 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. |  |
No. XIX.
THE PHILLIPS AND FOWKE FAMILIES.
[The following communication concerning two families whose names
are to be seen on the old vestry-books has been sent me by one of the
descendants.]
Mr. James Phillips (sometimes spelled Philipps) was a native of the
South of Wales. He came to this country early in the eighteenth century,
and settled in that part of Virginia known as the county of Stafford. He
married a Miss Griffin. Colonel William Phillips, their only child, was
the year 1797. Colonel William Phillips married Miss Elizabeth Fowke, a
daughter of Gerard Fowke, Esq., and Miss Elizabeth Dinwiddie, (Miss
Dinwiddie was a daughter of Mr. Lawrence Dinwiddie, Provost of Glasgow,
Scotland, and was a niece of Robert Dinwiddie, Governor of Virginia,)
by whom he had twelve children, six of whom are now living, the eldest
of those living (Mrs. Jones) being eighty-three, and the youngest (Colonel
William Fowke Phillips) being sixty-two, years of age. Colonel William
Fowke Phillips married his cousin, Sarah Edith Cannon, of Prince
William county, Virginia, by whom he had seven children,—Laura and
Mary Caroline, (now dead,) William Fowke, Jr., Laura E. S., (married to
Mr. Wm. B. Carr, of Loudon county, Virginia,) Dinwiddie Brazier, (married
Miss Nannie F., daughter of William Walden, Esq., of Rapp county,
Virginia,) Virginia Edith, and Roberta Gustavia. Colonel Gerard Fowke
was the first of his name who came to this country. He was Colonel in
the British army, and Gentleman of Privy Chamber to Charles I. He
came to Virginia about the time that his unfortunate monarch was beheaded.
One of his sons settled in Maryland. His son, Chandler
Fowke, Esq., settled in King George county, Virginia. He had three
sons,—Chandler, Gerard, and Richard. Chandler married a Miss Harrison,
Gerard married a Miss Dinwiddie, and Richard married a Miss
Bumbary. Their sister, Elizabeth Fowke, married a Mr. Z. Brazier, (son
of Robert Brazier, of Isle of Thanet, Kent county, England.) Chandler,
the eldest of the children, had three sons,—viz.: William, John, and
Thomas. William married his first-cousin, Jenny Fowke, of Maryland,
and John went to the South with his sister Jenny.
Mr. Gerard Fowke (the second brother) had issue also,—Chandler and
Roger, who went South, Gerard, William, (William married a Miss Bronaugh,)
Robert Dinwiddie, (Robert Dinwiddie married a Miss Peachy,)
Elizabeth, (who married Colonel William Phillips, of Stafford,) and another
daughter, (who married a Mr. Johnston, who resided in Kentucky.)
Richard Fowke, Esq. died in the army. He also left a family.
Elizabeth Brazier had a daughter,—Sarah Harrison Brazier. She
married Mr. John Cannon, son of Mr. L. Cannon, of Ireland. They left
four children,—Grandison, (now dead,) Elizabeth, (dead,) and Sarah
Edith, who married Colonel William Fowke Phillips, the present Auditor
of Treasury for the Post-Office Department. She is now dead also.
Most of those named in this short and in some respects deficient history
were members of the English and Episcopal Churches. Of the
others, two were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and some
few were not communicants in any.
| Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. | |