My research trip yesterday

I was able to make two trips yesterday, one trip to St Clair county and one trip to the LDS center here in Birmingham. First the St Clair findings.

There appear to be a number of different mentions of Phillips' in the deed books. The first mention of William, however, appears to be in 1834. This is a fairly large gap from 1814, when the theory is he left for Alabama from Tennessee. However, this appears to be the right William, because out of the 11 William Phillips/Philips in Alabama in 1830, there is only one in St. Clair county. The same applies in 1840. On a side note, I wish I had thought to look up that statistic earlier than today, because that means that all the work I did trying to find out if this William was the same William I'm related to was worthless. I suppose there are bigger problems to have, like not finding his will! After talking with Charlene Simpson in the Ashville Historical Building (A VERY helpful genealogist and very nice lady), the next trip will be to the Shelby County probate court. Apparently Shelby county in the 1810s included a large tract around the area William was living, which also explains why he was in Shelby county in 1820, and why my grandfather was born in 1820 in Shelby county, not St. Clair. He ends up in Blount County in 1850, which is likely due to the changing county lines in Alabama. He appears to own a lot of land in the area in the first half of the 1800s.

From the LDS trip, I found records of William Phillips in the first Deed books of Warren County (Books A-C). Fittingly, he sells off most of his property in 1813/1814. He originally got the land from a Daniel/Danyl Middleton, who fought for North Carolina in the Revolutionary War. Not too sure about whether or not he actually knew William, or just sold off his land rights because he did not want to move. We may not know about that at all. He appears to first get to Warren county in 1807, the next trip to LDS will have to cover White County deed records, and the criminal court of White/Warren counties to see what those records will uncover about the murder, and if this is the same William we are related to! Certainly does put a little bit of color in to the family tree!