Amelia A. Brace (1844-1926)

Amelia A. Brace was born on 22 Mar 1844 in Akron, Erie, New York, as the sixth child of Edmund Brace and Jerusha Bennett. She had seven siblings, namely: John, Deborah Rose, Comfort, Nancy, Thomas, Joseph, and Eliza H. Brace.

When she was a very small child, Amelia’s family left New York and resettled in Bristol, Kendall, Illinois.

Amelia lost her mother when she was about five-years old. It is quite possible that her mother died in childbirth when Amelia’s youngest sister, Eliza, was born on 7 Nov 1849. The mother, Jerusha Bennett Brace, passed away sometime between Eliza’s birth and when the 1850 Federal Census was taken.

Her father remarried on 14 Sep 1851, so Amelia was raised by a step-mother. The step-mother, Elizabeth, was a widow at the time of the marriage and had children from her first marriage that became Amelia’s step-siblings.

The Civil War disrupted the family. Millie lost two brothers to the war. Her oldest brother, John, died on 1 Jan 1863 and her brother, Comfort, was killed 20 Sep 1863 at Chickamauga.  Comfort Brace was one of the 1,657 Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Chickamauga that was fought 18-20 Sep 1863 in Georgia. The Confederate Army was victorious in the battle. The battle had the second-highest number of casualties in the war. Only the Battle of Gettysburg had more. It was the first major battle fought in Georgia.¹ ²

When she was 21, Amelia A. Brace married Albert Aveldo Phillips, son of Jacob W. Phillips and Betsey Holmes, in 1866. She was known as Millie and her husband was called Tom.

Albert Aveldo Phillips and Amelia A Brace had seven sons.

Tom and Millie only had sons. It is hard to not wonder if Millie secretly (or maybe not so secretly) hoped for a girl to be born somewhere along the way. She no doubt had her hands full raising all those boys.

1. Guy Allison Phillips was born on 13 May 1866 in Clarence, Erie, New York. He married Gertrude Lovin Boyce on 01 Oct 1888 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, USA (rural Aurora). He died on 04 Dec 1940 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, USA (rural Aurora).
2. Frank Lonsbury Phillips was born on 26 Feb 1868 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, USA. He died on 31 Jan 1948 in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, USA. He married Mary Olivia Mighell on 21 Jan 1891 in Sugar Grove, Kane, Illinois, USA.
3. Clarence Arthur Phillips was born on 01 Mar 1870 in Bristol, Kendall, Illinois, USA. He died on 17 Aug 1935 in Elgin, Kane, Illinois, USA (Age: 64). He married Mayme E Bell on 13 Jun 1898 in Cook, Illinois, USA. He married Edna B Nelson on 27 Oct 1917 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.
4. Edmund B Phillips was born on 07 Jan 1872 in Bristol, Kendall, Illinois, USA. He died on 28 Feb 1953 in Kane, Illinois, USA. He married Harriet B Warren on 01 Aug 1901 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.
5. Charles Floyd Phillips was born on 17 May 1874 in Bristol, Kendall, Illinois, USA. He died on 03 Oct 1950 in Illinois, USA. He married Mayme Stanton on 09 May 1900 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, USA.
6. Harold Everett Phillips was born on 02 Jun 1876 in Bristol, Kendall, Illinois, USA. He died on 01 Jun 1937 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, USA (Age: 60).
7. Faye Elmer Phillips was born on 23 Sep 1880 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, USA. He married Kathryn Elfie Bramble on 18 Mar 1903 in Kane, Illinois. Faye died on 27 Aug 1935 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois at age 54.

Tom and Millie started out farming in Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, Illinois, but in 1868, he sold his interest in the family homestead and moved to Kendall County, Illinois where she had grown up. After farming there for fourteen years, they returned to Kane County and purchased a farm near Montgomery. Tom retired from farming in 1891 when he was about fifty years old. The couple spent their last years living in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.

A year after her husband died, Amelia A. Brace Phillips passed away on 21 Sep 1926 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois. She was buried on 24 Sep 1926 in Riverside Cemetery, Montgomery, Kane, Illinois.

Her obituary was published in the Aurora Beacon on 22 Sep 1926:

Millie Phillips.  82, widow of late Albert (Tom) Phillips, died at home, 30 S Lake St. She fell.  Was past pres. of Women’s Relief Corps, member of United Presbyterian Church. Came here in covered wagon. Born Mar 1844, Chemung County, N.Y.; Came here when 6 years old. Father, Edmund Brace, seven sons living, 14 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren

Where is she in the tree?

How can I learn more?

The Phillips Family book covers the life and descendants  of Amelia A. Brace Phillips. Also see the Phillips page for more information.

The Phillips Family

Selected Sources:

¹”Battle of Chickamauga,” Wikipedia, Web, 21 Mar 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga.

² History of Kendall County Illinois from the Earliest Discoveries to the Present Time, Edmund Wayne Hicks (1877), p. 323; Archive.org, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofkendall00hick).