My Genealogy Hound

Nathan Jackson Phillips. No worthy history of Newton County could be written which failed to include a sketch of the life of this esteemed citizen, a man whose personal acquaintance and popularity only less than his long residence in this county, in giving him an enviable reputation wherever his name is known. Mr. Phillips was born in Granger County, Tenn., April 10, 1819. His father, Nathan Phillips, and his mother, whose maiden name was Winnie Martin, were, both Virginians by birth. The father followed the occupation of a farmer. Their family consisted of eight children, Nathan Jackson being the only one now living. He was reared in Tennessee, and in 1837 immigrated to Greene County, Mo., and engaged in farming and trading. In 1849 he went to California, and in 1851 he returned to Newton County, Mo., and engaged in mercantile pursuits and farming. In 1856 he took a drove of cattle to California, and the enterprise proved so successful that he repeated it in 1857. In 1859 he took another drove, thus making four trips overland to that State. He returned to Neosho, Mo., in 1860, and having accumulated considerable property, and owning quite a number of slaves, he went with the latter, in 1862, to Arkansas, and in 1863 to Paris, Tex., where he lived four years. The slaves were, of course, freed, but the treatment they had received at his hands was so marked that at the present time they cherish a feeling toward Mr. Phillips and wife that time cannot obliterate. After leaving Texas Mr. Phillips remained for a short time in Bentonville, Ark., where he engaged in selling goods, and in 1869 he returned to Neosho, Mo. In 1878 he moved to McDonald County, Mo., and while living there in 1880 he was selected by the Democratic party as a suitable person to represent that county in the Legislature, and he was elected by a handsome majority. He proved himself a faithful and efficient public servant, and filled the position to the satisfaction of his constituents. In 1884 he returned to Newton County, Mo. He was married June 11, 1851, to Miss O. T. Lauderdale, a native of Tennessee, but who was reared in McDonald County, Mo., and the daughter of Robert and Francis M. Lauderdale. To Mr. and Mrs. Phillips was born one daughter. Francis Cornelia (wife of John A Wilson). Mr. Phillips has three daughters by a previous marriage: Mary Lucretia (wife of R. P. Norman, Greene County, Mo.), Lucy Jane (who married Dr. Virgil Willis, and is now a widow) and Sarah Ann (who married William Lamberson, and is now living in Kansas). Mr. Phillips is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and personally is held in high esteem, and though quiet and unobstrusive in demeanor, his kind and obliging manner proves a fruitful source of the popularity he enjoys.