By The Editor.
The progenitor of the Phillips family in America was the Rev. George
Phillips, son of Christopher Phillips of Rainham, St. Martin, Norfolk
County, England, _mediocris fortunæ_. He entered Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, April, 20, 1610, then aged seventeen years, and
received his bachelor's degree in 1613.
[Illustration: JOHN PHILLIPS, THE FIRST MAYOR OF BOSTON.]
After his graduation he was settled in the ministry at Boxted, Essex
County, England; but his strong attachment to the principles of the
Nonconformists brought him into difficulties with some of his
parishioners, and as the storm of persecution grew more dark and
threatening, he resolved to cast his lot with the Puritans, who were
about to depart for the New World. On the 12th of April, 1630, he with
his wife and two children embarked for America in the "Arbella," as
fellow-passenger, with Gov. Winthrop, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and other
assistants of the Massachusetts Company, and arrived at Salem on the
12th of June, where, shortly afterwards, his wife died and was buried by
the side of Lady Arabella Johnson.
Mr. Phillips was admitted "freeman," May 18, 1631; this being the
earliest date of any such admission. For fourteen years he was the
pastor of the church at Watertown, a most godly man, and an influential
member of the small council that regulated the affairs of the colony.
His share in giving form and character to the institutions of New
England is believed to have been a very large one. He died on the 1st of
July, 1644, aged about fifty-one years.
The son of the foregoing, born in Boxted, England, in 1625, and
graduated from Harvard College in 1650, became in 1651 the Rev. Samuel
Phillips of Rowley, Mass. He continued as pastor over this parish for a
period of forty-five years. He was highly esteemed for his piety and
talents, which were of no common order; and he was eminently useful,
both at home and abroad.
In September, 1687, an information was filed by one Philip Nelson
against the Rev. Samuel Phillips, for calling Randolph "a wicked man;"
and for this "crime" (redounding to his honor) he was committed to
prison.
He was married in October, 1651, to Sarah Appleton, the daughter of
Samuel and Mary (Everhard) Appleton of Ipswich. He died April 22, 1696,
greatly beloved and lamented. His inventory amounted to nine hundred and
eighty-nine pounds sterling. In November, 1839, a chaste and handsome
marble monument was placed over the remains of Mr. Phillips and his
wife, in the burial-ground at Rowley, by the Hon. Jonathan Phillips of
Boston, their great-great-great-grandson.
He left two sons, the younger of whom, George (1664-1739, Harvard 1686),
became an eminent clergyman, the Rev. George Phillips, first of Jamaica,
L.I., and afterwards of Brookhaven. The elder son, Samuel, chose the
occupation of a goldsmith, and settled in Salem. It is from this Samuel
of Salem that the two Boston branches of the Phillips family have
descended.
A younger son of Samuel, the Hon. John Phillips, was born June 22,
1701. He became a successful merchant of Boston, was a deacon of
Brattle-street Church, a colonel of the Boston Regiment, a justice of
the peace and of the quorum, and a representative of Boston for several
years in the General Court. He married, in 1723, Mary Buttolph, a
daughter of Nicholas Buttolph of Boston. She died in 1742; and he next
married, Abigail Webb, a daughter of Rev. Mr. Webb of Fairfield, Conn.
He died April 19, 1768, and was buried with military honors. According
to the records, he was "a man much devoted to works of benevolence."
His son, William Phillips of Boston, was born Aug. 29, 1737, and died
June 4, 1772. In 1761 he married Margaret Wendell, the eleventh and
youngest child of the Hon. Jacob Wendell, a merchant, and one of the
Governor's Council. His widow died in 1823.
JOHN PHILLIPS, the only son of William and Margaret, was born in Boston
on the ancient Phillips place, on the 26th of November, 1770. His mother
was a woman of uncommon energy of mind as well as of ardent piety, and
early instilled into the heart of her son the principles of religion and
a love of learning and of his native land. She placed him, at the early
age of seven years, in the family of his kinsman, Lieut.-Gov. Samuel
Phillips of Andover, where he remained until he entered Harvard College
in 1784. In this excellent and pious family, and in the academy under
the charge of the learned Dr. Eliphalet Pearson, young Phillips acquired
the rudiments of a sound scholarship as well as that urbane and
conciliating manner which was so conducive to his success in subsequent
life.
Judge Phillips and his excellent wife took a lively interest in the
studies of their ward. They examined him from time to time, not only in
his catechism, which was then regularly taught, but also in respect of
his literary efforts and acquirements. They encouraged him to make
strenuous efforts to obtain a high rank as a scholar, speaker,
gentleman, and Christian. Their labors were not lost. On leaving
Andover, the youth was prepared to take an elevated stand in college,
which he maintained to the completion of his course, when the honor of
pronouncing the salutatory oration was conferred on him by the faculty.
