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____? ____? _?_-_?_ |
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Joseph ROBINSON _?_-_?_ |
Mary PHILLIPS 1744/5-1815 |
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Sir Richard PHILLIPS 1739-1823 |
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Susannah ROBINSON 1769-1797 |
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Sir Richard PHILLIPS 1767-1840 |
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James PHILLIPS alias POSTLETHWAITE 1792-1867 |
See Portraits of James Phillips* and Judith Middagh Vermeule*
There has been considerable mystery concerning the identity of James Phillips' genetic parents. Prior to 1976, as far as anyone in the family knew, James had said that his father was the Rev. Richard Phillips, Rector of a small Anglican Church in Nevendon, England, and his mother was Susan Meade, who died when James was young. Rev. Richard Phillips was supposed to have moved to Roche, Cornwall in about 1800 to serve as Rector of a small Church there, and remarried to a (supposed) second wife, Benedicta Appleby, who had many children. No evidence has ever been found that Rev. Richard Postlethwaite was married to anyone prior to Benedicta, and the marriages of of Anglican Church Rectors is almost always well recorded in the Church reords which have been exhaustively searched to no avail. When the book: When Chapel Hill was a Village, written by Cornelia Spencer Love (1892-1981), was published in 1976 in Chapel Hill, some new information was publically revealed that differed from the traditional family history. Cornelia was a great-granddaughter of James Phillips*, and she described certain events as follows:
Lucy Plummer Phillips (1862-1963), a granddaughter of James Phillips, traveled to England with her son Charles Phillips Russell (a noted author, known as "Phillips Russell"). They were unable to find any Rector, named Richard Phillips recorded at the Church in Nevendon. Instead, they found a posting on the wall showing a Rev. Richard Postlethwaite* serving as Rector of the Church at that time (during 1792).
Cornelia herself traveled to Roche, Cornwall in 1960, and found that there too was a Rev. Richard Postlethwaite* installed as Rector at the time that corresponded to the time that James was growing up in Roche.
Cornelia found other circumstantial evidence that convinced her that James' father was Richard Postlethwaite*. Several theories have been proposed to explain this anomaly. These are discussed below.
More recently, research by a member of the Network of Founding Family Genealogies (NFFG), and most likely also a descendant of James Phillips, has appeared. It was presented after Feb 2008 on this web page. It shows that James Phillips was born to Sir Richard Phillips (before his knighthood was granted) and Susannah "Susan" Robinson, the widow of John Meade.
Richard Phillips*, (before the "Sir") in 1792 was a book seller in Leicester. He was sentenced to serve at least three years in a Leicester jail probably in early 1792, but certainly before before June 18, 1793, for selling Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man. While in jail, on June 18, 1793, he wrote to the famous poet, William Cowper in Buckinghamshire, where at the Olney Chapel Rev Richard Postlethwaite was a Curate. See Introducing Sir Richard Phillips by John Issitt. It is likely that Sir Richard's children, including James Phillips, were adopted by Rev. Richard Postlethwaite.
Richard Phillips must have been separated and estranged by his wife, Susannah (Robinson) Meade as a result of his imprisonment. He apparently was released from jail in 1795, possibly as a result of influence by Lady Hesketh, to whom he pressed an appeal. Lady Harriett Hesketh was a cousin to, and an admirer and supporter of William Cowper. The date of his release is known because he married a Miss Griffiths in 1795, before Susannah died in 1797. This (technically bigamist) act may have driven the Rev. Richard Postlethwaite to prevent James from knowing of his real father's identity.
After James grew to adulthood, the traditional family history held that James served as a clerk in Plymouth, England, while his "brother" Samuel Adkins Phillips joined the English Navy. They sailed to New York City together in 1818 from La Havre, after a brief tour in France.
New information discovered by Virginia "Ginny" Henley, through an English correspondent, however, shows that James (as James Postlethwaite) joined the Royal Marines on May 15, 1809 (date of attestation), shortly after his 17th birthday. He was recruited into Company 33, located at Plymouth , Devon, England. His records show that he was a labourer prior to enlisting.
