Jeremiah Phillips

Whipple Van Buren Phillips (hereafter WVP) was, as all men, a product of his times. His heritage as a child was his parents, their farm, and their culture.

Jeremiah Phillips was the father of Whipple Van Buren Phillips, but unfortunately much of the story of Jeremiah's childhood and youth has been lost to researchers. Only a few scant details are available.

Jeremiah Phillips was his father. Born 29 January 1800, Jeremiah grew up and began his adult life farming in the northern edges of the township of Foster, Rhode Island. Precious little has been uncovered about Jeremiah other than that which Mr. Kenneth W. Faig Jr. has compiled and exposited. His scholarship is invaluable. However, many additional details may be concluded from his immersion is known historical events. (His sitz im leben or historical milieu.)

The Revolutionary War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 3 September 1783, less than 17 years before his birth. While Rhode Island was a very old state (1636), Jeremiah Phillips was born into a very young country. Rhode Island began to subdivide its remote areas into new townships as the Revolutionary War began to ebb. Foster, Rhode Island was a part of the township of Scituate between 1730 and 24 August 1781. It was certainly sparsely settled, but its name came from Rhode Island's U. S. Senator (1752-1828; Senator: 1790-1803) Theodore Foster. He had utopian ideas, and selected the area in Scituate to begin an intellectual paradise donating 30 books to establish a library for the town. His friend, Dr. Doune and he formed an intellectual utopia, and lived there for many years. The local residents had mixed feelings. The added income the wealthy men spread about was welcome, but their ideas sometimes clashed with the farming community.

This incorporation caused the population to go from about a population of 600 amidst almost 70,000 acres in 1781 to 2900 in 1820. Jeremiah was born in the middle of these growth years.

While the growth of Providence pushed the growth of Scituate, and thus the growth of the new township of Foster, these few thousand people still lived in a rural state. It is nearly unimaginable to those in the 21^st century to understand how rustic Jeremiah's life was. Perhaps the only flavor of this is to repeat part of an old TV show theme: "No phone, no lights, no motor car, / Not a single luxury. /

Like Robinson Crusoe, It's primitive as can be". Jeremiah's medieval ancestor would be more familiar with his circumstances, than we would.

People traveled nearly in the same manner as they had in the medieval era. People walked, or they rode a horse, or in a carriage pulled by a horse. Electricity was barely a novelty, and some scientists had begun to use it for experimentation. The roads of rural Rhode Island were almost non-existent, and what few there were privately maintained in the years before Jeremiah's birth. These roads were mud in rain and snow, thus leaving enormous ruts. These dried and became brick hard in summer, and one of three things occurred – one avoided the ruts and went into the dense woods, one rode the ruts in gut-jarring extremes, or one simply gave up and did not travel.

Jeremiah's childhood world was one within walking distance of an hour or so. His seniors and parents may have sometimes went to Providence.

Though farming had been worked for generations, the forests tended to grow back as fast as they were cut. With a handful of people, they were no match for the forests in such a vast area. The population the day after Jeremiah Phillips was born was discovered to be 5.3 million people in the United States, and 18.9% of these were black – nearly all in slavery. The territory of far off Indiana was established 7 May 1800 only months before his birth. On 8 July 1800, a medical miracle appeared. Dr. Benjamin Warehouse gave the first smallpox vaccination. One suspects that Jeremiah's family had no use for this, or for many doctors, as homeopathy, rituals, and time honored folk medicines from herbs were of critical importance and use. Whale oil lamps and whale wax and beeswax candles were the only critical light source for this generation, if they could afford them.

Technology was non-existent. The first steam powered land vehicle was filed in 1789 by one Oliver Evans of Delaware, only about a decade before Jeremiah's birth. On 14 December 1799, George Washington died, and thus on that 29 January 1800 day, the second president, John Adams, was closing on his third year in office having been inaugurated 4 March 1797. Almost all transportation and commerce was conducted by ships, and they were powered by wind sails.

As to religion, it seems clear from historical documentation that Foster, Rhode Island was immune to religion. Providence had begun to have Congregational churches spring up, but that ws far distant from Jeremiah. If Jeremiah and his family practiced any religion, we do not know, but the time of preaching and revivals was still generations away and would impact his son, Whipple, in remarkable ways.

