Seventh Generation

1913. Jabez D. PHILBRICK⁸⁷⁴ was born on 13 February 1807 in Concord, Merrimack, New Hampshire.⁷⁰ He died on 2 March 1894 at the age of 87 in Prairie City, McDonough, Illinois.⁷⁰ He was buried on 5 March 1894 at Griggsville Cemetery in Griggsville, Pike, Illinois.⁷⁰ Jabez spent his very early years in Concord, but he went to Lancaster, NH, to learn the trade of wool dyeing. He kept at this occupation until he married Elizabeth in 1831, at the residence of her brother, then living at Portland, Maine. They were in New Hampshire and at Waterville, Maine, until the fall of 1836 when Jabez left - with "his family" - aboard a sailing vessel bound for New Orleans, a trip that lasted five weeks. From there they steamed up the muddy and mighty Mississippi to the plantation of General Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, an uncle of Mrs. Philbrick's. Ripley had been born in New Hampshire and had fought in the War of 1812, advancing to the rank of Brevet Major General and receiving a gold medal from Congress for his gallant actions and leadership at Niagara Falls and other battles. While the Philbricks were making their home on his plantation, their son Charles Henry was born.

Being New Englanders, the Philbricks never truly felt at home in the slave state of Louisiana, and when Major General Ripley died on March 2, 1839, they determined to take their departure. Soon thereafter, they floated northward towards Griggsville, ILL., which they reached on June 1, 1839. Here, Colonel Philbrick became engaged in the mercantile and produce business. (Jabez had been a Colonel in the New Hampshire State Militia, and this imposing military title stuck with him for the rest of his life.)

At times, Jabez Philbrick even carried on business in New York, Maryland, and Virginia; however, he retained his permanent residence at Griggsville. Although his early education had been very limited, he continued - like President Lincoln - to read and was blessed with a fine memory. By hard work he became a very successful businessman and accumulated a sizable amount of wealth. Having a most serious interest in religion, he participated, too, as a prominent member in the activities of the Congregational Church and its Sunday School at Griggsville.

Here in Griggsville, a daughter, Abbie B., was born on January 21, 1840, but died August 8 that year. On April 25, 1844, Elizabeth bore twins: Edward W. and Edwin R. The first one died on May 2, 1844, and Edwin, on July 2, 1845. At some unknown date the Philbricks had taken Annette E. Eveleth to raise. She certainly came into their little household while they yet lived in the East and must have traveled with them to Louisiana as part of Jabez's "family" mentioned previously. Jabez's sisters related that the Philbricks had actually adopted her. She had been born in Maine about 1830. Annette later married Eliphalet S. Bates in Pittsfield on June 16, 1864.

Jabez earned part of his living as a dry goods merchant and pork packer. He eventually owned a two-story brick building and warehouse on Lot 2 in Block 11 in the original town of Griggsville. (By 1850, his real estate was valued at $2,000.) He also constructed a fine brick home near the town square. On February 15, 1847, he began serving as an incorporator of the Griggsville Cemetery. In the following year, he was a Pike County Commissioner. His interest in anti-slavery politics caused him in 1858 to attend the State Republican Convention as a delegate where he heard Abraham Lincoln deliver his noted House Divided Address in the State House at Springfield on the evening of June 16.

Jabez even supported religious and temperance movements outside of his local church. In his will he left money to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a group formed in 1812 which served the interests of Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed churches. He also gave part of his estate to the American Home Missionary Society, organized at New York City in 1826 and serving the same denominations plus a specific mention of the Dutch Reformed Church. Some of his assets went to the Women's Christian Temperance Union, also.

----- The above was paraphrased from a work by Wayne C. Temple, published in the Illinois College Alumni Magazine in the Summer of 1997

Jabez D. PHILBRICK and Elizabeth Huntington LYMAN were married on 16 February 1831 in Portland, Cumberland, Maine.^874,875 Elizabeth Huntington LYMAN, daughter of Eliphalet LYMAN and Abigail RIPLEY, was born on 29 March 1808 in Fryeburg, Oxford, Maine.^875,876 She died on 18 March 1887 at the age of 78 in Griggsville, Pike, Illinois.⁸⁷⁴ She was buried at Griggsville Cemetery in Griggsville, Pike, Illinois.⁷⁰

Jabez D. PHILBRICK-8572 and Elizabeth Huntington LYMAN-20812 had the following children: