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Mr. Ripley goes on to post a purported ancestral lineage for “Diannah Avery,” whom
he names and claims as the wife of John Phillips. Her alleged maiden name is
derived from the Joseph Phillips bible, which gives a marriage date of 15 February
1763 for “John Phillips and Avery Phillips.” Avery appears to be a first name.
More importantly, the dates do not work. Mr. Ripley posts an undocumented birth
record for Diannah Avery, stating that she was born 11 August 1740 in Norfolk,
Virginia. In the 1800 census for Rowan County, North Carolina, the wife of John
Phillips (the real Diannah) is 26-44 years old (born after 1755). She has three
children under 10. If she was born in 1740, she gave birth three times while in
her fifties. If she was born in 1756, she was married at the age of seven.
Other web postings state that her maiden name was Diannah Hicks. This is unproven.
The “evidence” is that John Phillips named “my beloved wife Diannah Phillips and my
friend Lewis Hicks” as Executrix and Executor of his estate. This does not make
Lewis Hicks a relative of Diannah. John Phillips did not say so in his will.
The name of Kimble Hicks does appear on the List of Tithables for Loudoun County,
Virginia. He is living in Cameron Parish in the household of Anthony Buley in 1772
and 1773. Kimble Hicks can be traced forward in the census records for Fauquier
County, which is contiguous to Loudoun County. Kimble Hicks was 80-89 years old
in the 1830 census. His gravestone states that he died 2 February 1837, in his
91st year, so he was born c. 1746. Lewis Hicks or Hix can be found in the census
for Rowan County, North Carolina in 1800 and 1810. Lewis Hicks was 26-44 years old
in 1800, and 45 or older in 1810, so he was born 1756-1765. I am presently unaware
of any relation between the two men. The name of Lewis Hicks does not appear in
the index to the Tithables for Loudoun County, Virginia.
Disinformation also circulates about John Phillips' birth date and the identity of
his first wife. Many web postings claim that John Phillips was born 28 May 1737,
and married Ann Burden 17 November 1757, conveniently in Loudoun County, Virginia.
These dates actually derive from the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Birth
and Marriage Records. This John Phillips, the son of Elisha and Innocent Phillips,
was born in New Milford, Connecticut, and married Ann Burden in New Milford,
Connecticut, and a son named Elisha (named after John's father) was born to John
and Ann on 23 January 1759 in New Milford, Connecticut. This does not make him
the same John Phillips who lived in Loudoun County, Virginia from 1769 to 1785.
Disinformation also circulates about the identity of John Phillips' father. Merely
because the name of John's first-born son was Thomas, it is assumed that the father
of John (and Gabriel) was named Thomas. (Why the name of the first-born son of
Gabriel is not chosen for this “naming and claiming” I do not know). Thomas the
patriarch is from Ireland or Wales or some other desirable ancestral homeland, and
he conveniently dies in Loudoun County, Virginia, thus lending to such web postings
an air of legitimacy.
Genealogy is not a game. There is much more to it than “connecting the dots.”
Absent some record showing that a man with the same name found in two different
locations is one and the same person, the match cannot be assumed and should not be
posted. And the fraudulent substitution of one place name for another, with the
obvious intent of making the geography fit the timeline, is inexcusable.
My unwillingness to do this is what caused me to search for years and finally find
Stephen Phillips, son of Diannah, living in Tennessee in 1820, at which time my
ancestor Stephen was living in North Carolina. In the process I have learned so
much about this unrelated Phillips family that I may as well have adopted them.
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