It is harsh to consider, but Jeremiah's world was one of tribalism and was clan centered. Family hierarchy was dominant, and it appears even to have controlled marriage prospects. Carrying single shot muskets, farming, caring for livestock, getting approval for marriage, marrying cousins, and having enormous families makes us think more of the Hatfields and McCoys, or modern day Pakistan than 19^th century Rhode Island, but in fact this was the type of community Jeremiah probably existed within.

In 1802 the entire Earth reached a billion people for the first time. This seemed to be a critical catalyst for innovations, and astronomers had begun to understand comets, had found Ceres, the first asteroid, and the European world was nearing an enormous crisis with Napoleon.

While a toddler, Jeremiah's America was making some progress under the third president, Thomas Jefferson. The young country was relocating to Washington City, not much more than a few grandiose buildings in a swamp. The whole government was less than 1000 people. Rhode Island's statehouse was likely better organized, and had better security than Jefferson's government. A visitor could walk up to his residence, knock on the door, and be greeted by the usually disheveled Jefferson in slippers.

For the United States Napoleon's ramp up to war was a windfall for America. In the midst of negotiations for the port of New Orleans, Napoleon's agents upped the ante and threw in all of their western territory for three million dollars. This trade meant that, essentially, 3 year old Jeremiah was part of a nascent coast-to-coast world power. His son, Whipple Phillips would reap the benefits of that dynamo.

Only in recent years have scientists come to realize the effects of weather on culture. Jeremiah Phillips was born smack in the middle of the "Little Ice Age", and weather in Rhode Island was not immune. Since almost all Rhode Island commerce was done via ocean ships, the freezing cold of winter was a challenge. The Russian navy, for instance, was ice-locked every winter. The British navy often could not navigate the North Sea and Scandinavian areas. A case in point, Nelson won the Battle of Copenhagen. Sailing toward Denmark on 30 March 1801, the Danish could not get assistance from Russia even at this date. The horrific conditions allowed Nelson to win, and set the stage for a future historic drama.

As Jeremiah reached the age of 10, a new decade dawned and America was about to be challenged. Jefferson had survived a challenge by Barbary pirates by a clandestine overthrow of a government, thereby gaining some respect in the world community. Owning half a continent was also impressive, and he sent Lewis and Clark to survey it.

In 1811, a major comet lit up Jeremiah's night sky. Perhaps in some small way the legend of this comet gave impetus, somehow, so that Jeremiah's great-grandson Howard Lovecraft would be interested in astronomy? This comet was brilliantly visible peaking the first week of October, 1811. Jeremiah was unlikely to be superstitious, but three significant events followed. The massive earthquakes of the New Madrid fault shook the west. The comet and the earthquake cemented the reputation of the Native American prophet, Tecumseh, and a conflict escalated with Governor Harrison (later President) at the tiny place called Tippecanoe. Finally, the nascent America engaged in a conflict with the world's superpower – England.

It was this same year that steamboat power began to rule on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Theodore Roosevelt's ancestor powered the first steamboat down the Ohio opening new vistas for trade in the west.

Jeremiah was not quite a teenager when the new war broke out between England and the fledgling 20 year-old country. Highly unpopular in Rhode Island, secession was spoken aloud. Rhode Island knew that the British would pound Newport, and the much smaller Providence creating economic havoc. Much of the war progressed in the west (Kentucky), the south (New Orleans and Florida), and on the border with Canada. The war had one benefit; it created a national folk hero in the name of Andrew Jackson.

This protracted war seemed to have little impact on Jeremiah's life. Foster was not close to a sea port. Still, stock goods which might have come from England vanished. One for these was cotton cloth, a staple, and so Massachusetts and Rhode Island quickly set up water stream-powered mills using girls and women for the labor. This added quite a bit of income to farming communities like Foster. It also threw together women in situations that created an exchange of culture and information that had not existed previously. In about two generations, this impetus would bring women and widows into a legal status previously unknown: They began to own land and property.

