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Among John's children, the earliest out-of-county record is the marriage of
Gabriel Phillips and Miliah Keele, 7 July 1783, in Henry County, Virginia, which
borders North Carolina, within 40 miles of what was then Rowan County. The
earliest out-of-state marriage record is that of Ezra Phillips and Hannah Randolph,
15 September 1787, in Greene County, Tennessee. Thus a family migration date
c. 1785 is consistent with all the known evidence.
According to Bewley family tradition, Anthony's eldest son Rev. George Bewley was
killed on the Little Tennessee River in a battle with the Cherokees on 8 August
1788. History does record that the Methodist Episcopal Church had preachers in
Blount County, Tennessee as early as 1788, and that Indians attacked and destroyed
Fort Gillespie on 15 October 1788, capturing 28 women and children. In an attempt
to get back some of the women prisoners, it is said, George Bewley was killed. If
George was more than ten years old, he could not have been Sallie's son.
According to Bewley family tradition, Anthony Bewley was born c. 1745, Sallie
Phillips was born c. 1747, they were married c. 1768, and their first child, a son,
was born c. 1769. Some of these dates are too early. We now know, from the
Affidavit of Robert Phillips (28 January 1850), that his sister Sallie married
Anthony Bewley after 1777. Even this is six years earlier than any extant marriage
record for any of the Phillips children, but it is not unreasonable, especially
considering that no marriage record has been found for Thomas, the first-born son.
This timeline is established by the best evidence, the sworn testimony of an
impressionable eyewitness to a traumatic family event. Robert Phillips was four
years old in the winter of 1777 when his brother Gabriel, then fifteen, enlisted in
the American army and was taken from his father's barn by a file of eight armed
soldiers, in uniform, and marched off to war. In Robert's words: “my father and
Anthony Bewly, who afterward married my sister, went to see Gabriel's officers to
get him released on the plea that he was under age and failed.” The testimony of a
77-year-old man recalling events that happened so long ago is not to be dismissed,
as stated most eloquently by Robert's defender in his family's pension case:
Such things would make a deep and lasting impression upon the
young mind; ... the enlistment of Gabriel Philips – the circumstance
of his father and Anthony Bewly endeavoring to obtain his release,
on account of his being but a mere boy – the fact of a file of men,
armed soldiers, going to Old Philips' Barn and forcibly taking Gabriel
off – the distress of the family – the constant talk of the family on
this subject; and their joy upon his return home after an absence of
near 4 years. It will not do to say that Robert Philips cannot
remember these things; or that he as an intelligent man cannot detail
them with accuracy, or arrive at dates by his own age and other
circumstances – nor will it do to discredit his statements of events,
especially when we consider that they are interwoven with and form a
part of the history of the Philips family; and especially when we
consider that his statements are corroborated by the history of the
country, and by Anthony Bewly dec'd. as detailed by our present state
Senator Jacob M Bewly Esq. Whose affidavit is herewith enclosed.
B McDaniel Esq
Greenville Tenn
The ordeal of Gabriel Phillips as a prisoner of war, and of Robert Phillips in
having his testimony dismissed, is well worth reading about. The Affidavit of
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