Stephen C. Phillips Explained

Stephen C. Phillips
Image Name:Stephen Clarendon Phillips.png
State:Massachusetts
District:2nd
Term Start:December 1, 1834
Term End:September 28, 1838
Order2:2nd Mayor of
Salem, Massachusetts
Term Start2:1838
Term End2:March 1842
Successor2:Stephen Palfray Webb
Office3:Member of the Massachusetts Senate
Term3:1830
Office4:Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Term4:1824-1829
Birth Name:Stephen Clarendon Phillips
Birth Date:November 4, 1801
Death Date:June 26, 1857 (aged 55)
Death Place:St. Lawrence River, near Quebec City, Quebec
Spouse:Jane Appleton Peele, m. November 6, 1822, d. December 19, 1837; Margaret Mason Peele, m. September 3, 1838, d. July 15, 1883
Alma Mater:Harvard
Children:Stephen H. Phillips
Party:Whig, Free Soil
Signature:Stephen C. Phillips signature.png

Stephen Clarendon Phillips (November 4, 1801 – June 26, 1857) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

Phillips was born in Salem, Massachusetts, to Stephen and Dorcas (Woodbridge) Phillips. He was a descendant of Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America.[1] He graduated from Harvard University in 1819. Phillips' engaged in mercantile pursuits in Salem, and was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1824 to 1829. He then served in the Massachusetts State Senate in 1830.

Phillips was elected as a National Republican to the Twenty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Rufus Choate. He was reelected as a National Republican to the Twenty-fourth Congress, and elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth Congress serving from December 1, 1834, to September 28, 1838, when he resigned.

Phillips was mayor of Salem from 1838 to 1842, but was defeated as the Free Soil candidate for governor in 1848 and 1849. He engaged in the lumber business in Canada. He perished in the burning of the steamer Montreal on the St. Lawrence River on June 26, 1857, near Quebec City.[2] His body was never found, but there is a monument to him in Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem.

Notes and References

  1. Bond, Henry and Jones, Horatio. Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston: To which is Appended the Early History of the Town. New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1860, pgs. 872-882
  2. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13000361 Sydney Morning Herald