As James Postlethwaite, he married Agnes Robins on May 29, 1814 in Plymouth, Devon. There were two children born to this marriage, one in 1815 and one in 1816. Thus, it may be reasonable to suppose that James was serving in a clerical post for the Royal Marines at Plymouth after the date of his marriage.
James' daughter was under the impression that James remembered that he had seen Napoleon on board the British prison ship Belopheron in Plymouth harbor in early August of 1815. James' great-grandson reported in his unpublished autobiography, however, that James had been on-board the Belopheron among an elite group responsible for guarding Napoleon. Then, on Jan 6, 1817 James extended his service in the Royal Marines for a continued service engagement, and achieved the rank of Sergeant. However, on July 2, 1818, James (as James Postlethwaite) deserted the Royal Marines, abandoned his wife and two young children, changed his name to James Phillips, and apparently boarded a ship to New York. He may have had a companion, named Samuel Adkins Phillips, who family tradition, based on James' own account was said to be his "brother". However, there is considerable doubt that Samuel was an actual full brother to James.
Speculation could be advanced that Samuel Adkins Phillips was not a deserter but allowed James to pose as his "brother" in order to gain ship passage to New York, or to gain U.S. citizenship. Samuel may also have been originally named "Samuel Adkins" and deserted the Royal Marines or Navy with James, both of them posing as brothers, James and Samuel Phillips. Samuel, in later life, may have added the middle name "Adkins" back into his name in order to distinguish himself from 2 other merchants named Samuel Phillips in New York.
The ship on which James "Phillips" and Samuel Adkins Phillips sailed has not been found despite many searches. As a deserter from the Royal Marines, James would have sought a ship where his passage would NOT have been recorded. The U.S. official records of passengers arriving on ships to the U.S. was not in effect until 1820. Speculation could be advanced that their ship was a pirate ship, and that his entry was technically illegal. There are two other reasons to believe that his passage was on a pirate ship. One, is that his students many years later at Chapel Hill remembered that he seems to have had a lot of knowledge about pirate ship navigation and often stated that he was once a pirate himself! The other is that his real father, Sir Richard Phillips may have been "fencing" pirated goods through his London bookstore, and knew who the pirates were. Neither James nor Samuel Adkins Phillips' natralization papers have been found.
The NFFG web site suggests, without proof, that James may have made earlier trips in c 1806 to America with his father, who was a bankrupt debtor after his jail sentence was served. However these alleged trips with his father may have been made by his older brother, Richard, who ultimately settled in Georgia. It seems unlikely that James would have been in America at the age of 14, and since he married Agnes Robbins as James Postlethwaite it is more probable that he did not know he was an adopted child until after that marriage occurred in May, 1814; or after his second child by Agnes was born in 1816. His desertion, abandonment, and subsequent name change to Phillips may have been precipitated by learning that his real father was Sir Richard Phillips. It is also possible that James (as Postlethwaite) may have served in the Royal Marines during the War of 1812, and thus had been in America earlier than 1818.
James and Samuel arrived in New York City in 1818 and James is said to have started a private boy's academy in Harlem. Samuel became a merchant, possibly in soap and kindred products, imported from England. No record of James' academy has been found, and Samuel is not likely to have been involved in mathematical activities. From correspondence reported in the mathematics journals of the period, it is known that James joined a mathematics club in New York City and became recognized as a mathematician. He made frequent contributions to an early American mathematics journal, known as the Mathematical Diary. The Mathematical Diary, published in 1824, was a successor to an earlier publication in a similar style, The Analyst, whose first (and only) edition was published in New York City on March 1, 1814. This, in turn was a successor to The Mathematical Correspondent, which was published only once in 1804. James' name did not appear in any of these journals until after 1818. The mathematics club and these publications were the creations of Prof. Robert Adrain, considered by some to be America's greatest mathematician of his time. This club and these publications were the foundation for the creation of the American Mathematical Society, which today publishes one of the world's leading mathematical journals.
James may have also contributed an advancement to the style used in the Journal entitled The Mathematical Diary, then published by Prof. Adrain while he was teaching at Columbia College in New York City. It is entirely possible that James Phillips introduced the Interrogative System to Prof. Adrain's publications, enabling him (Prof Adrain), in part, to become the highest paid professor in America at the time.
