[p. 651] a prominent real estate dealer at Ellwood City, with his business office at No. 227 Sixth Street, has been a resident of this place since 1893 and has been identified with its remarkable development. Mr. Phillips was born in Brady Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, August 23, 1856, and is a son of Jonathan T. and Rebecca (McCoy) Phillips.
In all probability the Phillips family originated in Wales, but the present available records reach only to the grandfather, John Phillips, who secured a patent for his land in Clarion County, at a very early day and on that farm his children and grandchildren were born. He died there in 1856. His sons, David, John, Timothy and Jonathan, are all deceased. He had three daughters, Susan, Sarah and Margaret, Susan and Margaret still surviving, in advanced age. Susan married William Wharton and survives him. Sarah married William McCoy and both are deceased. Margaret married William Hibbert, and both still live.
Jonathan T. Phillips was born in Clarion County, in 1829, and died February 22, 1897. He married Rebecca McCoy, who was born in Ohio and is a daughter of William McCoy, who died there when she was small. Her mother removed with her children to Phillipstown, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Phillips was reared and married. She has recently passed her seventy-seventh birthday. The children born to Jonathan T. Phillips and wife were: Mabin F., who is engaged as an engineer and gauger for the Standard Oil Pipe Line Company, at Ogle, Butler County; Elliott H., residing at Ellwood City; Luvadus W., residing at Center Point, Dodge County, West Virginia, is a gauger employed by the Eureka Pipe Line Company; Arvilla, who married Calvin C. Mauck, who is engaged as weighmaster for a coal company at Phillipston, Clarion County; Alsimeda, who married William Adams, who is a prosperous wheat farmer, owning several hundred acres of land near South Bend, Kan., and Otis McKendry and Lillie, both deceased, the former dying at the age of eighteen years and the latter aged three years. Jonathan T. Phillips followed a blacksmith business in his earlier years, but later became a stationary engineer.
From the age of six years to thirteen, Elliott H. Phillips, with his brothers, attended the public schools near his home. When his father deemed him old enough, he put him to work as a pumper in the oil fields, where he continued until he was nineteen, after which, for two years, he was associated with his brother William in a coal business and worked also as a stationary engineer. In 1893, as above noted, he came to Ellwood City and for some six years engaged in business here in the tobacco and stationery line, and since then has been interested in fire insurance and real estate. He handles a large amount of realty and makes investments for outside parties, and probably has had much to do with bringing capital and desirable residents to this section. He represents also, as general agent, many of the leading fire insurance firms and companies of the country.
In 1879 Mr. Phillips was married to Miss Rebecca Jane Walker, who is a daughter of Alexander Walker, who was a prominent farmer of Armstrong County. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Phillips: A babe that died when nine days old; Maude, who is the wife of William Dunham, has two children, Ina and Robert F., and they reside on Park Avenue, Ellwood City; Roy, who is a yeoman on the torpedo boat Vasilla, is at present (1908) stationed at Norfolk, Va.; Etta, who is in her father's employ in his real estate office, and Lola May, who is a student. Mr. Phillips and family belong to the Baptist Church at Ellwood City.
Reared a Republican, Mr. Phillips has always been an ardent advocate of its principles, and has consistently supported its State and National candidates. For nine years he served as tax collector of Ellwood City borough, but has never sought civic promotion. He owns considerable city property, which includes his comfortable residence at No. 220 Fourth Street. He is identified with several fraternal bodies and for a number of years has been more or less prominent in the order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Glen Park Lodge, No. 1016, of Ellwood City, and to Conoquenessing Encampment, No. 64.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
Previous Biography | Table of Contents | Next Biography
Explanation/Caution | Lawrence Co. Maps | Lawrence Co. Histories
Updated: 20 Nov 2001