The family name Phillips is of ancient and classical origin. It is derived from the Greek, Philos-hippos, and means "fond of a horse." This family trait still exists, as many a Phillips can testify. The name arose in an age of chivalry.
The Phillips family can be traced back in England to about the year 1200. In Westminster Abbey, in London, England, can be seen the tomb of John Phillips, a relative of our English ancestors, a poet of reputation, who died in 1708.
(I) John Phillips, the American founder, was born in England, June 21, 1813, died in Albany, New York, January 18, 1883. He came to the United States when a small boy in company with his mother, a brother and two sisters. No further record of the brother and two sisters can be found. The family settled first in New York City, but later John with his mother located in Albany, where John established a business. The record of his mother's death cannot be found. Little is known of his life in the city further than that he was a buyer and shipper of live stock, and later a dealer in hay and grain. He accumulated a substantial estate that he left to his family. He was a man of integrity, scrupulously honorable in his dealings, and was rated a good citizen. He was a staunch Republican, and a member of the Emmanuel Baptist church. He married (first) in Albany, Ruth Hughes, who died June 24, 1851, aged thirty-four years. He married (second) Ella Fairchild, born August 8, 1831, died December 26, 1889. Children of first marriage:
- De Witt Humphrey, of further mention.
- John D., born February 28, 1844; enlisted in Eighteenth New York Volunteers, 1861, and served two years; joined the Sixty-first New York Volunteers in 1864, served until end of civil war and was discharged as captain; he located in Buffalo, New York, in 1875, where he first engaged in the hide and leather business, later in real estate and insurance. He married Bridget Lomassey; children: Harry G., Elizabeth L., Margaret N., Nellie, Mary R. and Charles J.
- Mary, born February 18, 1846; married George Young, October, 1866, and in 1870 moved to Bay City, Michigan; children:
- Frank P., born October 21, 1868, died May 9, 1909;
- May A., born February 15, 1876.
- Frank W., who in early manhood located in Summit, Michigan, where he died unmarried, August 25, 1883, aged thirty-four years, two months, four days.
Children of second marriage:
- Nellie, resides in Albany, unmarried.
- Anna, married Charles O. Britton, of Hartford, Connecticut.
- Carrie, married Dr. Arthur Van Loon, a prominent physician and surgeon of Albany.
(II) De Witt Humphrey, eldest son of John and Ruth A. (Hughes) Phillips, was born in Albany, New York, August 18, 1840, died November 24, 1903. He was educated in the public schools, and began his business career as a clerk. After several years spent in various clerical positions, about 1869 he formed a partnership with Chester F. Bouton, and as Bouton & Phillips established and conducted a wholesale flour and feed business at No. 317 Broadway. The firm was a successful one for years, but later met with reverses. It dissolved and Mr. Phillips for the remainder of his days successfully engaged in the real estate business in Albany. He was a Republican in politics, a man of high moral sentiment, and very devoted to his family. He married, in Albany, Rachel Crounse, born in Guilderland Centre, Albany county, New York, April 17, 1843, died in Albany, December 23, 1895. Her parents removed to Albany when she was a small child, and she was educated in the city schools and the Albany Female Academy. She was a devoted member of the First Congregational Church of Albany, and a useful worker in the church. She was a daughter of Conrad A. and Maria (Mesick) Crounse, and a granddaughter of Abraham Crounse, who was born in the town of Guilderland, May 28, 1796, a descendant of Frederick Crounse, born in Germany, 1716, of Polish ancestry, came to America in 1740, and settled among the early pioneers of the town of Guilderland. His farm was about two miles from the present village of Altamont, Albany county, New York (see Crounse genealogy). Abraham Crounse, a son of Conradt Crounse, born March 23, 1775, and Margaret (Livingston) Crounse, born November 8, 1775, was a successful farmer and owned a fine property in Guilderland, Albany county, New York, in the Indian Ladder region of the Helderberg mountains. He died at the age of eighty-nine years, having been a life-long member of the Lutheran church. He married Magdalene Shaver, whose death preceded his own about one year at the age of eighty-eight. They had a family of five sons, including Conrad A., who was born on the Guilderland homestead, December 7, 1818. He removed to Albany a few years after his marriage in Guilderland to Maria Mesick, of the same town. In Albany he engaged in business as a retail clothing merchant, continuing until within five years of his death, when he retired and made his home in Altamont, where he died February 1, 1902. His wife, born January 3, 1826, died in Albany, March 3, 1881. He was a Republican, a consistent member of the First Congregational Church of Albany, and greatly esteemed for his upright, manly character. Their only child, Rachel, married De Witt Humphrey Phillips, and had children:
- Schuyler Crounse, of further mention.
- Blanche, born March 25, 1870, died November 27, 1871.
(III) Schuyler Crounse, son of De Witt Humphrey and Rachel (Crounse) Phillips, was born in Albany, New York, August 29, 1868. He was educated in the common and high schools of the city, supplemented by a course in the Albany Business College. His early business life was spent in clerical positions in the city. In 1888 he accepted a position in the office of the Brandow Printing Company of Albany, and later became manager of the commercial department, remaining with the company for a period of eighteen years. December 1, 1906, he was appointed by the Hon. Otto Kelsey, Superintendent of Insurance of the state of New York, as head of the printing and purchasing division of that department, which important position he most capably fills. He is a most careful and efficient official. He is a trustee, treasurer, and active worker of the First Congregational Church of Albany, a Republican in politics, and a member of Masters Lodge, No. 5, Free and Accepted Masons. He married, in Albany, June 22, 1892, Katharine I. Remington, born in Glens Falls, New York, February 9, 1867, daughter of William Remington, lumberman and prominent business man of Glens Falls and Albany, born in Vermont, May 19, 1820, died in Glens Falls, New York, November 17, 1892. He married Charlotte T. Wicks, born January 22, 1835, died July 6, 1872. He was of the English Remington family, noted inventors and gun manufacturers. Katharine I. (Remington) Phillips was educated at the Albany Female Academy, and is an active worker in the women's clubs and guilds of the city. She is a member with her husband of the First Congregational Church and interested in church and benevolent work. Child: Blanche Crounse Phillips, born August 26, 1903.