The Phillips family
Scott County’s Phillips family dates back to about 1803, when brothers Thomas Phillips and Joseph Phillips moved to the New River as part of a caravan that was led by Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Goad.
See Also: The Scott County Lineage Project
Origins
The Phillips family in Scott County dates back to between 1803 and 1807, when a caravan led by Abraham Goad moved to present-day Scott County (then Anderson County) and settled on New River south of Huntsville.
Thomas Phillips (1768-1841), the son of Tobias Phillips Sr. of Virginia, was married to Goad’s daughter, Mary. Like Goad, Tobias Phillips (who did not make the move to Tennessee) was a Revolutionary War veteran. Thomas’s brother, Joseph Phillips (1787-1881), also made the journey. He was about 16 years old at the time.
The exact date of the move to Tennessee isn’t known. Goad last appeared on a tax list in Virginia in 1803, and his property on New River — which is what we now know as the Vanderpool Place — was surveyed in 1807.
One of the chainmen on that survey team was Randolph Lawson, who settled nearby at the mouth of Paint Rock Creek. He built the first grist mill in what is now Scott County. It isn’t known whether Lawson was part of the Goad caravan, or if he moved at about the same time, but there is evidence that the Lawson family and the Goad family was acquainted in Virginia and served together during the Revolutionary War. Randolph Lawson was one of four brothers who fought in the war and later moved to what is now Scott County.
Joseph Phillips married Randolph Lawson’s daughter, Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838). They settled further up New River at Bull Creek and had around eight children. The most well-known of their children was Jehu Phillips, who served as Scott County Trustee after the Civil War and was part of the survey team that established Scott County’s boundary with Campbell and Anderson counties in 1849.
See Also: The Goad family
See Also: The Lawson family
Family Tree
First Generation
Joseph Phillips (1787-1881)
Born: Oct. 16, 1787, Carroll County, Virginia.
Parents: Tobias Phillips (1750-1808), Margaret “Peggy” Jennings (1753-1830).
Siblings: Thomas Phillips (1768-1841), Rhoda Cock (1770-1842), Tobias Phillips Jr. (1770-1862), Margaret Mary “Polly” Quesenberry (1776-1850), Richard Phillips (born 1778), George Phillips (1780-1860), Elizabeth Dalton (1783-1850), Robert Phillips (1783-1850), Frances Elizabeth Dalton (1788-1877).
Married: Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838), daughter of Randolph Lawson (1752-1843) and Susannah Cross (1765-1844).
Children: Lucretia Goad (1820-1862), Jehu Phillips (1821-1910), Horace Aaron Phillips (1825-1895), Wiley Phillips (1829-1906), Jeremiah “Jerry” Phillips (1837-1918).
Died: April 28, 1881. Buried at Phillips Cemetery on Little Bull Creek.
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Thomas Phillips (1768-1841)
Born: 1768, Virginia.
Parents: Tobias Phillips (1750-1808), Margaret “Peggy” Jennings (1753-1830).
Siblings: Rhoda Cock (1770-1842), Tobias Phillips Jr. (1770-1862), Margaret Mary “Polly” Quesenberry (1776-1850), Richard Phillips (born 1778), George Phillips (1780-1860), Elizabeth Dalton (1783-1850), Robert Phillips (1783-1850), Joseph Phillips (1787-1881), Frances Elizabeth Dalton (1788-1877).
Married: Sarah Betts (about 1768-1792).
Children: Sarah West (1788-1860).
Married: Mary Goad (1770-1840), daughter of Abraham Goad (1740-1816) and Ann Ayers (1740-1788).
Children: Johnathan Phillips (1800-1893), Emanuel Phillips (1813-1864), Elijah Phillips (1816-1879).
Died: 1841. Burial location unknown.
Second Generation
Lucretia Phillips Goad (1820-1862)
Born: 1820, present-day Scott County.
Parents: Joseph Phillips (1787-1881) and Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838).
Siblings: Jehu Phillips (1821-1910), Horace Aaron Phillips (1825-1895), Wiley Phillips (1829-1906), Jeremiah “Jerry” Phillips (1837-1918).
Married: John Goad (1817-1904) in 1838, son of Joshua Goad (1786-1880) and Sarah Smiddy (born 1787). (John Goad was a grandson of Abraham Goad.)
Children: William Marion Goad (1839-1912), Elizabeth “Betsy” Goad (1848-1868), Jeremiah Goad (1852-1928), Liza Ann Davidson (1860-1943).
Died: 1862. May be buried at Goad Cemetery in Armathwaite, Tenn.
