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Sophia Josephine Phillips

Sophia Josephine Phillips

Female 1803 - 1865  (62 years)


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  • Name Sophia Josephine Phillips  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] 
    Birth 1803  Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [7, 9] 
    Baptism 28 Aug 1803  Bristol, Gloucestershire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 11, 12] 
    Gender Female 
    FSID 94MJ-Z4G 
    Death 1865  Visalia, Tulare County, California, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [7] 
    Burial Tulare County, California, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [7] 
    Person ID I8251  footsteps
    Last Modified 1 Jul 2025 

    Father Thomas Burton Phillips,   b. 1781, Pittsylvania, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 1860, Alabama, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age < 78 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Abigail Atkins,   b. 1783, Grayson, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1835, Alabama, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 52 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Marriage 1801  Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F123  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Robert Meade Saunders,   b. Abt 1790, North Carolina, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Between 1846 and 1850, Missouri, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years) 
    Marriage 16 Feb 1822  Jefferson, Kentucky, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. S. Saunders,   b. 1828, Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, United States, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1850 (Age > 23 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    +2. Isabella Meade Saunders,   b. 1 Feb 1829, Maury County, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Jul 1904, Visalia, Tulare County, California, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    +3. Winfield Scott Saunders,   b. 4 Sep 1834, Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, United States, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1 Mar 1910, Fresno County, California, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
     4. Susan Jane Sanders,   b. 10 Mar 1840   d. 29 Jun 1906, Gregg, Texas, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 66 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    Family ID F85  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 1 Jul 2025 

  • Notes 


    • From (cousin) Eva Evans manuscript re: BJB ggg grandmother, Sophia Phillips Saunders McCullough and gg grandmother, Isabelle Saunders Byrd. (Winfield Saunders changed the spelling of name to Sanders in adulthood)

      Grannie, (Isabelle Saunders Byrd) my mother's mother, lived next door to us on some land Dad (Chris Evans) had given her out of our block. Grannie was a Tennessee Mountain woman, and had had a very hard life. She had only been to school for three months, but she could read and write and spell better than any of us, because until she was a middle -aged woman she only had three books; a Bible, a dictionary, and a "Dr. King's Doctor Book'. This had belonged to her mother, and had pictures of herbs in it.

      This great-grandmother McCullough was a remarkable woman. She was six feet tall, could ride and shoot, and was not afraid of anybody or anything. She came to California in 1852, with my grandparents and their two children, crossing the plains with a covered wagon caravan, and though they were not attacked by the Indians, they had several narrow escapes. "Once they came upon a butchered train, the ruins of the wagons still smoking, and the mutilated bodies not yet cold. They washed them and gave them a Christian burial, expecting to be attacked any moment. They went to the mines in Amador County, and during the seven years they lived there, Grannie cooked in a fireplace, in cabins with dirt floors, and had three more children . . . There wasn't a doctor in the country, so Great-grandmother McCullough got out her 'Dr. King's' and started looking for herbs and making medicine. She knew how to set broken bones, so in a little while she was going miles to care for the sick. The Tule River Indians were on a rampage at this time; but she had some saddlebags, so she would put her medicine on one side and her gun on the other, and away she would go. What cared she for Indians!" It could be that the legacy provided by the example of her mother and grandmother led to Sophia Josephine Byrd's (McClelland) interest in medicine which she pursued as a young woman, becoming the first or one of the first degreed women physicians in California. Sophia's birthplace is stated as Ireland on several of children's death certificates, but in census, Sophie is always listed as born in Tennessee. Perhaps her parents or grandparents were from Ireland, or less likely, she indeed was born in Ireland, but grew up in TN.

  • Photos
    1860 Census Tulare County McCullough    		1860 Census Tulare County McCullough

  • Sources 
    1. [S143] Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, Bristol Archives; Bristol, England; Bristol Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: P/St MR/R/1/11.

    2. [S196] Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950.
      "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950," database with images, FamilyS e a r c h (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKZS-5ZHD : 19 Febru a r y 2 0 2 1), Robert Saunders and Sophia Phillips, 16 Feb 1822; citing Jef f e r s o n, Alabama, United States, County Pro

    3. [S196] Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950, "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2D3-QM6M : 18 May 2023), Robt Saunders and Sophia Phillips, 1822.

    4. [S196] Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950, "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2D3-31BY : 18 May 2023), Robt Saunders and Sophia Phillips, 1822.

    5. [S196] Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950, "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2D3-QMMM : 18 May 2023), Robt Saunders and Sophia Phillips, 1822.

    6. [S196] Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950.
      "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950," database with images, FamilyS e a r c h (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQWD-BH7 : 19 Februa r y 2 0 2 1 ), Robert Saunders Jr. and Sophia Phillips, 16 Feb 1822; citing J e f f e r son, Alabama, United States, County

    7. [S3] Corr. with Barbara Baker, (bdocbaker@comcast.net).

    8. [S48] England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975.
      N3125QUAY

    9. [S7] Netherlands, Genealogie Online Trees Index, 1000-2015.
      Record for Berenger Senlis

    10. [S143] Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812.

    11. [S143] Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, Bristol Archives; Bristol, England; Bristol Church of England Bishop Transcripts of Parish Registers; Reference: EP/V/4/47/18.

    12. [S143] Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, Database online.
      Record for Guy Vincent Buckman


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