Joseph Phillips, of Oxford

From Phillips Genealogies . . . pp 44-45:

Joseph Phillips (son of Theophilus and Mary: No. 19,) born Dec. 4, 1702. He married Ruth Towne, and settled in Oxford, Mass., locating, as nearly as can be ascertained, in the present limits of Auburn,* on Prospect Hill, an elevation of beautiful and fertile table land, and one of the pleasantest rural spots in Worcester County. The hill commands an extensive and charming view of the surrounding region, including in its range of vision, a pleasant succession of mountain, hill and valley ; also, the now flourishing city of Worcester, and glimpses of several villages. He owned several other tracts of land in Oxford and vicinity, but this, doubtless, is the place on which he settled. The late Col. Edward Phillips of Sturbridge, a great-grandson, had a fixed impression that his grandfather, Dea. Jonathan Phillips, the oldest son of Joseph, was born on Prospect Hill. Col. Phillips also regarded this place as the old family homestead. After his death, this farm was owned and occupied by his son, Israel Phillips, and later, by Simon, son of Israel. At the time of Israel's death the farm contained, by estimation, eighty acres, but was probably somewhat larger. At the death of Simon the ownership of the fiirm passed out of the Phillips name, having been owned in the family nearly ninety years. The house still standing is said, by one who once lived there, to have been the same one occupied by his gr.-son, Simon ; and a little to the rear there was remaining, a few years since, the foundation and cellar of another building, supposed to be the original home. The house is about one mile from the station of North Oxford Mills, on a branch of the Boston and Albany R. R., and, to any of the hundreds of his descendants who feel a special interest in the old homestead of one of their early ancestors, a visit to the place on a pleasant summer day might well repay the eflbrt. The farm is the same one lately owned and occupied by Wm. D. Dalrymple.

His wife died July 4, 1760. He married (2d) Dec. 10,1760, Mrs. Bathsheba Towne of Oxford. He died April 23, 1771, " in the 69th year of his age."

It is impossible, at this day, to give anything like a personal description of him; but, from the fact that he left the vicinity of his father's home when a young man, and sought a home for himself, in what had been so recently an unbroken wilderness, where it required constant toil and hardship to secure the necessaries of life, we must conclude that he was a man of vioor, energy and perseverance ; qualities which have been inherited in a large degree by a good number of his descendants. His place of burial is not known. In the old Auburn Cemetery, near the church, several of his descendants are known to have been buried, though not a monument has been erected in the yard by friend or relative, to mark the last resting-place of any of them.

The descendants have, in years past, usually been somewhat above the average size, not tending much to corpulence, but of large frame rather than fleshy, and with features rather heavily marked. Most of them have had "a keen appreciation of wit and humor," and heartily enjoyed a sharp joke. Not many of them have been graduates of colleges or entered the professions. The greater part have lived in farming communities, and more have followed farming than any other occupation. A good number rendered efficient aid to their countiy during the war of the Rebellion ; some of whom extended their service from their enlistment in the early days of the war to its close. It is to be regretted that the materials are not at hand for more extended sketches of many worthy individuals of whom but brief mention is now made. Many of them have been men of integrity, of exemplary lives, and of firm and honorable principles.

• When Oxford was divided and Auburn set off, the line passed directly through the farm, but leaving the buildings on the Auburn side.

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