Mr. Phillips chose the profession of the law, and soon gained an
extensive practice. His popularity became such, that in 1794, he was
invited to deliver the annual Fourth of July oration before the people
of Boston. "This production," says a writer, "bears the finest marks of
intellectual vigor." Some extracts from it have found their way into the
school-books as models of eloquence.
In this same year Mr. Phillips was married to Miss Sally Walley,
daughter of Thomas Walley, Esq., a respectable merchant of Boston. On
the establishment of the Municipal Court in Boston, in 1800, he was made
public prosecutor, and in 1803 was chosen representative to the General
Court. The next year he was sent to the Senate, and such was the wisdom
of his political measures, and the dignity of his bearing towards all
parties, that he continued to hold a seat in this body every successive
year until his decease, always discharging his duties, either as a
debater or in the chair, to which he was ten times called, most
creditably to himself as well as most acceptably to his constituents and
the State.
In 1809 Mr. Phillips was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Three years later he was elected a member of the corporation of Harvard
College, and in 1820 a member of the convention for the revision of
the State Constitution. In this able and dignified body he held a
conspicuous rank. His remarks upon the various questions which arose
were learned, judicious, and sometimes rendered all the more effective
by the flashes of his wit. Speaking, for example, on the third article
of the Bill of Rights, he said he hoped they would not be like the man
whose epitaph was, "I am well, I would be better, and here I am."
The next year the town of Boston, which then contained nearly forty-five
thousand inhabitants, began to agitate in good earnest the question of
adopting a city government. A committee of twelve, of which Mr. Phillips
was chairman, drew up and reported a city charter for the town, which
was adopted at a meeting held March 4, 1822, by a vote of 2,797 to
1,881. The result was formally announced on the 7th of the same month by
a proclamation from Gov. Brooks.
The two prominent candidates for the office of mayor were Harrison Gray
Otis and Josiah Quincy, both men of high accomplishments and enjoying
a large share of public confidence. But after a vote had been taken,
resulting in no choice of mayor, the friends of these gentlemen suddenly
agreed on Mr. Phillips, who at the town-meeting held on the 16th of
April, 1822, received 2,500 out of 2,650 votes, and thus became the
first mayor of the city of Boston.
The inauguration occurred at Faneuil Hall on the 1st of May following.
The ceremonies of the occasion were unusually impressive; the venerable
Dr. Thomas Baldwin invoking the favor of Heaven, and Chief Justice Isaac
Parker administering the oath.
In discharging the duties of his office, Mr. Phillips wisely avoided
sumptuous display on one hand, and a parsimonious economy on the other,
but observing that _juste milieu_ which good sense dictated, and
the spirit of our republican institutions demanded, succeeded in
overcoming all prejudice against the new form of municipal government,
and in establishing a precedent, which, followed by succeeding mayors,
has saved the city millions of dollars of needless expense, and has
served as a worthy example to many other cities in this country.
The result of the first year's administration under the new charter
did not meet the expectations of those who had been instrumental in
procuring it. They were eager for a more energetic system, and they
charged Mr. Phillips with pursuing a timid and hesitating course for
fear of losing his popularity. But still when he went out of office,
Mr. Josiah Quincy, his successor, could say of him:--
"After examining and considering the records and proceedings of the
city authorities for the past year, it is impossible for me to refrain
from expressing the sense I entertain of the services of that high and
honorable individual who filled the chair of this city, as well as of
the wise, prudent, and faithful citizens who composed during that
period the city council."
Perceiving, towards the expiration of his first term of service, that
his health was beginning to fail, Mr. Phillips declined being a
candidate for re-election, and on the twenty-ninth day of May, 1823, was
suddenly stricken down by disease of the heart,--he being then in the
fifty-third year of his age. His death was universally lamented, and
public honors were paid by all parties to his memory.
John Phillips was a good man, true as steel, and always trustworthy in
the various relations of life. He lived in the fear of God, and from his
Word received instruction for the guidance of his conduct. He lived in
stormy times; yet such was the consistency and elevation of his
character, such the suavity and dignity of his manner, such the kindness
of his heart, the clearness of his conceptions, and the beauty of his
language, that he commanded the respect and admiration of his political
opponents, wielding perhaps as great an influence as any public man of
the State at that period; and he will ever stand as a worthy model for
the incumbents of that high municipal office, which his wisdom,
prudence, virtue, integrity, and eloquence adorned.
[Illustration]
The following are the names of the children of John and Sally (Walley)
Phillips, all of whom are now dead:--
1. Thomas Walley, born Jan. 16, 1797. 2. Sarah Hurd, born April 24,
1799. 3. Samuel born Feb. 8, 1801. 4. Margaret, born Nov. 29, 1802. 5.
Miriam, born Nov. 20, 18--. 6. John Charles, born Nov. 16, 1807. 7.
George William, born Jan. 3, 1810. 8. WENDELL, born Nov. 29, 1811. 9.
Grenville Tudor, born Aug. 14, 1816.[4]
[Footnote 4: See the "Life and Times of Wendell Phillips," by G.L.
Austin, Boston, 1884.]
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