out two towns at the ferry, one on each side of the river,
at the landings. The town on the Pike county side was named Velasco; that on the Scott (then Morgan) county side
was called Brussels. Both were platted in the expectation that they would become great river ports. The plat of
Velasco is still on file in the Pike county court house; that of Brussels in the Morgan county court house at Jacksonville.
Pike county records show that the town of Velasco was surveyed for Charles Perry & Company, and was situated
and laid out on the northeast fractional quarter of Section 20, Flint township. This land, occupied by the Philips
family since 1824, was not formally entered from the government until 1836, when Andrew Philips was granted his
U. S. patent thereto.
The plat of the town of Velasco was certified before Justice Andrew Philips, July 12, 1837, the following appearing
as proprietors of the new town: Charles C. Perry, Gordon S. Hubbard, Samuel D. Lockwood, Thomas Mather, O. H. Browning
and Richard M. Young. The town covered 60 acres and was divided into 200 town lots, which sold at public auction
at $100 to $600 each. Lots fronting the river were 55 by 133 feet; all others 58 by 130. Quincy Avenue, 80 feet
in width, swept through the center of the town to the ferry. Paralleling this avenue were Baltimore, Chicago, St.
Louis and Buffalo Streets, each 66 feet in width. Along the river's brink ran River Street and Steamboat Landing,
with parallel streets named Orleans, Richmond, Cincinnati and York. The town's alleys were fragrant with the names
of Hyacinth, Primrose, Hawthorn, Red Bud and Jessamine. The town was surveyed by A. Gordon, then deputy county
surveyor.
Across the river, opposite Velasco, lay the great "paper" city of Brussels, laid out the same year, 1837,
and modeled along the same lines as Velasco, with a broad avenue named Morgan Avenue, connecting with the ferry
landing and leading out on the old Philips Ferry road. This 80-foot avenue was flanked on either side by Washington,
Philadelphia and other streets of equally pretentious nomenclature, each 66 feet in width. Lots in this city, which
sold as high as $600 each in 1837, eight years later (1845) were listed to C. C. Perry for taxation at a valuation
of $1 each. The town site was vacated by the state legislature February 28, 1847.
When town lots in Velasco and Brussels were being sold at auction in 1837, bringing from $100 to $600 each, Mr.
Perry, one of the proprietors, dissatisfied with the prices the lots were bringing, stopped the sale; no deeds
having been made, these lots later reverted back to Perry, the original owner, to whom they were listed for taxation
purposes at a value of $1 each.
Down the river a little way, in the northeast corner of what is now Detroit township, was platted at this time
another river port, Daniel B. Bush's city of Portland, and about halfway between Bush's city and Velasco, on the
southwest quarter of Section 28, Flint township, was James Swain's city of Napoleon, all of them outgrowths of
the frenzied town lot fever.
The Philipses are long gone from the old ferry site but there is still a ferry there to carry travelers upon the
old Philips Ferry road. Philipses continued to be associated with the ferry for many years after 1836. Throughout
the pioneer period the ferry continued an important factor in the county's development.
Justus Griffeth, who came with his parents to what is now New Salem township in 1838, remembered working as a lad
at Philips Ferry. He was wont to recount many historic incidents connected with the old ferry. He was working there
at the time of one of the Mormon migrations, and himself helping take Hiram Smith and his family across the river.
Flavius Philips, son of Andrew, was then working on the ferry.
Mr. Griffeth recounted hearing the Mormons talking of their future intentions. Pointing to the boys, he heard them
say they intended to take all such urchins and knock their brains out against the trees. The river was very high
at that time and the passage over was made in a flatboat manned with oars in the hands of Justus Griffeth and his
elder brother, with Flavius Philips at the helm. The boys determined that all the Mormons should not live to carry
out their wicked schemes and laid their plans to sink a boatload of them.
The boys overloaded their boat and pulled out to cross as a steamer was coming up river, but one of the fattest
horses on board fell into the water and thus lightened the boat so as to prevent the catastrophe they had planned.
The lads were very much disappointed and cared much more for their defeated plans than for the reprimand they received
for their supposed carelessness. The wife of Hiram Smith was one of the passengers, and Mr. Griffeth remembered
that during the crossing of the swollen stream, she sang, prayed and cursed him and the other boys in turn.