Chase, Elsie Phillips. A personal memoire of JOSEPH BURTON PHILLIPS, 1972

JOSEPH BURTON PHILLIPS
by Elsie Phillips Chase, 1972

	My Father, Joseph Burton Phillips, was born in Arkansas near Lowell, 
on July 1st, 1862, where he spent his boyhood days with many relatives living 
nearby.  His father was Dick [sic] Phillips and his mother Lucinda Graham.  He 
said that he remembered very little of the Civil War as they were just between 
the North and South and were overrun by both sides.  He taught school there as 
a young man during the three months in summer.  He was married to Josephine 
Matherly on April 13, 1884 at Lowell by Justice John R. White.  A son, Earl 
Edgar, was born to them in Arkansas.
	Soon after their son was born they started for Washington Territory, 
with the Matherly family, his wife's Mother and Father.  It took them almost 
two years to make the journey as they had to stop on the way to work for 
enough money to continue on their way.  They spent one winter in Hayley, 
Idaho, where a daughter, Ethel, was born.  They had their sights set on 
Moscow, Washington, Bluestem as it later became, because they had relatives 
living there - the George Long family.
	My mother, Josephine Phillips, wondered when they began to travel in 
the Sprague Country where it was rocky and dry why they had come through so 
much beautiful territory and left it behind.
	My father took up a homestead somewhere between Sprague and 
Harrington, and the first winter they lived in a sod hut.  They lived on their 
homestead for about ten years.  My Father often did freight work to different 
places and my Mother was alone with her children.  She said that the Indians 
from the Reservation would make trips to Sprague for supplies about twice a 
year.  She was never afraid of them when they were on their way to Sprague, 
but on their way back they usually had some whiskey and were noisier and 
bolder.  None of them ever bothered her or her children although sometimes 
they did ask for food.
	Sprague was the main railroad at that time so my Father hauled 
supplies to Fort Spokane and made several trips to the Okanogan mining country 
as well.  My Mother accompanied him on at least one of these trips.  A trip 
such as this took several weeks, but it was a way to make money and see new 
country.
	My Father's growing family made it necessary for him to look for more 
land to farm.  C. C. May, the banker in Davenport, told him about three 
quarters of land with a house on it two and a half miles north of Davenport 
that was for sale and he bought it from Robert Gunning, Sr. in 1897, and he 
and his family moved.  At this time there were six of us; Earl, Ethel, Eugene, 
Eva, Everet Orlin, and Elsie.  In a few years he built a house in Davenport so 
his children could go to school.  We spent our winters in town and our summers 
on the farm.
	My Father continued to manage the farm, and went into the hardware 
business in Davenport with Frank Denson, purchasing it from the Lucas 
Brothers.  Denson and Phillips sold many of the first automobiles in 
Davenport.  This business was continued by Frank Denson's son, Fred, until 
1969 when it burned down.
	My Mother was interested in everything.  When we were in school she 
never missed any of the school entertainment's, even football and basketball.  
She worked in the church, the Eastern Star, WCTU, and other social affairs.  
She lived many years after my Father died in July of 1923.  She continued to 
farm the land and saw farming change from horse power to diesel.  She died 
April 1, 1940.
	My sister, Eva Miles of Kittitas, and myself, Elsie Chase, are the 
only remaining members of this family.  Eva still owns the home place, and our 
home in town still stands at the corner of Main and Seventh in Davenport.

---Note by Margaret Phillips 2/99:  Joseph's father was William, not Dick, as 
Elsie has written here.  Elsie Phillips was born in 1896 and passed away about 
1975.

Submitted by Margaret Phillips, mnphill@aol.com