The idea that James Philips* is the son of Sir Richard Phillips* is further supported by the fact that the Interrogative System of academic publications was invented in 1798 by Sir Richard Phillips (1767-1840) in London. Sir Richard started as a mathematics teacher and publisher in Leicester. He opened a book store there in about 1790 and was jailed in 1793 for selling copies of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man. Richard Phillips had married Susannah (Robinson) Meade, a widow of John Meade and had children by her who were adopted (Susannah included) by Rev. Richard Postlethwaite, as he (Richard Phillips) went to jail. Both Richards were correspondents with William Cowper, so they could well have known - or known of - each other. After Richard Phillips served his jail term, he was elected to be the Sheriff of London, was knighted in 1808, and owned and operated a leading publishing business and text book store in London until he died in 1840. Shortly after his wife, Susannah, died in 1797, he married Frances Elizabeth Dunford on Sep 16, 1798 at Truro in Cornwall and had many children by her. There is also a report that he married a Miss Griffiths in 1795, but this may, or may not be true. His portrait is in the British National Portrait Gallery.
James Phillips had studied Greek, could read and make sense of Euclid. Evidently, he had some education in mathematics provided, at least in part, by the Royal Marines. He is said to have been self-educated in mathematics, but once he knew of his real identity, perhaps he studied under his father, Sir Richard Phillips. His skills in classical languages could have been instilled by his adopted father, Rev. Richard Postlethwaite. The Reverend was a scholar who wrote minor ecclesiastical works on education, and who corresponded with William Cowper, the well known poet and classicist; and Rev. John Newton, an English devine, friend of Cowper, and co-originator of the Olney Hymns, which includes the ever-popular hymn, Amazing Grace.
James also brought with him from England, a copy of William Cowper's translation of Homer, as well as other classical texts. Rev. Richard Postletwaite*, was also a follower of Cowper, the famous poet and classicist.
James' skill in mathematics was sufficient to earn a recommendation from Prof. Robert Adrain, while Chair of the mathematics department at Rutgers in 1825, for James to assume the Chair in mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
James married Judith Middagh Vermeule* (1795-1881), on Oct 16, 1821 in New Jersey. Her first two children, by James, Charles and Samuel, were born in Harlem, New York City in 1822 and 1824, respectively. In 1825 James accepted an invitation to occupy the Chair of Mathematics at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill NC. He succeeded Elisha Mitchell who held the Chair from 1817. This university was the first State University formed in the U.S. There is a Phillips Hall at UNC in Chapel Hill named for James Phillips.
James achieved his ordination in the Presbyterian Church in a local North Carolina Church late in his career and is often known as Rev. James Phillips.
James' companion, and not-very-probable "brother" Samuel Adkins Phillips, married Ann King Hortsen of Geneva, NY and had 7 children born in New York City: William Hortsen Phillips; Samuel Phillips; John Phillips; Annie Phillips (who married George W. Knowlton), Richard M. B. Phillips, Thomas G. Phillips, and Edwin Phillips. There is considerable doubt that Samuel was a brother of James, and there is no known correspondence between them or among each other's family members since James left New York for North Carolina. Family tradition, however, based on James' own statements, has held that they were brothers.
Current research is being done to determine the identity of Samuel Adkins Phillips (1790-1872), and find out if he is related to James Phillips or not.
The Phillips (Philipps) family of Picton Castle
Sir Richard Phillips* (1767-1840), having the inherited title of "Earl of Mountnorris", is the son of another Sir Richard Phillips* (1739-1823), 7th Baron Milford, and Mary Phillips*. This Phillips line extends back to the Philipps family of Picton Castle, which is the same family that produced many another lines of American Phillips families, particularly that of George Phillips (c1593-1644), first Minister of Watertown, MA. George Phillips is the ancestor of the Phillips' who founded the Phillips Andover, and Phillips Exeter academies, as well as Philip Phillips and Theophilus Phillips who were ancestors of Alexander Hamilton Phillips, 2nd Headmaster of the Lawrenceville School.