My Genealogy Hound

Elisha H. Phillips, a representative of one of the old established families of Posey county, was born in Black township (same county) July 8, 1852. His grandfather and grandmother, Irad and Eunice (Bennett) Phillips came here from New York, where they were both born, the former in January, 1773, and the latter in 1772. They located in Posey county, Indiana, in 1820, when their son Elisha Phillips, Sr., was a young man. Irad Phillips died in August, 1822, and his wife died in August, 1837. Elisha Phillips, Sr., was born in New York November 19, 1802, and died in Posey county, Indiana, April 16, 1875. His wife, Volley (Burleson), daughter of Aaron and Mary (Hampton) Burleson, was born November 15, 1808, and died January 1, 1871. They are both buried in Burleson cemetery at Farmersville, Ind. When the Phillips family first came to Indiana this county was a wilderness, and Elisha, Sr., built his first home of logs in the woods, and was married in 1825. He and his wife became the parents of ten children: Ninvey, born April 17, 1827; Andrew H., born June 8, 1829; Elizabeth, born January 17, 1831; Volley A., deceased, born December 14, 1834; Eunice M., born February 10, 1836; Aaron H., born July 15, 1839; Jonathan H., born February 27, 1845; Elisha H., born July 8, 1852; John T., born January 14, 1841, and Fidelia T., born February 21, 1843. Elisha H. Phillips, the youngest child of Elisha and Volley Phillips, was born on the same farm where he now lives, and attended common school at Farmersville. After graduating from the common school course he began farming and raising stock. He remained at home with his parents until their deaths, after which the home place became his property. He is a stockholder in the Farmers’ Elevator and Grain Company of Mt. Vernon. He is a member of the Regular Baptist church, and has several times been elected delegate to the General Association of that denomination. He is a director in the organization at Farmersville. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Ben Hur lodge, and of the Democratic party. On the first of June, 1876, Mr. Phillips married Annie Dunn, daughter of Robert and Mary Dunn, natives of Butler county, Ohio, who came to Posey county before their marriage. They engaged in farming and stock raising. Robert Dunn was the son of James and Mary (McCluskey) Dunn, natives of Butler county, Ohio, where they were married. They are of Irish extraction. They came to Posey county when their son Robert was nine years of age, and engaged in farming. (See tombstone in Dunn cemetery.) Robert and Mary (Jones) Dunn had six children: Malinda, deceased, Annie, now Mrs. Phillips, Elizabeth, deceased, Angeline, deceased, John T., deceased, and William H. Malinda married Caleb Erwin and had five children, Mary, Versie, Hannah, Elsie, and one who died in infancy. Elizabeth married Walter Hinkley and had one child, Owen. William H. married Elizabeth Buchannan and had two children, Robert and Margaret. Annie, the wife of our subject, was raised in Black township and educated at the Gill schoolhouse, where she graduated. Her parents are both dead, the father dying in February, 1879, and the mother in August, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips had seven children, Albert, William and Eugene, deceased, and Lemnel R., Elisha D., Grace and Zillie, living. Lemnel R. is a farmer of Black township. He married Lulie Dunn, and they have two children, Clyde and Marie. Elisha D. resides in Louisville, Ky. Grace married Henry Kiltz, farmer and rural mail carrier of Black township. They had two children, Horace, deceased, and Helen. Zillie married Herbert Hogan, retail liquor dealer of Mt. Vernon. They have two children, Starlus and Hazel. Mrs. Elisha Phillips is a member of the Regular Baptist church and active in her congregation at Farmersville. The Phillips farm of 132 acres is one of the best in Black township, and has been in the Phillips family for three generations.