Biography of James monroe PHILLIPS

J. M. Phillips is one of the venerable citizens of Albion township, Howard county. He has passed the eighty-seventh milestone on life's journey, for his birth occurred in the state of New York, May 11, 1832. He now makes his home on section 28, Albion township, where he owns one hundred and twenty acres of land. During his boyhood days he left the Empire state in company with his parents, William and Elizabeth (Runceman) Phillips, who removed to Michigan. They, too, were natives of the state of New York, but the opportunities of the west were so alluring that they left the Atlantic coast and made their, way to the Mississippi valley. They remained, however, for only a brief period in Michigan and then removed to Indiana. It was in the year 1855 that J. M. Phillips of this review became a resident of Howard county, Iowa, taking up his abode in Albion township, where he resided until 1861. He then put aside all personal considerations and business cares and responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting as a member of the Thirty-eighth Iowa Regiment in defense of the Union cause in the Civil war. He served at the front until the close of hostilities in 1865, when he received an honorable discharge and returned to his home in Howard county. He then resumed the occupation of farming, which he made his life work. It was three years before he entered the army that he was united in marriage to Miss Rosetta Hurley and to them were born nine children, of whom seven are yet living, as follows: Llewellyn R., Howard C., Leon, Lizzie, Bert, May and Ulysses.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Phillips is a Mason, belonging to Lime Springs Lodge, No. 214. He has ever been a loyal exemplar of the craft and is keenly interested in the promotion of the principles which constitute the basic elements of the society. In politics he has long been a republican and he was a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He gave equally loyal allegiance to Garfield and to Roosevelt and in fact he has been a stalwart advocate of the leading statesmen which the republican party has put up as its standard bearers. He has long been regarded as a very substantial and honored citizen of Albion township and ranks with its pioneer settlers who for many years have contributed to its upbuilding and progress. His has been an active and useful life and in all matters of citizenship he has been as true and loyal to his country as when he wore the nation's blue uniform and followed the starry banner of the Union on the battlefields of the south.

History of Chickasaw and Howard Counties,
By Robert Herd Fairbairn (Published 1919 - Volume II)
S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois
Transcribed by Janice Sowers