Joseph Philips and his wife Milbrey Horn lived on a large farm outside Tarboro NC in 1791 when they decided to relocate
to Nashville TN with their small children and slaves. After living in a fort in Nashville, they purchased 640 acres
6 miles north of Nashville on then Dickenson now Dickerson Pike on the west side of the road between what is not Briley Parkway
and Old Hickory Blvd.
Joseph wrote his close friend Elisha Williams in 1801. Elisha lived on
a farm outside Louisburg NC and was considering buying a race horse stallion. Joseph encouraged him to buy the stallion
and move to Nashville where they could own the horse together. In the fall of 1805 Elisha Williams and his wife Sarah
Josey relocated to Nashville with their grown children and slaves, leaving one married daughter behind in NC.
Elisha
Williams purchased the Evans grant of 640 acres on Gallatin Pike about 3 miles outside of Nashville just below what is now
Briley Parkway.
Their sons Josiah Fredrich Williams and William Williams would later marry two of
Joseph and Milbrey Philips' daughters, Margaret "Peggy" Thomas Philips and Sarah "Sallie" Philips. They ended up
living across Gallatin Pike from one another while rearing large families.
All six of these pioneers
are buried at the Philips Sylvan Hall cemetery along with a number of other relatives.
