PHILLIPS, John [1719-1795] -- American philanthropist

was born in Andover, Mass., Dec. 27, 1719; son of the Rev. Samuel and Hannah (White) Phillips; grandson of Samuel and Mary (Emerson) Phillips, and of Capt. John White, Haverhill, Mass., and a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of Norfolk county, England, who immigrated to Salem, Mass., in the ship Arbella with Winthrop and Saltonstall in 1630, and settled in Watertown, Mass. He was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1735, A.M., 1738; taught school at Andover, Mass., Exeter, N.H., and elsewhere, and afterward conducted a private Latin school in Exeter. He fitted for the ministry and was called to the church in Exeter, but decided instead to engage in mercantile pursuits, in which he accumulated a large fortune. He was a justice of the peace, and a member of the New Hampshire council for several years; a justice of the supreme court at odd times; founded and endowed the Phillips professorship of divinity in Dartmouth college in 1782, and was a trustee of Dartmouth, 1773-93. He founded Phillips academy at Andover, Mass., with his brother Samuel, in April, 1778, giving to it $31,000 besides a third interest in his estate, and in 1871 founded Phillips academy at Exeter, N.H., endowing it with $134,000. He was trustee of Phillips at Andover, 1778-95, and president of the board, 1790-95. He contributed liberally to the College of New Jersey, and received the degree LL.D. from Dartmouth in 1777. He was married first to Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Emery, and widow of Nathaniel Gilman, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. E. Dennet of Portsmouth, N.H., and widow of Dr. Hale. He died in Exeter, N.H., April 21, 1795. [Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans]