Notes for John William Phillips: Located in the Ashland, Al library are books of funeral home records from Blair Funeral Home and one of these lists John Will Phillips and gives his birth date as Dec 24, 1878 and death date as July 16 1953. It lists his father as John Thomas Phillips and his mother as Lizzie Melton and his interment at Millerville, Clay County, Al Cemetary.
For some reason I had that my grandfather was born in Arkansas but when my Uncle Hulon confronted me with this, I went and looked at my data, I couldn't find where I got that. Then I realized he is a young boy in his parents house in 1880 in Coleta, Clay Co, Al and noted from the census that he was listed as being born in Alabama as were his parents so I changed this.
I got excited when I saw that the Pinkneyville Census was enumerated by John W Phillips in 1900 until I realized our John W Phillips was still living in his parents home in 1900 in Poll Bridge (listed as Willie Phillips). It turns out the John W Phillips that enumerated the census was boarding in a home in Pinkneyville and was a teacher whose parents were born in Georgia. Clearly not our John W Phillips.
Dad tells a story about my grandfather confiding to him before he died about a situation in Arkansas that resulted in Granddaddy Phillips killing a man by the name of Isaac Whisenhunt and throwing his body down a well. Dad said that this bore heavily on my grandfather and wanted to tell someone about it before he died. He said it was a situation of kill or be killed. I believe this was the reason for Granddaddy moving back to Alabama. If it occured it would have been between the birth of Cleo in 1912 in Arkansas and the birth of Clara in 1914 in Alabama. Granddaddy's wife, Ida Belle Mitchell's sister Mary married John Abner Whisenhunt, but there is no Isaac in my data for them.
I have researched Isaac Whisenhunt and found one born in 1887 in Polk Arkansas in 1910 but he is still present in the 1920 census still in Polk county married with family. This is the only Isaac Whisenhunt that I could find, so maybe he wasn't dead and crawled out of the well.
More About John William Phillips: Date born 2: 1879, Alabama.272 Burial: Unknown, Millerville, Clay County, Al Baptist Church Cemetary. Census 1: 1930, Millerville, Clay County, Al. Census 2: 1900, Poll Bridge Alabama. Census 3: 1910, Pike, eagle township. Census 4: 1920, Millerville. Residence: 1930, Millerville, Clay County, Al, Clay, Alabama.272
More About John William Phillips and Eula Clark: Marriage: September 14, 1921
Children of John William Phillips and Eula Clark are:
+Flossie Leigh Phillips, b. May 24, 1922, Millerville, Clay County, Al273, d. September 19, 2005, Ashland, Al.
John William Phillips (b. December 24, 1878, d. July 16, 1953)
Notes for John William Phillips: