Figure of the Week

Moses Phillips (c1736-1811) operated an ordinary to the immediate south of the present Stafford County Courthouse.  The Stafford court granted him licenses to keep the ordinary in 1780 and 1785 and possibly during other years, as well.  Moses is thought to have been the son of William Phillips who emigrated from Wales to Philadelphia.  In Pennsylvania William married a descendant of William Penn, by whom he had eight children.  William Phillips eventually moved his family to Spotsylvania where Moses was born.  Around 1760 Moses married Sarah Jeffries (born c.1740) of Amherst County, Virginia by whom he had eight known children.  Moses left Stafford and moved to Mason County, Kentucky.  Shortly after arriving there, three of his sons, Moses, Jr. (c.1775-1787), Thomas, and John Phillips (born c.1773), were attached by Indians, the first two being killed and scalped.  John managed to escape.  Moses’ daughter, Susan Phillips (1765-1834), married William Byram (1764-1829).  He was the son of William  Byram and Sarah Gough of Stafford County.  Daughter Lucy Phillips (died 1836) married around 1781 Peter Byram (c.1760-c.1799), also a son of William and Sarah (Gough) Byram.  Moses, Sr. eventually settled on North Fork and Stone Lick Creek, Kentucky.  He died at nearby Pea Ridge.