Henry Phillips (politician)

Henry Phillips (died 1685[1]) was a wealthy businessman and politician from Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts. Phillips was described as "tender and brokenhearted."[2]

Life in Dedham

Phillips moved from Boston to Dedham in 1637,[1] two years after the town was first settled and one year after it was incorporated. He was a member of the church and a militia officer.[1] Though he received "better than average" dividends of land,[1] he complained in 1656 that too many people had been admitted to the town commons, diluting the value of his interest.[3] He led a group of dissatisfied settlers in a rare public complaint.[4][1][5] He brought his complaint before the General Court, which was an action even more rare in a community whose covenant called for disputes to be resolved by local mediation.[6] He served one term as selectman in 1645.[7] He briefly owned the land that came to be known as Broad Oak.[8]

He had a brother, Nicholas, who also lived in Dedham, and was likely related to Rev. George Phillips of Watertown.[9]

Life in Boston

Upset about the distribution of land, Phillips returned to Boston in 1656.[1] There he became a deacon at First Church in Boston and a delegate to the Great and General Court of Massachusetts.[1] He also worked as a butcher.[1] His death in 1685 was mentioned in Samuel Sewall's diary.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lockridge 1985, p. 60.
  2. ^ Lockridge 1985, p. 31.
  3. ^ Lockridge 1985, pp. 9–10.
  4. ^ Lockridge 1985, p. 15.
  5. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 57.
  6. ^ Lockridge 1985, pp. 82–83.
  7. ^ Worthington 1827, p. 79-81.
  8. ^ Richards, Arthur Wescate (1942). Genealogy: the James Francis Richards branch of a Richards family of New England; that of Edward Richards, Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635-1684. Sarasota, Florida: Star Printing Company. p. 16.
  9. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 38.

Works cited