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Jehu Phillips (1821-1910)
Born: Sept. 14, 1821, Huntsville.
Parents: Joseph Phillips (1787-1881) and Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838).
Siblings: Lucretia Goad (1820-1862), Horace Aaron Phillips (1825-1895), Wiley Phillips (1829-1906), Jeremiah “Jerry” Phillips (1837-1918).
Married: Rebecca Sexton Phillips (1823-1905) in 1841, daughter of Moses Sexton (1791-1850) and Leander “Laura” Hatfield (1795-1860). She was the granddaughter of Timothy Sexton and Joseph Hatfield.
Children: Fountain Phillips (1842-1911), Riley Phillips (1843-1910), Jane Thomas (1853-1926), Mildred “Milley” Phillips (1865-1937), Martha Hughett (1868-1955), Nancy Jane Terry (1874-1943), William O. Phillips (1890-1940).
Married: Sarah Eder Phillips (1862-1941) in 1907, daughter of John W. Phillips (1834-1895) and Pheobe Newport (1831-1865).
Died: June 2, 1910. Buried at Huntsville Cemetery.
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Horace “Aaron” Phillips (1825-1895)
Born: 1825, present-day Scott County.
Parents: Joseph Phillips (1787-1881) and Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838).
Siblings: Lucretia Goad (1820-1862), Jehu Phillips (1821-1910), Wiley Phillips (1829-1906), Jeremiah “Jerry” Phillips (1837-1918).
Married: Unknown Lewallen.
Children: Luiza Pruitt (1851-1933), Franklin Pierce Phillips (1853-1933).
Married: Sarah Jane Jennings (1836-1906) in 1864, daughter of Jesse Dodson Jennings (1802-1884) and Lucinda Shell (1808-1887). She was not from Scott County and was first married to Dr. James W. Frisbee, who died in 1856.
Children: Martha Wallis (1867-1932), Huldah Elizabeth Kennedy (1875-1949), Laura “Ocie” Melton (1877-1909).
Died: 1895, Texas County, Missouri. Buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Dunn, Missouri.
Note: None of his children were born in Scott County or settled in Scott County.
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Wiley Phillips (1829-1906)
Born: July 29, 1829, present-day Scott County.
Parents: Joseph Phillips (1787-1881) and Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838).
Siblings: Lucretia Goad (1820-1862), Jehu Phillips (1821-1910), Horace “Aaron” Phillips (1825-1895), Jeremiah “Jerry” Phillips (1837-1918).
Married: Nancy Arena Adkins (1831-1912), daughter of John Stanton Adkins (1798-1882) and Mary “Polly” Saunders (1805-1870).
Children: Marlenia Dorris (1850-1899), Samantha Jane Miller (1854-1935), Rodda Anne Mitchell (1858-1907), Ewel Wiley Phillips (1861-1943), Narona Sion Bartholomew (1863-1943), Matilda Ellen Bucklin (1865-1950), Elizabeth Emeline Loomis (1867-1950), Jeremiah Phillips (1870-1953).
Died: Feb. 11, 1906, Denver, Co. Buried at Littleton Cemetery, Arapahoe County, Co.
Note: Wiley Phillips left Scott County after the birth of his second child, Samantha. None of his children settled in Scott County.
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Jeremiah “Jerry” Phillips (1837-1918)
Born: May 6, 1837, present-day Scott County.
Parents: Joseph Phillips (1787-1881) and Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838).
Siblings: Lucretia Goad (1820-1862), Jehu Phillips (1821-1910), Horace “Aaron” Phillips (1825-1895), Wiley Phillips (1829-1906).
Married: Malinda “Lindy” Delk (1838-1910) in 1855, daughter of Joseph Delk (1807-1862) and Mary Shoopman (1804-1866).
Children: Elizabeth “Betty” Cross (1856-1937), Mary “Polly” Hughett (1858-1944), Rachel Byrd (1860-1928), Joseph Phillips (1866-1930), Nancy Byrd (1868-1943), Melinda Roehana Jeffers (1872-1898), Etty Tennessee Lloyd (1874-1907), Cynthia Bell Lloyd (1878-1946).
Died: March 28, 1918. Buried at Phillips Cemetery on Little Bull Creek.
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Sarah “Sallie” Phillips West (1788-1860)
Born: 1788, Virginia.
Parents: Parents: Thomas Phillips (1768-1841) and Sarah Betts (about 1768-1792).
Siblings: Johnathan Phillips (1800-1893), Emanuel Phillips (1813-1864), Elijah Phillips (1816-1879).
Married: Charles P. West (1778-1860), son of William West (1745-1829) of Greene County, Tenn.
