Leonidus Phillips (1885)

The picture was taken in Orange, Texas. He moved with his wife Belle Hill in search of work. He was a carpenter by trade. His father, Bowery W. Phillips 1858-1933 was both a carpenter and farmer. He died of consumption while building a Baptist church in Monroe, Co. Mississippi.

My mother, their first born, was born in Orange, Texas. I guess the work ran out, or rising a family in the oil fields was too hard. They came back to Monroe Co. were they had two more children. Leonidus then went to Carter Co. Tn. looking for work and was never hear from again. His brother Riley Phillips went to Carter Co. but could not find a trace of him. To this day no one knows what happened. There is a story of him living with a Mary Phillips, while in Carter Co. and at some point they left for Oklahoma. It is a mystery. My uncle Gayle V. Phillips was also a carpenter. While working in Duck Town Tn.in the early 1940s, a foreman came and told him his father was at the front office asking for him. Gayle told the foreman he had no father. We were talking of it one night and he said, "I wish I had gone to see who it was at the front office."