Phillips and Matthews families of Edgecomb & Halifax Co. NC

[Tom Hutchison]

Hi all-

Nancy forwarded me an email she received about a Matthews family. He is a 23andme match to a female Phillips of Group 8. There is some records that seem to tie the Matthews family and Phillips family together. Any comments on them, appreciated.

Tom

Message:

Serendipity strikes today though on another surname. I'm not aware of being 
related to any Phillips, but I was just doing some research on a possible 
intermarriage to my Matthews in Halifax County and I came across some forums on 
Early NC Phillips families and I see your name posting there quite a bit. Since 
that seems to be a focus of yours per your profile I'm going to assume that is 
you posting there, otherwise, apologies for what I'm about to explain for no 
reason...

My earliest confirmed Matthews is a James Mathews Sr. ~1680-1762 who died in 
Halifax County, NC. The witnesses to his will were Edward Collins Sr., Edward 
Collins Jr. and Rachel Phillips. I could possibly write off the two Collins as 
just being neighbors, but it has always struck me as odd that an unknown (to me) 
woman would be a witness to his will. I can almost always identify will 
witnesses with some degree of clarity so Rachel's witnessing of the will strikes 
me as odd. Was she a daughter or grand daughter of James? I don't know.

Here are some other interesting bits:

Feb 10, 1752 James Mathews Sr. _GIVES_ 150 acres to a William Phillips for "good 
causes and considerations" (normally indicative of a familial relationship of 
some sort)

Feb 11, 1752 James Mathews Sr. _GIVES_ 50 acres to Edward Collins for "good 
causes and considerations" 

Note those two deeds were one day after the other. I suppose each man could have 
married a daughter of James. The bad part is that while we know James had 
daughters (he mentions them off hand in his will but not by name) we don't know 
for certain who they are. I can speculate on 3 daughters, but I've always been 
hesitant to speculate that these two men married daughters.

The land he gave these two men was right in the middle of several thousand acres 
of land owned by my ancestors in Halifax County (the deeds above were recorded 
in Edgecombe Co before Halifax was formed although the area lies in what is 
Halifax now). It only makes sense to me that James Mathews would give them this 
land if they married into the Matthews family.

Was Rachel Phillips the wife of William? I doubt she was a daughter of William 
due to the dates involved.

Later Phillips and Collins sold off their land and I don't really know what 
happens to them. The last time William Phillips is mentioned with regards to my 
Matthews in Halifax County is in 1770 when he sells 107 acres that he got from 
an Abraham Brinkley (father-in-law of one James Mathews Sr's grandsons). This 
land was noted as adjoining James Mathews (although this James is the son of 
James Sr.).

Do you recognize any of these people or have any idea of how they fit into the 
Phillips that you study? I'm mostly curious as to whether or not William 
Phillips had a wife named Rachel. I see from a post you made that there was a 
1794 will for a William Phillips in Orange County, NC where he mentions an 
earlier wife, but I don't see her name. I wonder if this is the same William as 
from Halifax County?

Regards
Greg Matthews

[Douglas Phillips]

Tom,

Sorry for the delay in answering this.  My wife has been down with back trouble and couldn't get to her files until now.
Here is her answer:  I am familiar with the deeds between Matthis/Matthews of Halifax Co. and one William Phillips.  Also the Rachel Phillips.  The only help I can offer is that I was not able to make a connection between the Halifax County William Phillips, married to Priscilla, of about the same time.  William Phillips is a common name and one was in Northampton County, NC and at least one in Nash Co., NC at about the same time.  Good Luck!

Doug

----- Original Message -----

From: Tom Hutchison

To: ENCPhillipsFamilies

Sent: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 20:16:32 -0400 (EDT)

Subject: [ENC Phillips] Phillips and Matthews families of Edgecomb & Halifax  Co. NC

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