Phillips

John Garretson Phillips (1802-1891) came to Marion County during the Civil War. He and his first wife Sarah (1804-1864) homesteaded the Phillips farm three miles south of Yellville. He had three tenant farmers who did most of the farming, since his main interest was mining potassium nitrate that was being used for making ammunition for the Civil War. He had slaves and they worked on the farm and in the mines. Some of the slaves are buried on the farm on a knoll east of the farm house.

Before the war ended, he took his slaves to New Orleans and sold all of them. The $30,000 in gold he received for them is purportedly buried on the farm. He hid it there and when he returned home after being held prisoner by the Union Army he could not remember where the gold was hidden. His wife had passed away and no one else knew the whereabouts of the gold.

Mr. Phillips had seven children by his first wife, most of whom passed away when they were young. James Phillips, his son, married Nancy Wood. Their son James married Mat Dodson and their children were: Eugene, Vint, and Velma. Myra, daughter of James and Nancy, married Wiley Huddleston. James and Nancy were also parents of William, Warren, and Bunk. Matilda Phillips, daughter of John G. Phillips, married Wils Williams, son of Polly Hurst and Shelte Williams. Matilda and Wils were parents of James Williams, who married Cora Layton. The children of Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Wilson are: Charles, Nell, Rena, D. G., Ed and Al.

John G. Phillips married Olive Louise Cox (1841-1908) in 1866 and they operated the farm. Their only child, John Nelson Phillips, was born in 1875 and spent his life in Marion County. He worked as a civil engineer and was County Surveyor for several years. He passed away in 1910, leaving a widow, aged 30, with five daughters to rear and a farm to operate.

From the second marriage of John G. Phillips, four grandchildren are living: Ruby Phillips Nowlin, Florine Phillips Melton, Hildred Phillips, and Louise Phillips Yount. There are three great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; and three great-great-great-grandchildren.

On the Phillips farm is the family cemetery where John G. Phillips, Olive Louise Phillips, their son John N. Phillips and his wife Ethel Covington Phillips, and John and Ethel's daughter, Marion, are buried.