William Phillips
William Phillips of Taunton, MA was born in England in 1588 (see below). He was the son of Christopher Phillips and was baptized in Kirton Parish, Lincolnshire, England on May 8, 1588.
George Phillips
From "Early New England Settlers Page
417": "PHILLIPS, George, Watertown; the first minister, came in the Arabella,
the admiral ship of the fleet, with Winthrop, 1630, bringing son Samuel, and wife, beside
Eliza., and perhaps Abigail, an only child, sister by another father of John Hayward, of
Watertown and Charlestown, who died soon after landing at Salem. He was son of
Christopher, born 1593 at Rainham, St. Martins, near Rougham, in the hundr. of
Gallow, Co. Norfolk, not Raymond, as says Mather, III, cap. 4; but Brook, in Lives of
Puritans, II, 493, says Rondham, in the same Co.; yet Dr. Fuller, writing to Gov.
Bradford, particularly calls him a Suffolk man; however more important is that he was bred
at Gonille and Caius Coll., Cambridge, matricula. 1610; took degrees 1613 and 1617; was
settled in Boxted, Co. Essex. By second wife married prob. in 1631, Elizabeth; by Bond,
with happy conjecture, thought to be widow of Capt. Robert Weldon, he had Zarobabel, born
1632; Jonathan, 1633. Theophilus, 1636; Amabel, late same year, died soon after; Ephraim,
buried 1640, very young; Obadiah, born 1641; and a daughter Abiel, perhaps that Abigail
who married 1666, James Barnard; He died 1644, his widow 1881".
From Frederick Lewis Weis, "The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial
Churches of New England, (Lancaster MA: 1936; reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing, Co., Inc., 1977.), pg. 164": "GEORGE PHILLIPS, A.M., b. Raynham St.
Martin's, Norfolk, England, 1593, son of Christopher Phillips; Gonville
& Caius Coll., Camb., A.B., 1613/4; A.M., 1617; Curate at Boxted, Essex, England,
1615-1630; arrived in N. E., June 2, 1630; Ord. Watertown, July 30, 1630, as the first
minister of the First Ch.; sett. Watertown, 1630-1644; a liberal; Overseer, H.C., 1642;
left a distinguished posterity including Wendell Phillips and Phillips Brooks; d.
Watertown, July 1, 1644."
This
is a photograph of the baptism of William Phillips found in the Church Records, Kirton
Parish, Lincolnshire, England, LDS Microfilm 94062, Page 79, record of 1588. The entry for
William is on the 5th line below May .
Conclusion
There is no evidence to show how William came to America but the
fact remains that George Phillips settled in Massachusetts and it is only reasonable to
assume that he settled near his brother William.