Sarah Frances Phillips, who married Wayne Allen Plunkett in 1936 and raised five children on the farm in Section 27, was the eighth generation of her family in America. The seven before her came by ship and by wagon: out of England to the Delaware River, from Bucks County to the Carolina backcountry, and at last into the woods of Hendricks County, Indiana, which they cleared and farmed and are buried in.
They were Quakers for most of that journey — Friends of the Abington, Gwynedd, Mill Creek and Spring meetings — until the Civil War divided them from their meeting and from one another. Three of Eli Phillips's sons went to that war. Two did not come home.
George Phillips came to America as a servant of Henry Maddock of Manturch, Cheshire, England, arriving at the Delaware River in Pennsylvania aboard the ship Endeavour of London on January 23, 1683.
His apprenticeship finished around 1699, he married Patience Griffith, daughter of Howell Griffith and sister of Abraham Griffith. Both were of the English Friends, and the couple settled first within the bounds of the Abington and Gwynedd Monthly Meetings.
On June 25, 1712 he bought 300 acres in the Manor of Richland, Pennsylvania, adjoining a tract his brother-in-law had purchased. In 1713 George, Patience and Abraham Griffith moved onto their land in Richland, Bucks County, where they are recorded among the earliest settlers of the area. They later added tracts in Richland, in Milford Township, and along Skippack Creek in Province Township, now Montgomery County.
Their nine children's births are recorded at Gwynedd. George Phillips died in September 1740; his will was dated September 12, 1740 and probated December 29 of that year.
Born October 5, 1706, and still a child when his parents moved to Richland. He was a farmer.
He married Alice Fairman at Christ Church in Philadelphia on July 3, 1727. In 1740 he bought a plantation in Milford Township, Bucks County, and lived there the rest of his life. A 125-acre tract near the Meeting House in Richland, purchased in 1751, was sold by his widow to John Foulk on December 17, 1754.
Alice Fairman Phillips was a tailoress. She spent the last forty years of her life in a tenement near Trumbauersville, Pennsylvania, given to her by her son Joseph. Her will, dated August 10, 1806, left her estate to her daughter Alice for life and then to Samuel Walton, son of her nephew Moses Walton.
Born about 1738 in Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He married Ann Haisley, daughter of George and Sarah Haisley.
Around 1789 the family left Quakertown, Bucks County, and moved south to Stokes County, North Carolina — the first of the two long moves that carried this family from the Delaware River to the Indiana woods.
John Phillips died before 1792. Ann Haisley Phillips died in Yadkin County, North Carolina, in 1832.
Lived at one time in North Carolina. He married Salome Sarah “Sally” Sides, born 1775, died 1857. They had eleven children, though one set of twins died at birth.
After their children were born the family moved north to Wayne County, Indiana. John Samuel Phillips died there not long after they arrived.
Born February 2, 1805 in Guilford County, North Carolina, and recorded in some sources as John Eli Phillips.
In 1834 he moved to Clay Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, and bought 160 acres of woods, which he cleared for farmland. He was afterward counted among the county's respected pioneer citizens.
He married Margaret “Peggie” Cosner, born May 21, 1814, daughter of John and Abigail (Pike) Cosner. Eli and Peggie were Republicans and members of the Friends Church.
Eli Phillips Sr. died January 1, 1881 in Hendricks County, age 75. Peggy Cosner Phillips died July 31, 1900, age 86. Both are buried at Spring Friends Cemetery, Clay Township, Row 1, lots (t) and (u).
All twelve of their children were born in Hendricks County. Three of their sons went to the Civil War; two of them died in it.
See “A Portrait and Biographical Record of Hendricks County,” 1895, pp. 991–992.
On the three soldier sons see “Indiana Quakers Confront The Civil War” by Jacquelyn S. Nelson, Indiana Historical Society, 1991, pp. 201–202; and “History of the 51st Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry” by Sgt. Maj. William R. Hartpence, 1894, pp. 96–111 and 373.
Born January 2, 1837 on his father's farm in Hendricks County, raised among the county's pioneers and schooled in the old log school-house. Like his father, he farmed.
He enlisted on February 7, 1865 at Indianapolis, age 28, and served seven months in Company B of the 148th Indiana Infantry — at Nashville, at Fort Pulaski, and on guard duty elsewhere — before being honorably discharged September 5, 1865 at Nashville. Like his cousin Josiah, he was disowned by the Mill Creek Friends Meeting for taking part in the war.
He had gone to camp without an issued overcoat, and sleeping on wet ground at Camp Connington in Indianapolis gave him the rheumatism that eventually put him on crutches and then left him wholly disabled. For that disability he drew a pension of thirty dollars a month. He had been, before the war, a notably active man.
On March 17, 1867 he married Sarah Frances Henderson in Clinton County, Indiana. She was born February 22, 1849, daughter of William and Mourning (Ballard) Henderson of Posey County. Her only sibling, her brother James Henderson, went from Amo High School on to become a well-respected physician. About a year after the wedding the couple bought an eighty-acre farm in Hendricks County.
William belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, Reuben Masten Post No. 431 at Amo. He and Sarah were Republicans and members of the Progressive Friends Church, where both served as overseers of meetings.
William Phillips died December 12, 1902, age 65. Sarah Henderson Phillips died March 18, 1914 at Amo. They are buried together at Spring Friends Cemetery, Clay Township, Row 4, lot (a).
Born September 16, 1882 at Amo, Indiana, and a lifelong resident of the Amo and Hadley communities.
He married Flora Pursell, born August 14, 1886, daughter of Phineas Pursell and Elma Cosner. Elma was the daughter of William Cosner and Sarah Hines.
Flora Pursell Phillips died at home on November 11, 1953, age 67. Eber Eli Phillips died at Methodist Hospital on November 23, 1957, age 75, of pneumonia. Both services were held at the Powell Funeral Home in Coatesville, Edgar Byrum officiating, and both are buried in Amo Cemetery.
Born May 22, 1915 in Hendricks County, Indiana, eighth of her line in America and the last of it to carry the Phillips name into a marriage.
She married Wayne Allen Plunkett in 1936, son of Alva Cecil Plunkett and Golda Dowdy. Wayne was born January 23, 1914 on the family farm at North Salem in Eel River Township, and died June 13, 1982 at Hendricks County Hospital in Danville, age 68. Sarah died in 1999 at Danville. They farmed together near Danville and are buried at New Winchester Cemetery.
Two hundred and thirty-two years separate her from the boy who came off the Endeavour. What follows her is on the next page.
Sarah and Wayne's five children, and everyone since — built from the Family Twigs returned by the family for the reunion.
The Generations Since →
Researched and originally published by Lydia Carol Finch Johnston and
Joy Plunkett Johnston at
finchroots.com/phillips.htm.
Retold here with gratitude.
Underlying sources include Bucks County Friends and Gwynedd Monthly Meeting records ·
Hendricks County marriage and cemetery records · Spring Friends Cemetery, Clay Township ·
National Park Service Civil War Soldiers database ·
“A Portrait and Biographical Record of Hendricks County,” 1895 ·
“Indiana Quakers Confront The Civil War,” Jacquelyn S. Nelson, 1991 ·
“History of the 51st Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry,” William R. Hartpence, 1894.