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____? ____? _?_-_?_ |
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____? MEADE _?_-_?_ |
Elizabeth "Betty" Whitfield (?) ___?-1793 |
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Richard (?) POSTLETHWAITE 1722-____? |
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Susannah MEADE (?) _?_-1794 |
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Richard POSTLETHWAITE c1759-1819 |
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James POSTLETHWAITE aliasPHILLIPS 1792-1867 |
See Portraits of James Phillips* and Judith Middagh Vermeule*
There is considerable mystery concerning the identity of James Phillips' 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 second wife who had many children. However, 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 the time.
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,
After he left home, 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 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.
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 deserted the Royal Marines, abandoned his wife and two young children, changed his name to James Phillips, and boarded a ship from La Havre 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. 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. Neither his nor Samuel Adkins Phillips' natralization papers have been found.
James and Samuel arrived in New York City in 1818 and started a private boy's academy in Harlem. James joined a mathematics club in the 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. 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.
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. 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.
It is perhaps an emblem of the times, however, there is an eerie similitude in the fact that the Interrogative System of academic publications was invented in 1798 by a publisher named 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 Rights of Man. There is a remote possibility that this Richard Phillips had taken a mistress, named Susannah 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. Richard Phillips served his jail term, then 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. He married a Miss Griffiths in 1795 and had many children by her. 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. His skills in classical languages could have been instilled by his father, Rev. Richard Postlethwaite*, 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.
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.