Barzillai traveled west in the 1790's with his brother, Wadsworth Phillips. Both found wives and were married at Whitesboro, New York.

Barzillai Phillips married Betsey Hemmenway on February 18, 1801 at First Presbyterian Church of Whitesboro. Betsey had come to that area with her parents, Nathan and Martha (Eames) Hemmenway, from Framingham, Massachusetts. Betsy's maternal and paternal ancestors were very early settlers at Danforth Farms which later became the City of Framingham. History tells much about Ralph Hemmenway and Thomas Eames at Roxbury and Dedham in the early 1630's. History also tells of Betsy's great, great grandmother and some of her sons and daughters being captured and killed by Indians at Framingham.

Uri had eight brothers and one sister but only two brothers lived to see middle age. The ages at death as found in the Family Bible, were; Mark, 15 days, John, 33 years; Lewis, 29 years; Charles, drowned in Cazenovia Lake at age 20 years; Ebenezer H., 17 years; Joseph E., 17 years; and Martha Ann, age 16 years. Edwin lived to age 87 and William Barzillai lived to almost age 78. Both Edwin and William Barzillai are buried at Neoga, Illinois. Uri lived to age 50 when he disappeared in 1865. The date of his death is not known.

In about 1834, Barzillai moved his family to Livingston County, New York and bought land near the town of Geneseo. Two years later, he signed a deed turning over all possessions to his wife, Betsey, and his children and grandchildren. Terms of the deed gave Betsey freedom to live separate and apart from Barzillai and to hold and acquire property in her own name "as though she was an unmarried woman". Barzillai stipulated that the minor children's shares were to go toward the purchase of Government lands "at the west" if such lands could be bought. Within the next year, Betsey and the children all moved to Dekalb County, Indiana. As a single young man of about 23, Uri also bought government land there.

After his family's departure, Barzillai married a woman named Polly who died in 1845. Barzillai then married Biancy Armstrong who was younger than he. Barzillai died on October 4, 1846 and Biancy gave birth to a daughter, Lydia, on February 18, 1847. Barzillai and Polly are buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery which is alongside Interstate 390 in Livingston County.

About the time Betsey Phillips and her family arrived in Dekalb County, Indiana, Kneeland Abbott brought his family there from near the St. Lawrence River in St. Lawrence County, New York. Abbott settled in Union Township, Dekalb County. His property would later become part of the site of Auburn, Indiana where the famous Auburn and Duesenberg automobiles were later to be built.

Kneeland Abbott had married Lydia Hills. Both the Abbott and Hills families go back to the early 1600's in Andover and Malden, Massachusetts. Many of their ancestors took part in founding Roxbury, Cambridge, Braintree, Billerica and other villages that make up the greater Boston area today.

Phoebe Abbott, daughter of Kneeland and Lydia, was born February 19, 1820 in St. Lawrence County, New York. She and Uri Phillips were married in Dekalb County on December 23, 1839. They had ten children . Four daughters were Martha Ann, born 1841 and died 1852; Esther born 1842; Lydia born 1845 and Olive in 1847. Their son, William Edwin, was born in 1850. Another daughter Polly was born in 1848 and died at 14 months, triplets were born in born in 1851 and all died within about a year, and a son Kneeland was born in 1854 and died just short of one year.

William Barzillai Phillips, Uri's youngest brother, went to California during the 1849 gold rush for a while and it is believed that Uri went with him. Then, in 1857, Uri was living alone in Coffey County, Kansas Territory. In 1859 he obtained a Military Bounty Land Warrant from a Michael Boomer. The warrant had been issued to Boomer for the service of his father, Michael Boomer, Sr., in the War of 1812. Uri used the warrant at the Lecompton Land Office to claim 160 acres just northeast of Burlington, Kansas. Uri's neighbor, Alvery Townsend, accompanied him to Lecompton and vouched that Uri had improved the land by erecting a log house of 12 feet by 14 feet with one door, one window and a board roof and floor.

By 1860, while Uri was living in Coffey County, Kansas, Phoebe had moved to Waupaca County, Wisconsin and was working as a seamstress. Three of her children were living with her; Lydia, age 15; Olive, age 13; and William E., age 10.

