Phillips, William

It is not known how William reached America. His name is not found onpassenger list for the ships of the Winthop Fleet passage of 1630, onwhich his brothers George and John are found. William''s brother Thomas(with wife Ann) were on the list to sail with the Mayflower in 1620, butthey did not make the passage, and spent the rest of their lives inEngland. Checking the Mayflower lists further, there is no record ofWilliam Phillips either on the acceptance list, nor on the actual shipsof the three-ship Mayflower group.On the first list of Mass. BayColonists to apply for Freeman Status (October 19th, 1630), appears thename ''William Phelps''. This may be this same William Phillips, andsuggests that William may have arrived on the ''Lyon'' in 1630 (seebelow).Children shown here for William and Elizabeth Rose Parker showthat the voyage to America would have happened after 1629.With theclose family ties between Captain Pierce and the Phillips family, I wouldsuspect William Phillips, and his family travelled on ''The Lyon'', between1630 and 1632.- Richard Ripley


The Last Will and Testament of William Phillips of Taunton Deceased;Exhibited before the Court holden att Plymouth the sixt Day of March 1654on the oath of James Walker;Aprill the 16th Anno Dom: 1654
In The Name of God Amen I William Phillips of Taunton of the age ofthreescore and ten att the least being visited by the hand of God withsicknes and great weaknes neare unto Death not being likely to continewin this world; yet being through the mercye of God of pfect understandingand memory and willing according as I ame pswaded it is my Dewty to settmy house in order before I goe home I doe therfore as I came from theDust comitt my body to the Dust untill the Day of Judgment and my spiritinto the hands of God beleiving in him that when my body shall againearise he will according to his gracious prmise make mee ptaker ofspirituall and heavenly glory with Jesus Christ And for my outward estatewhich god hath given I Doe in this my last will give and bequeath asfolloweth viz: Imprimis my house that I now Dwell in with my out housingand all my lands that I have of Right appertaining and belonging to meein Taunton with my Right and Interest that I have in the Iron worke newlyErected and built att Taunton with all my household stuffe of one kindand another I give it all Joyntly and equally unto my wife ElizabethPhillips and my sonne James Phillips To enjoy it all equally togetherwhiles the Lord continew theire lives together; but if the Lord bepleased to take away my wife by Death; then my son James Phillips shallpossesse and Injoy all the things formencioned as belonging andappertaining to him and his for ever but if the Lord bee pleased to takemy son James away by Death without Issue then my will is that after theDecease of my wife then the estate of mine as the Lord continueth itshalbee and appertaine unto the children of James Walker my soninlaw tobee Devided amongst them equally I give and bequeath unto my Daughter inlaw Elizabeth Walker an heifer of the age of two yeares old and to herlittle Daughter hester Walker an heifer of a year old to bee theiresafter my decease The rest of my stuffe which I also Injoy and the Lordhave given mee I leave them as the Rest of my goods with my wife and mysonne and soe Comitt and Comand them and it and all to the blessing ofthe Lord And also I confirme this to bee my last will and Testament andDoe heerby appoint my sonne James Phillips to be my Exequitor and pay allDebts of mine every where and pforme the legacies heerin contained andthese I Rest heerin signing this my owne signe upon the sixteenth Day ofAprill in the yeare of our lord 1654;Witnessed by The signe ofOloferPurchise William PhillipsJames Walker