David Phillips (1742 - 1829)

Born 26 Mar 1742 in Eglwysmen, Pembrokeshire, South Wales

Husband of Mary Ann (Thomas) Philips — married 29 Sep 1763 (to 1829) in Eglwysmen, Pembrokeshire, Wales [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 5 Mar 1829 at age 86 in Library, South Park Township, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Marian Roberts [send private message]

Biography

Captain David Phillips served with 7th Battalion, Chester County Militia, Pennsylvania Militia during the American Revolution.

David Phillips is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A090417.

Descendants of Rev. David Philips have asked the Daughters of the American Revolution to honor them by presenting to them a flag to be placed on the Church Grounds of the Peters' Creek Church with which the Rev. David was associated almost from its organization. David married a Welsh maiden whose name was Mary Thomas, Sept. 29, 1763, and they had thirteen children. In a book published a few years ago, written by Richard T. Wiley, and called Sim Greene,  Rev. David Philips is mentioned as having said grace at a dinner at a house raising, as it was called in those days. The author says, "I was surprised to learn that he was a minister, for he was dressed in homespun and had been doing a full share all morning in the arduous work of building up the log house.  To distinguish him from another man of the same name in the vicinity, he was known as Preaching David."

Birth & Death

David was born in 1742. David Philips passed away in 1829. ^[1]

Philips Family refers to him a "Rev. David". P. 24 ^[2]

"At the Peters Creek Baptist church, in Library Pa., there is a small museum housing documents and artifacts of Rev. David Philips, the oldest son of Joseph and Mary Philips." P. 23 ^[2]

Family

David married Mary Thomas 29 Sep 1763 in Chester, Pennsylvania.^[3] Their children were^[3]

1. Mary b. 30 - Jun - 1764, who married Benjamin Pyatt and John Scott
2. Benjamin b. 18 - Apr - 1766, who married Lydia Phillips
3. John b. 16 - Apr - 1768, who married Mary Phillips
4. Sarah b. c. 1771, who married David McElhinny
5. Thomas b. 23 - Mar - 1774, who married Sarah Hazen
6. Josiah b. 14 - Apr - 1776, who married Sarah Bell
7. David b. 1 - Apr - 1780, who married Nancy Richardson
8. Martha b. c. 1782, who married Joseph Work
9. Isaac b. 22 - Sep - 1787, who married Nancy Ledlie

Events

From History of Washington Co., PA (c1882,), page 891:

The Rev. David Philips was emphatically the leading clergyman of the pioneer days of Peters township. He was born in Wales in 1742, and emigrated from that country to America with his father's family, settling in Chester Co., PA. He married during his residence at that place, and in 1783 came into Washington county and took out a warrant for land which now lies in both Allegheny and Washington counties. This tract of land was surveyed to him as 390 acres, under the title of 'Norwich', and he obtained the patent for it March 4, 1786". Following his years of heroic service in the war, David Philips accepted the Macedonian call to what was then the American frontier, in Washington county, southwestern Pennsylvania. He was ordained by the Peters Creek Baptist church in his new home, and was immediately called to the pastorate thereof. At the same time he supplied the Finleyville, Elizabethton and Budd's Ferry churches. Many public responsibilities were placed upon Rev. David's shoulders. He was a delegate from his county to attend a convention in Pittsburgh to protest against the whiskey tax, a much resented excise devised by Alexander Hamilton and with others, he addressed an appeal to Congress that the tax be removed. (History of W. County, page 266) ...D.A.R.Index.page 532. 973/C42da.

From Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania:

Rev. David Philips, son of Joseph and Mary Philips, came from Wales to America prior to the Revolution, and took an active part in that conflict, having command as captain of a company of militia. He married Mary Thomas and had thirteen children, all now deceased.

From History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania:

David was a farmer, and came to this place with his father, Rev. David Philips, in 1780, settling in what is now Bethel township. Rev. David Philips was born March 26, 1742; was a captain in the Revolution, a son of Joseph Philips, who was born in Wales, in 1716, and married to a Welsh lady who was born in 1710. Joseph came to America in 1755 with his three sons, David, John and Josiah. Rev. David Philips had a great gift of pulpit and pastoral work. He was called to Peter's Creek Baptist Church, at Library, April 7, 1781, ordained May 1st of the same year, and there labored forty years. Rev. David Philips was a true patriot as well as a Christian. When the whisky rebellion was at its height, he mounted a stump, amid cries of 'Shoot him," and urged the payment of the excise, while his friends expected every moment to see him fall. He died March 5. 1829, and his widow, Mary Thomas, Oct. 31, 1840.

Sources

1. ↑ Entered by Donna Glover, Jun 13, 2012
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} PHILIPS FAMILY RECORD 1978, Compiled by George Ogden Philips. Copyright 1979
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 30 Mar 2020), "Record of David Phillips", Ancestor # A090417.

• DAR record https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A090417
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33480990/david-philips
• Old Records,
 Pennsylvania Archives,
 and Notes compiled by the late George K. Miles .
• #S48,History of Washington Co., PA (c1882,) Page: page 891. S48
• Jordan, John W. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania, Vol. 2, Pages 746-748 (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1915)
• Cushing, Thomas History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Part II, Pages 427-428 (A. Warner & Co.., Chicago, 1889)
• Northwestern Historical Association. Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Northwest Historical Association., Madison, Wisconsin, 1904, Vol. 1, p. 186-188)

Acknowledgments