Obituary of Ada S. PHILLIPS, Madison Co, AR *********************************************************** Submitted by: Lynn Gibson Date: 22 Nov 1998 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************** Ada S. PHILLIPS - Date of Death 21 Mar 1933 [Submitter's Note: Unfortunately I do not have the name or the date of the newspaper this was published in - but I do have a photocopy of the article itself - masthead missing. Date of Death for Ada S. Phillips was March 21, 1933 in Fayetteville - so this probably came from a Fayetteville newspaper. She was the granddaughter of Mr. Vaughn from Madison Co., which is mentioned in the obit.] "MRS. PHILLIPS PASSES AWAY Mrs. Ada S. Phillips of 313 North College avenue passed away this morning about 9 o'clock following a several weeks' illness. The end has not been unexpected for several days. The deceased was mother of City Clerk Otoe Phillips and of Mrs. George Parsons, both of Fayetteville, and of Captain Jack Phillips of Panama City who traveled by airplane, boat and train to reach her bedside in time for her to recognize him. There are three other surviving children: G. E. Phillips of Mineral Point, Mo.; Mrs. W. W. Bearden, Borger, Tex., and Frank Phillips of Canal Zone, all of whom were here but the last named. Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock from the home. Rev. J. T. Gillespie, pastor of First Baptist Church will officiate. Mrs. C. C. Yarrington and Mrs. Richard Jaynes will sing "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Face to Face" with Miss Mildred Gregg accompanying. Interment will be in Evergreen cemetery beside her husband, the late David D. Phillips, Confederate veteran. Pallbearers will be: Active - Neal Cruse, Ernest Sexson, Guy Rogers, Cass Mulrennan, Raymond Harbison, Frank Sanders, Pat Hix and Sam Watkins. Honorary - The mayor and city council T. S. Tribble, Frank Barr, John Bynum, Witt Carter, J. K. Gregory, C. T. Harding, George Sanders, J. F. Stamord, R. E. Wages, Dr. E. F. Ellis, Elza Davies, Dr. Dave Walker, A. A. Mhoon, W. A. Gregg, W. H. Summers, E. E. Hart, John Casey, H. E. Jackson, C. F. Armistead. Both Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were members of families of Revolutionary of Colonial days and both have an illustrious lineage. Both were members of the Missionary Baptist Church and the Rev. Joshua Baker, father of Judge H. L. Baker of Fayetteville, officiated at their baptismal ceremony. The couple when very young started housekeeping on Brush Creek. Later they lived at Hindsville and in Indian Territory and after moving back to Hindsville and came in 1912 to Fayetteville where the family home has been ever since. A nephew today gave the following information and paid tribute to the deceased: The death of Ada S. Phillips brings to an end the career of a noble woman and mother, whose long span of life and ancestry have included epoch that few lives can match in the history of Fayetteville and of Washington and Madison counties. Born in the Vaughan Valley, just west of Hindsville, March 10, 1856, Ada S. Fitch was the oldest daughter of Margaret Vaughan Fitch and Catlet Fitch who were members of two well-known pioneer families in this region. Her mother was one of the first students in the old Fayetteville Female Seminary. Mrs. Phillips was the granddaughter of Judge George Washington Vaughan of Madison county, and the great granddaughter of Samuel Vaughan, one of the four commissioners who on October 17, 1828 chose the townsite for the city of Fayetteville. On the Fitch side Mrs. Phillips was blessed with an equally rich ancestral heritage, her father, a member of Brook's Batalion, being an early settler and an extensive land owner and her grandfather, Dr. Thomas Lafayette Fitch, an early graduate from Michigan University in both the literary and medical courses. The great grandfather, John Fitch, came over from Scotland before the Revolutionary War and settled on the James river in Virginia where his family lived while he was a soldier in the Revolutionary army. A small girl of five years of age, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Ada Fitch, early in life became inured to the hardships of a pioneer existence. Early in the spring of the year peace was declared - 1865 - in a company of 21 people, containing her father and grandfather, she accompanied her parents to Willard, Missouri, a postoffice about ten miles from Springfield, on Grand Prairie. Here they lived until the close of the war. Educated in the school of Madison county and endowed both by heredity and environment with a greater than usual strength of character "Aunt Ada' was especially fitted by long experience to hold that place in the hears of many people, both young and old, that is only given to one's most trusted friends. A personality that epitomized youth - blessed by long experience, that represented a unity of kindliness, friendship, love, and understanding, and that was wise and experienced enough to know what to say and when to counsel and guide, and when to chide. An abiding faith in the inherent goodness of mankind, a steadfastness of purpose that could not be shaken by hardships, privations, trials, or pettiness, and a well defined sense of humor, these are the attributes that make up the character, who to many was known as Mrs. Phillips, to some as 'Gran', to others as 'Aunt Ada', and to all who knew her as a real 'Mother' in heart and act, if not in fact. On August 24, 1873, she was united in marriage to David D. Phillips, deceased, of Wesley, Ark., a veteran of the Confederate army, who had served under Price, Shelby and Marmaduke. To this union were born seven children, six of whom survive their mother: Gregory E. Phillips of Mineral Point, Mo.; Mrs. W. W. Bearden of Borger, Texas; Mrs. George H. Parsons, Fayetteville; Captain Jack Phillips, Inspector Canal Zone Police, Balboa Heights, Canal Zone, Panama; Otoe Phillips, City Clerk, Fayetteville; and Frank Phillips, Clerk, Panama Railroad Company, Cristobal, Canal Zone, Panama. In addition to the above named children, Mrs. Phillips is survived by six grandsons, one granddaughter, and one great grandson, as follows: Rufus Phillips, Mineral Point, Mo.,; Earl Phillips, St. Louis; Homer Phillips, Mineral Point; Wayne Bearden, Los Angeles, Cal., David Bearden, Borger, Texas; George H. Parsons, Jr., Fayetteville; Ada Catherine Phillips, Cristobal, Canal Zone; and Phillips Bearden, Springdale, Ark. Three brothers and two sisters also survive the deceased: Thomas L. Fitch, Arcadia, Calif; Andrew D. Fitch, Franklin, Montana; Mrs. Alfted T. Smith, Springdale; Mrs. Henry Parker, Hindsville; and Catlet F. (Dick) Fitch, Hindsville. All of the children are here for the funeral, and have been at the bedside of their mother for some time, except the youngest son, Frank Phillips, who was unable to obtain leave from his duties in Panama." [Transcribed and Submitted by Sherry Healy.]