- ISRAEL PHILLIPS. That the traveler through the great and
productive State of Wisconsin, in
- 1900, should be willing to declare that here, indeed, must
be located the garden spot of the United States, is now wonderful,
but that the men who came to the wilderness in 1846 should have
possessed foresight to see the possibilities of the country may
be considered remarkable.
- Among those who proved their faith was Israel PHILLIPS, the
subject of this sketch. Mr.
- PHILLIPS was born in Grafton, Rensselaer Co., N.Y., on Sept.
15, 1820, a son of Benjamin and Phoebe (SMITH) PHILLIPS, both
of whom were natives of the State of New York, where they were
parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, our
honored subject being now the only survivor. The paternal grandfather,
John PHILLIPS, as a native farmer of New York, of English stock,
lived to an advanced age, and left a large family of children.
The maternal grandfather was Elkancy SMITH, also of New York,
of English ancestors, and engaged in farming until old age retired
him. Benjamin PHILLIPS was a native of New York, where the family
was well known, and died there when about forty-seven, his wife
surviving until a number of years later, when she passed away
in western New York.
- Israel PHILLIPS, of whom we write, was born and reared amidst
the old farming lands of his
- native State, attended the excellent schools provided, and
grew to manhood surrounded by the comforts of civilization. After
leaving school he spent three years in Vermont, and in the fall
of 1845 married Miss Lydia S. HILL, of that State, and two children
were born of this union: Charles, who married Miss Elizabeth
GEHR, and had two sons, - William Israel and Charles Elmer, dying
on March 17, 1878, his widow living until 1892; and Marcella,
who married Henry KELLEY, and died in 1889, at the age of thirty-two.
- After marriage Mr. PHILLIPS settled in Wisconsin, in the
spring of 1846, taking up 240 acres of
- government land in Albany township, Green county, buying
the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. He has improved
it until it is desirable in every way, and by additional purchases
now owns 360 productive and cultivated acres of land, where he
found only a wilderness. Mr. PHILLIPS is a stanch Republican
and has been active in the ranks of his party. For twenty years
he was chairman of the town board of Albany. For twenty years
he has been connected with the Masonic fraternity, where he is
highly esteemed. During the long years of his residence in Green
county he has lived an honest, upright life, and he is appropriately
styled a representative old settler and prominent citizen of
Albany township.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 817-818.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|