With the end of the war, one might think that the teenager Jeremiah would go back to a normal world of farming. This was not to be. In the midst of 1815, and already facing rough winters due to the "Little Ice Age", a volcanic explosion blew up the obscure volcano, Mount Tambora. Between 5 and 15 April 1815 in Indonesia, the multiple eruptions cast dust and gases nearly into space, and a hazy cloud began to transcend and cover the Earth. As the weeks progressed, sunlight began to turn dim and reddish even during midday. This was likely due to sulfates dispersed in the high stratosphere. In May 1816, frost killed off most new plants. In June 1816, frost persisted in Connecticut, and presumably Foster, Rhode Island would have been hard hit. It snowed in New York and Maine. In late July, rivers and lakes were still frozen over. This would have prevented critical fish runs, and slow growth or no growth of clams, oysters, or other shellfish that were a critical staple. Food soared to a 1200% inflation – if it could be found. The winter of 1817 dipped in temperature in New York and other places to -20 F. Under those conditions, wood fire heat was insufficient to keep people warm. Reports of individuals eating grass was common. That 16 year old Jeremiah survived is a miracle, and he most likely told the story of that hardship often to his children. One wonders if this survival story braced his son, Whipple, when he became orphaned at age 14?

Rhode Island's constitution was conservative and unchanged since British rule. Eventually, after Jeremiah's death, the Dorr rebellion – so-called – changed the constitution. However, in Jeremiah's day, only white, male, landowners had a vote and a say in government. It was incumbent upon the young man to quickly establish a farm in order to become a "citizen". The constitution also called all men to a minimum military service for the state. A national conscription would not have affected Jeremiah.

In 1817, the Eerie canal was begun. It seemed a boondoggle, but upon its completion in 1825, western Rhode Island and western New York would become associated in commerce, religion, and politics for generations. Jeremiah was lightly influenced by this, but his son, Whipple, would take full advantage when railroad service eventually began to connect the western port.

Sometime in the first part of 1820, Jeremiah somehow must have acquired land, and served a term of military service. It had to have been distinguished, as later he was known as Captain Jeremiah Phillips.

It is at this point we begin to pick up the loose threads of Jeremiah's daily life. Much of this is due to Kenneth W. Faig, Jr.

Jeremiah E. Phillips (1800-1848) served in the RI militia during the 1820s, as recorded in Joseph Jencks Smith's Civil and Military Lists of Rhode Island. ... Thus, Jeremiah E. Phillips rose from the rank of Ensign to Captain between May 1823— a few months after his marriage … In May 1824 (p. 360) and May 1825 (p. 375), Lt. Jeremiah Phillips and Ensign ...

[ See Mr. Faig's Corrections and Additions For Some of the descendants of Asaph ... etc. - Page ii]

His military service, like much during this period, was ceremonial and social. By coincidence, he missed any service due to the War of 1812, and likely did not serve during the Olney street civil unrest of 18 October 1824. A white mob attacked black homes in the Hard Scrabble neighborhood after a black man refused to get off the sidewalk when approached by some whites. The vigilantes claimed to be targeting places of ill-repute, it destroyed buildings indiscriminately including 20 black homes. He was out of service at the next riot, 1831, at Olney's Lane and Snow Town.

The years between 1822 and 1825 were politically formative for Rhode Island. The Federalist party disintegrated leaving the Republican party (not the same as today's Republicans) nearly unopposed. Steamships had matured and took the place of sailing ships in coastal waters. Passenger and freight service between the coasts of Connecticut and to Newport and Providence increased. Toll roads began to be placed, and coach service one good (macadam) roads opened up western Rhode Island. It became more commonplace to send wood and produce to providence, and have dry goods come to Foster. Pressure increased for a constitutional convention, but efforts faltered until after Jeremiah died. The township of Foster did eventually get extra representation at the State legislature.

Captain Jeremiah Phillips settled down after 1825, and began to concentrate on farming and business. We know little about his life for the latter 1820's, but we can make one presupposition: He was interested in national politics. We know this, because in 1833 he named his son Whipple Van Buren Phillips. Therein lies a tale of Jeremiah Phillips and the fledgling democratic party of Andrew Jackson as silently guided by Martin Van Buren, a New Yorker.

Of Martin Van Buren, much needs to be said, but it must be in a different essay. Suffice it to state that this writer's current historical hypothesis is that Jeremiah was so taken by the event of Van Buren visiting Rhode Island, and Van Buren backing universal (Caucasian) male suffrage. That Jeremiah was a Jacksonian democrat seems evident from circumstantial evidence that will be later discussed in a subsequent essay on the blog.

_____ 

Thank you for reading to this point.

If you'd like to discuss this, please email me at chrisperridas@yahoo.com, and I will reply to you as soon as time will allow.