Pam, I found a mention of your Phillips family in "Granville, The Story
of an Ohio Village" by William T. Utter (published by Granville
Historical Society and Denison University, Granville Ohio) c 1956
From page 15" The Welsh were the first settlers in this township
(Granville - jd) who had deeds to the lands they occupied. When surveys
were made in the Military Districts the townships were divided into
quarters of approximately 4000 acres. In the Granville township a
patent to the northeast quarter had been acquired by Sampson Davies, a
Welshman of Philadelphia. The village of Granville lies outside of this
tract, but close to its southwestern corner. In September 1801,
eighteen hundred acres of his holding were sold by Davies to two
extraordinary Welshmen, Theophilus Rees and Thomas Phillips. In 1795
these two gentlemen, together with their families, left their homes in
Carmarthenshire, South Wales for America. Since both were men of
standing in their community and were well-to-do, one is curious as to
the motives that eventually brought them to the New World. There is a
tradition that John H. Phillips, one of the sons of Thomas, was in
danger of arrest because of seditious writings and that he hurriedly
departed for America in 1789 accompanied by two brothers. There was an
element of religious nonconformity in the background too, since both
leaders were Baptists and fervently religious men. It is also well to
remember that at the time they left their homeland Britain was already
fully engaged in war with France destined to last until 1815. The
desire to escape conscription might have been a factor in the migration
of these two families, as it was in many other cases.
For a short time they found residence in the neighborhood of
Philadelphia but later they joined a rather large Welsh community in
Beulah, Cambria Country, Pennsylvania, some eighty miles east of
Pittsburgh. In spite of its early promise the village of Beulah did not
flourish and most of its population eventually settled in Ohio. It was
the intent of both Rees and Philipps to find land in Ohio that would be
a suitable inheritance for their children. Thomas Pillipps did not come
to his land until 1806 but Theophilus Rees , together with two
sons-in-law, David Lewis and "Big" David Thomas, reached the township in
the fall of 1802. In Wheeling the party become acquainted with Jimmy
Johnson, frontier scout and Indian fighter, who with his family agreed
to acompany the Welsh and to take up a farm in their purchase. In
return for the protection which the presence of so redoubtable a fighter
would give to the settlers, he was promised a tract of one hundred
acres."
I lived in Granville for a number of years. Both Denison and the town
are very history conscious, and I would expect that you will find more
on the Philipps' in their holdings or those of the Ohio Historical
Society in Columbus.
Regards,
Jim Duggan
