My Genealogy Hound

Dr. Joseph W. Phillips, a widely known and skillful physician of Williston, Fayette County, was born in the county July 31, 1836, and is a son of Pettus and Dorcas (Pettus) Phillips, who were both natives of Mecklenburg County, Va. The father was born July 2, 1794, and died in Fayette County September 18, 1867. The mother was born September 11, 1795, and died in Fayette County May 14, 1861. They married June 2, 1814, in their native State, and in 1831 moved to Tennessee and settled first in Haywood County, eight miles north of Brownsville, but three years later moved to Fayette County and settled near Somerville, but at the end of the year moved to the Fourteenth District, seven miles south of Somerville, where they remained until they died. The father was a very successful farmer; both parents were consistent members of the Missionary Baptist Church and were highly esteemed in the community. Dr. Joseph Phillips was the youngest of twenty-one children. He had good educational advantages and after finishing his literary course, commenced the study of medicine and in the fall of 1855 entered the Memphis Botanical Medical College, where he received his diploma in the spring of 1857 and after graduating was, for a term of four months, demonstrator of anatomy in the college. He then returned to Fayette County and commenced the practice of medicine, and has been a most successful practitioner ever since, excepting the years he served in the Confederate Army. In 1878 he was with the yellow fever sufferers at Williston, and by his skill and courage greatly endeared himself to the people, and the next year he moved to Williston and still resides there. Dr. Phillips has, from the first, been extremely popular as a physician. In 1861 he entered, as private, the Confederate service, in what was known as Johnson’s Light Artillery, and was soon promoted to orderly sergeant, second lieutenant and first lieutenant, and during the last eighteen months was captain of Johnson’s Light Artillery, and surrendered at Meridian, Miss., in the spring of 1865. After an absence of nearly four years he returned home and resumed his profession. The war swept away all of his property and left him without means, but his ability as a physician soon enabled him to build up an extensive practice and he now owns 650 acres of land in Fayette County, besides other property. January 22, 1868, he married Miss Catharine Holden, who was born in Fayette County, October 25, 1844, and they have had three sons and three daughters; one daughter died. Mrs. Phillips is a prominent member of the Episcopal Church. Dr. Phillips does not belong to any church, but is a sincere believer in the Christian faith, and a true and liberal friend of the church. He is a gentleman of ability and culture and has hosts of friends in West Tennessee.