| Notes |
- Biographical history of Page County, Iowa. Chicago, Lewis & Dunbar, 1890. Page 828-830.
William J. Phipps is descended from an old American family of English origin. They settled first in Grayson County, Virginia, where Isaiah Phipps, the grandfather of our subject, was born; he was married there and reared a large family. His son, John, the father of William J., was born in Grayson County, Virginia, in 1815, and was reared to the occupation of a farmer. At the age of twenty years he emigrated to Vermillion County, Illinois, where he was one of the early settlers. He married Eliza J. Hall, a daughter of William and Annie (Copeland) Hall, and to them were born three children: Mary A., Sylvester and William J. They resided in Vermilion County until 1839, and then went to Bates County, Missouri, where the wife died. In 1847 Mr. Phipps removed to Lee County, Iowa, and was one of the pioneers of that county. In 1850, during the gold fever in California, he emigrated to that State and engaged in mining, meeting with marked success. While there he turned his attention to farming; he was again married to Ellen Wayman, and they had four children: Emma, Ann E., Mary E. and John N. Mr. Phipps is now living in San Luis Obispo County, California. He is a worthy member of the Christian Church, and an honored citizen.
William J. Phipps, his son and the subject of this sketch, was born in Vermillion County, Illinois, in 1837, receiving the limited education that was afforded in that early day. His father being a pioneer of three States: he was reared on the frontier and subjected to the privations and vicissitudes of that life. In 1857 he was married to Lydia A. Copeland in Decatur County, Iowa. She is a daughter of Jefferson and Louisa (Johnson) Copeland. Seven children were born of this marriage: Mary A., deceased at two years; Miles J., deceased at the age of seven years; Julia E., deceased at five months; Emma J, , Leonore and Theodore, twins, deceased in infancy, and John W., deceased at one year of age.
Mr. Phipps engaged in agricultural pursuits in Decatur County, where he lived until 1861; he then removed to Pottawattamie County, and at the end of two years went to the Rocky Mountains, remaining there three years. In 1868 he came to Page County and bought land in Fremont Township on which he settled; he still owns this farm, but it is now occupied by his daughter and son-in-law, Howard Soper, who married Emma J. They are the parents of two children, William Howard and Morris Willard.
Mr. Phipps is a man of correct principles and habits, and has endeavored always to live an upright life. He is prominently identified with all the interests of the great West, having witnessed its growth and development from the trackless prairie to its present advanced state of cultivation. He and his wife are both true Christians, and have borne the sorrow which they have met in the loss of their children with characteristic patience and resignation. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party. It has been through his own unaided efforts that he has made his money, and he deservedly ranks with the honored list of self made men of the West.
Jefferson Copeland, the father of Mrs. Phipps, is a grandson of Charles Copeland, who came from Scotland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, long before the war of the Revolution. Charles Copeland married Miss Abigail Hass, and they had one son, Charles. The father returned to Scotland to recover some property belonging to his family estate, and while there broke his leg and was detailed a long time. The means of communication were very meager, and as his wife did not hear from him for such a long time, she moved with her father’s family to Virginia, where she married again. After a long time her husband abandoned all hopes of gaining his part of the estate and returned to Nova Scotia, where he again broke his leg; his wife hearing of his return traveled all the distance from Virginia to see him, but he passed away before she reached his side. Her son, Charles, the father of Jefferson, was a native of Nova Scotia, and a soldier in the war of the Revolution. He married Hannah Osborn, and they had thirteen children, of whom Jefferson is the youngest and the only surviving one. The father was a member of the Baptist Church. Jefferson Copeland was born in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, in 1810, and was seven years of age when his parents removed to Indiana; there he learned to read and write, and at the age of eighteen years he learned the trade of blacksmith. In 1834 he married Louisa Johnson, daughter of Patrick and Annie Morton Johnson, both of Scotch descent.
They became the parents of five children; Charlotte, Charles, Lydia A., Martha, and Julietta. Since 1868 Mr. Copeland has been a resident of Page County; he is now eighty years of age. He is a diligent student of the Bible and preaches the Gospel as it is revealed to him by the reading of the Word. He has suffered many hardships in his career, but has been of incalculable benefit to his country in clearing a path through the wilderness for the advance of civilization. There is no more honorable record in the life of any American citizen.
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1837 - 1922 (85 years)
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