When the Union call came for volunteers in September, 1861, men from Coffey County rushed to fight in the Civil War. Coffey County, like many in Kansas Territory, saw armed conflict between slave and anti-slave factions. A group of over seventy was organized to leave Massachusetts and settle there as "free-staters". The sacking of Lawrence, Kansas took place only a short distance from Coffey County and men from Coffey County went there to stand guard after the massacre.

When the call for men came, Uri Phillips rented out his farm and joined the Fifth Cavalry being formed at Fort Scott. He was mustered into Company E in winter quarters at Camp Denver near Barnesville, Bourbon County, Kansas on December 31, 1861.

Private Uri Phillips served with the Union Army at Carthage, Springfield, and Rolla, Missouri. Then he fought at Helena, Little Rock, St. Charles, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. In April, 1864, Uri was captured and imprisoned at Tyler, Texas until he was exchanged in August of that year. During his tour of duty, he had two horses shot from under him. He was mustered out on December 23, 1864 at Little Rock.

After his discharge, Uri returned to Coffey County in the month of May, 1865. He tried to sell his land but did not have clear title because Michael Boomer was still a minor when he sold the land warrant to Uri. According to an ex-neighbor with whom Uri stayed for about two weeks, "Phillips went away and his whereabouts has been unknown ever since."

In the meantime, Phoebe Phillips had moved to Dartmouth, Wisconsin (now named Markesan). According to a pension application filed years later, Phoebe said Uri came to Dartmouth in the month of May, 1865 and remained there until July 1. Phoebe said that on July 1 he left for Milwaukee to "engage in business as opportunity might offer". As of 1895 when Phoebe's application was filed, she said she had not seen Uri since he left to go to Milwaukee.

In the application for pension, Phoebe makes reference to unsuccessful inquiries to Uri's brothers about his whereabouts. Years later, in 1931, in response to a letter by Phoebe's daughter-in-law, Uri's niece answered back from Neoga, Illinois, "I remember of him (Uri) being at my father's home. I think it was about the close of the war but he went away. I don't think my father ever heard from him. He did not stay very long if I remember right."

What of Uri's 160 acres in Coffey County? Uri had leased it to Solomon Smyth when he joined the army. Smyth's widow vowed that when Uri returned from service he sold off his share of the rent crop and left. An heir claimed in court that Solomon Smyth paid back taxes for several years and in 1866 bought the land in a tax sale. Court cases were brought in 1883 and again in 1911 in attempts to clear the title. In each instance there was no response from Uri, Phoebe or any of Uri's children. Uri had disappeared and it is possible that Phoebe nor any of the family knew about the land.

Phoebe became blinded and until her death she lived with one or another of her children. William Edwin had located in Montgomery County, Kansas and Esther, whose 2nd husband's name was B. F. Velie, lived at Minneapolis, Kansas. Olive lived near Salina, Kansas with her husband James Burt. Phoebe died November 24, 1901 and is buried in Rose Meron Cemetery near Longford in Clay County. On her gravestone are the words, "A soldier's wife".

If you go north of Burlington, Kansas on Route 75 about 1 1/2 miles, then east to the restricted property of Wolf Creek Power Plant, you can gaze across to where Uri's farm now lays under the water of Wolf Creek Lake. It's a great change from when Uri lived there and the nuclear scene that stretches before you.

EPILOGUE

Mary E. Phillips, widow of William E. Phillips, often told of Uri appearing at their farm in Sycamore Valley. She said he stayed but a short time and he had gold with him. She believed he had been somewhere in the gold fields. Then he disappeared again. The date of the visit is not known but it would have been after 1894 when Mary and William E. were married and after 1895 when it was declared in the pension application that he had not been seen since 1865.

Mary Phillips acted upon her belief by spending several years, off and on, digging in likely places for the gold she believed Uri had buried on their farm in Sycamore Valley.

Some in the family chided her for her belief but I always thought she was right. Mary Phillips was my grandmother.

Written by Wayne Bracken, wbracken@bellsouth.net, on October 10th, 1989. Revision made June 6, 1995, June 3, 1996, August 13, 2001, and October 12, 2003.