James Phillips (1809 – ) was born in Tennessee, according to later census records. As I have said on his brother Zac’s summary, I believe he would have been 1 of 4 children born in Tennessee. Later on he married Dorcas Crawford.
We have no specific evidence from his time in Tennessee. Based on the likely timeframe his (likely) father William moved to Alabama, James would not have remembered much of the move. James would have been between 5 and 10 r that time, old enough to remember a major move like that.
The first evidence we have of James is from his marriage with Dorcas Crawford (1807-1878) in St Clair County, Alabama on 10 July 1828.
The marriage was solemnized by B. Lockhart, further research into Mr. Lockhart would be a good avenue to see what church the family attended.
James would have been 19 at the time of his marriage. I have seen other records where the father has to approve a marriage if the male child was below 21, but have not been able to find it.
Dorcas was the daughter of Vineyard Crawford, one of the original settlers to the area. Interestingly, based on research I’ve done on the Vinyard/James Phillips connection, I’ve found that Vineyard was in the St Clair county area since 1815 when it was a part of Mississippi territory. William Phillips, and James Phillips for that matter, are NOT in the area by 1815.
Notably, William Mackey, William Dearmon and Golder Fields (his land was later sold to William Phillips) are very close by in both the 1815 Mississippi census and the 1820 Alabama Census
1830 Census
James is living in St Clair County, Alabama in 1830. His son Russel has been born already and he’s living with his wife Dorcas Crawford. He would be 21 years old and Dorcas would be about 23 – the ages of the James Phillips in 1830 line up with that (1 Male between 20 and 30, 1 female between 20 and 30). We can be reasonably assured that this is the correct James Phillips.
James is living a few houses down (on the same census page) from John Crump the 1st and George Hardwick and is one census page over from a William Philips and John Philips, as well as by Cunningham Crawford (his likely brother in law) and William McCorkle
Early Records
On 25 Feb 1836, James was appointed to lay the dower of Sarah Crump, widow of Silas Crump.
Others appointed were Cunningham Crawford and William McCorkle, and Vineyard Crawford. We know from the 1830 census that they were all neighbors, and that likely Cunningham and Vineyard were in laws of James. Further research into a possible marriage between the Crawfords and the Crumps or McCorkles would be a great next step.
Later that year on 5 September 1836, James is appointed Administrator of his brother Zach’s estate. According to the record, he requested that he be the administrator – this can be a sign that he was a potential heir or creditor, or at the least had an interest in the estate. While this, by itself, does not indicate they were related, it does show a relationship between the two men with the same last name.
The judge approved this request and appointed Burwell McClendon, Rowland Crump and Nathanl Samuels be appointed appraisers for the estate.
James is allowed to sell all of Zach’s personal property.
Considering where we think James was living in 1830 (based on neighbors), he would have lived 10 to 15 miles from where his likely father William or his likely brother Zach lived. While there are 6-7 years between that census and the administration of his estate, you can see the path mimics where William traveled in the 1830s. William is living near by 2 of James’ neighbors in the early 1830s, and later William moves northeast closer to Zach’s land.
Those named as appraisers were neighbors of Zach, and Rowland Crump even purchased a portion of Zach’s estate! I believe James just worked the land, he doesn’t appear to have purchased any land in St Clair county, so it is likely he moved with his dad William.
Wheeling and Dealing
It looks like there were many moving parts in the Administration of Zach’s estate. First, on 12 October 1837, James purchases 80 acres from John Washburn, Sr. (husband of Nancy Washburn). Joseph Copeland (father in law of Joseph Phillips) witnessed the need as well as JW Hooper (clerk of St Clair County).
About a month later, James petitions the court to sell Zach’s land on 28 November 1837. I believe that James was had a buyer in mind – the judge orders that the land be publicized in the Jacksonville Republican for 40 days to give anyone interested a chance to tell the judge why it shouldn’t be sold.
On 8 January 1838, the court approves selling Zach’s land because the personal property of Zach’s is not sufficient to cover his debts. I am betting that most of Zach’s stuff is with his wife, so there’s probably just not much stuff to sell.
