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CHAPTER TWELVE

ALFRED MOREFIELD PHILLIPS

Revised 23 January 2019 by author Lawrence Eugene Vaughn Jr

L-R: Front: Marjorie Gwendolyn White Vaughn & Lawrence Eugene Vaughn. Back: Alfred Morefield Phillips, Jessie Beulah Phillips Vaughn holding Sharon Lee Sampson, and Helen Ruth Vaughn Sampson. 1943. In the photo at right: Alfred Morefield Phillips holds great-granddaughter Sharon Lee Sampson born April 26, 1942.

The Phillips Family

I really can’t remember much about the Phillips family, since we lived a few hours apart and didn’t visit that often. I do recall that once, as a youngster, we went to a family reunion for the Phillips in south central Illinois. I remember being on an expansive green lawn, rows of picnic tables filled with food, groups of adults sitting or standing, engaged in conversation.

l also have a visual image permanently implanted in my memory of a huge metal stock watering tank, probably six or eight feet long, under a huge old shade tree.  It seemed to me to be filled with hundreds of bottles of soda pop on cracked ice! It made quite an impression on me, didn’t it? I can still clearly recall the image!

Alfred Morefield Phillips

Alfred Morefield Phillips was Jessie Beulah Phillip’s father. He farmed land just south of Marion, Illinois, but, as coal was discovered in the area, coal mines were springing up everywhere. The 1920 U.S. Census lists his occupation as “Coal Miner,” and a careful search of census records, indicates that he was back farming in Creal Springs Township, Williamson County, in 1930.  U.S. Census, church directories and phone books for 1940 don’t return any records.

When he was born on June 5, 1865, in Marion, Illinois, his father, John, a cabinet maker, was 25 and his mother, Martha, was 26. They were living in Williamson County, Township 9, Range 2. He had five brothers. John, his father, was born in Virginia, and his mother, Martha, was born in Tennessee. All of their children were born in Illinois.

U.S. Census records for John and Martha have many of the typical errors found on these records, ranging from spelling errors to incorrect age calculations.

By 1920 census reports had become much more accurate and informative, better reflecting the makeup of the whole family unit,, and including those who may have been away at the time the census visit to the home was made.

Alfred entered into farming in Williamson County, near Marion. On 13 Dec 1893, He married Leona Wilma McAnelly, age 20, Marion. They had three sons and one daughter between 1894 and 1907.  

Leona preceded Alfred in death on December 6, 1939. Alfred died at his son, Harry Lee’s home, on April 8, 1957, at the age of 91, and was buried in Shiloh Cemetery, in Marion, Williamson County, in his hometown.

Death Notice:

Leona Wilma McAnelly was born on November 18, 1868, in Williamson, Illinois, her father, John, was 48, and her mother, Matilda, was 33. She married Alfred Morefield Phillips on December 13, 1893, in Marion, Illinois. They had four children in 12 years. She died on December 6, 1939, at the age of 71, and was buried in in Shiloh Cemetery in Marion, Illinois.

Alfred Morefield Phillips  1865–1957BIRTH 05 JUN 1865 • Marion, Williamson, Illinois • DEATH 08 APR 1957 • Shiloh Cemetery, Marion IL

Leona Wilma McAnelly 1868–1939 • BIRTH 18 NOV 1868 • Williamson County, Illinois • DEATH 06 DEC 1939 • Shiloh Cemetery, Marion IL

Arley Marshall Phillips was born on January 26, 1907, in Williamson County, Illinois, his father, Alfred, was 41 and his mother, Leona, was 38. He had two brothers and one sister. In 1927 he married Verna Vivian Stapleton, born on July 20, 1910, to Charles, age 25, and her mother Clella, age 21. They had one child, Larry Dean, during their marriage.

Arley died on February 14, 1963, at the age of 56, and was buried in Marion, Illinois.

Verna died on June 2, 1995, in Marion at the age of 84.

Larry died 7 Sep 2015 in Bonita Springs, Lee County, Florida.

Jessie Elizabeth Hollis and Clyde Emerson Phillips

A Day on the Farm

On at least one other occasion, my family travelled to Clyde Phillip’s farm, where he spent a big part of the afternoon taking us for rides on a two-wheeled pony cart. We were not allowed to pet the pony because it was in training. It sure was pretty; golden brown with white mane, tail and socks, and trotted much like a Tennessee Walker.

That was a fun afternoon, experiencing the various farm animals, playing in the hay loft of the horse barn, throwing loose hay into the feeding troughs below, visiting the shiny tack room, and ending with a trip to the root cellar to retrieve quarts of canned food to make a sumptuous meal. I was awed by a large serving bowl filled with homemade butter they had made themselves! It was truly a whole other world than the one we knew.

Next Chapter: Vaughn Aunt, Uncles and Others