Children: Jane Louanner Chambers (about 1801-1880), Fosset West (1805-1890), Reason West (1807-1863), Rachel Marcum (born 1810), Reuben West (1810-1883), Mary Daugherty (born 1814), William West (1816-1906), Sarah Lee Phillips (1817-1905), John Wesley West (1821-1903), Melvina “Viney” Daugherty (1822-1916), Lucinda Cynthia West (1826-1921), Polly Ann West (1826-1902), Winnie Thomas (1828-1901), Charles West (born 1830).
Died: 1860, in Scott County. Burial location unknown.
Notes: Sarah Lee Phillips married her first cousin, Johnathan “Egg” Phillips Jr., after her first cousin, Wayne Whitecotton, died during the Civil War.
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Johnathan Phillips (1800-1893)
Born: Oct. 10, 1800, North Carolina.
Parents: Thomas Phillips (1768-1841) and Mary Goad (1770-1840).
Siblings: Sarah West (1788-1860), Emanuel Phillips (1813-1864), Elijah Phillips (1816-1879).
Married: Phoebe Goad (1800-1870) in 1818.
Children: Johnathin A. “Egg” Phillips (1819-1911), Winford Phillips (1827-1900), Phoebe “Emaline” West (1822-1910), Euel W. Phillips (1839-1925).
Married: Lucretia Terrell or Thompson (born about 1825), 1844.
Children: Nancy Thompson (born 1847), Rosina Phillips (born 1850), Amanda “Mandy” Sexton (born 1852), Harmon J. Phillips (born 1854), Rachel Phillips (born 1856), Blagburn Louis Phillips (1859-1940), Andrew Johnson Phillips (1863-1933), Jonathan Wolford Phillips (1866-1938), Mary Louise Sexton (1869-1957).
Died: Jan. 2, 1893. Buried at Sexton Memorial Cemetery in Paint Rock.
Note: Johnathan Phillips moved to Paint Rock in 1824 after being granted 200 acres of land there, and his family was closely linked to the Sexton family of Paint Rock. Two of his children (Andrew Johnson and Mary Louise) married children of Emmanuel Sexton, and his daughter, Amanda, married Emmanuel late in life. Emmanuel Sexton was a grandson of Timothy Sexton. Johnathin “Egg” Phillips married his first cousin, Sarah Lee West Phillips.
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Emanuel Phillips (1813-1864)
Born: Nov. 24, 1813, present-day Scott County.
Parents: Thomas Phillips (1768-1841) and Mary Goad (1770-1840).
Siblings: Sarah West (1788-1860), Johnathan Phillips (1800-1893), Elijah Phillips (1816-1879).
Married: Leanner Sexton (1820-1858), 1838, daughter of Timothy Sexton Jr. (1783-1850) and Nancy Ellis (1800-1860).
Children: James Phillips (born about 1841), Nancy Ann West (1841-1883), Lucy Banks (1844-1942), Martha Ann West (1847-1929), Ephraim Phillips (1849-1939), Winfield Scott Phillips (born 1851), Arlena Marcum (1853-1945), Emaline “Emily” Foster (1856-1897).
Married: Jinsey Jane Stephens, 1859.
Died: Feb. 2, 1864, Knoxville, Tenn. Buried at Knoxville National Cemetery.
Note: Died of smallpox during the Civil War. No children lived in Emanuel’s home when the 1860 census was taken. Paul Roy’s Scott County in the Civil War lists Winfield Scott Phillips as a child. Leanner Sexton and her sister, Margaret (wife of Elijah Phillips) were from another branch of the Paint Rock Sexton family. They were the granddaughters of Timothy Sexton.
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Elijah Phillips (1816-1879)
Born: 1816, present-day Scott County.
Parents: Thomas Phillips (1768-1841) and Mary Goad (1770-1840).
Siblings: Sarah West (1788-1860), Johnathan Phillips (1800-1893), Emanuel Phillips (1813-1864).
Married: Margaret Sexton (1815-1870), daughter of Timothy Sexton Jr. (1783-1850) and Nancy Ellis (1800-1860).
Children: Levi Phillips (born about 1834), Easter Sexton (1837-1909), Kisiah Phillips (born about 1839), Timothy Phillips (1843-1864), John R. Phillips (1844-1864), Robert Phillips (1846-1902), Julian Phillips (born about 1850).
Died: 1870. Burial location unknown.
Notes: Timothy and John both died in Confederate prison camps after being captured at the Battle of Rogersville, Tenn., during the Civil War. Timothy died at Andersonville, Ga., and John died at Belle Isle in Virginia.