The court orders that the land be listed for sale for 40 more days in the Jacksonville Register.
A little later, on 20 February 1838 James sells about 40 acres to Rowland Crump. I am not sure why they would sell just a small portion of the overall piece, but it may have been all Rowland could afford.
Only the judge signs as a witness (William Little).
On 19 July 1838, James sells the remainder of Zach’s land to William Phillips.
William Little (justice of the peace) and Shadrach Morris witness the deed.
So in the end, it appears that James purchased some acreage that Zach must have been in the process of buying, and later sold that land to William (his likely father). By July 1838, James was likely done with court issues!
1840 Census
It appears that James began living with his in-laws the Crawfords. We can narrow down where he was likely living to Township 13 South, Range 3 East, and likely in sections 14, 15, 21, 22, 23. James would be 31 years old, and Dorcas would be about 33. We know 1 male was born around 1830 (Russell), so we would expect one male between 10 and 15, or possibly 1 male between 5 and 10.
We find that James Philips is between 30 and 40 and he is living with his wife between 30 and 40, and they have 1 male between 10 and 15! The family has grown – 2 more boys and 3 girls. I believe they were named Jesse C, Mary Etta, Sarah Amanda, Ellender J and James W Phillips.
I can’t find a deed for James in the area – it may be worth it to ensure all the patents in these sections are accounted for to be sure he didn’t buy land otherwise. I would bet that he is living on his father in law or brother in law’s land. They are also living next to Sarah Crump, widow of Silas Crump. It should be noted that 4 is actually William Deerman, while in 1840 James lives near to Ely Dearman.
1850 Census
It looks like James stays in the same house for a decade or more. In the 1850, we see that he’s still living next to Curtis G Beason, Vinyard Crawford and Cunningham Crawford.
The best thing about the 1850 census is that everyone in the family is listed! We now know the names of ALL the children – Russell (1830), Jesse (1832), Mary E (1834), Sarah Amanda (1835), Ellender J (1839), James W (1840), Thomas N (1843), Cunningham (1844) and Zacariah Phillips (1849)!
James notes his birthplace is Tennessee and does not have any real estate value, which means he was likely a renter. Dorcas is 43 years old, born in Georgia and cannot read or write.
James is also in the 1850 Agricultural census. This verifies h did not own any land – he owned about $50 of farming equipment, some livestock and $1100 bushels of Indian Corn!
James purchases land
James must have decided it was time to own land, because he took out a mortgage with Byers and Rowan (known mortgagers in the area) for land previously owned by his father William. The mortgage was taken on 12 August 1856.
This leads me to my best connection to William Phillips. The loose deed pages have a cover sheet, and on that it lists James as “Wms Son”. I have not seen the original, but the copy is below.
The associated deed follows in the St Clair County, Alabama deed book. James purchases about 200 acres from Wm> D. Washburn
James does not live there long – on 14 Dec 1857, James sells this land to his likely brother (and my grandfather) Joseph.
RC Crump and Burwell McClendon are witnesses
1860 Census
James leaves this land to go live with his dad William. At this point William is 75 and Sarah is 72, so they would likely need some help getting around. James and Dorcas are living with 7 kids, including one new addition Dorcas Phillips! James has $1,000 in real estate, so there should be an additional land purchase in Township 12, Range 4 East.
He’s also in the 1860 Ag census, notably William does not have land in this one.
Children of James and Dorcas
Russell Lowell Phillips (1830 – ) Married Sarah Frances Gregory (1838 – )
Jesse C Phillips (1832 – )
Mary Etta Phillips (1834 – ) Married James M Quinn (1835 – 1914)
Sarah Amanda Phillips (1836 – 1907) Married William H Goode
Ellender J Phillips (1838 – ) Married Isaiah Brothers (1823 –
James W Phillips (1840 –
Thomas N Phillips (1843 –
Cunningham E Phillips (1844 –
Zachariah Phillips (1849 –
Dorcas Phillips (1850 –
NorthEast Alabama Families 