Thomas Wharton Phillips Jr. (November 21, 1874 – January 2, 1956) was a Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Early life

Phillips was born in

New Castle, Pennsylvania New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Shenango River at the mouth of Neshannock Creek, it is northwest of Pittsburgh near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border, approximately so ...

on November 21, 1874. He was the son of Pamphila (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Hardman) Phillips (1844–1933) and Thomas Wharton Phillips (1835–1912), who also served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, and later, was appointed a member of the United States Industrial Commission by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

. Through his father, he was a descendant of Reverend George Phillips who founded the

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

in New England in the 18th century. He graduated from

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...

, in 1894 and from the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale University, Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Jos ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1897, where he was a member of

Chi Phi Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest of these organizations was forme ...

fraternity.

Career

He was engaged in the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

, and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

businesses, taking over his father's business in 1912. He was a delegate to the

1916 Republican National Convention The 1916 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago from June 7 to June 10. A major goal of the party's bosses at the convention was to heal the bitter split within the party that had occurred in the 1912 presidential campaign. In that ...

. Phillips was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Congresses, and did not seek renomination for Congress in

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

. While in Congress, he was a bitter opponent of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in 1926, 1930, and 1934.

Post Congress

After his service in Congress, he resumed his former occupation and was president of the Phillips Gas and Oil Co., serving for forty-four years. He was also a director of the Butler Consolidated Coal Co., and the Pennsylvania Investment and Real Estate Corp., of

Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is north of Pittsburgh and part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,502. Butler is named after Major General ...

Personal life

Phillips was married to Alma Janet Sherman (1882–1945). Alma was the daughter of Roger Sherman, a noted lawyer in

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...

, and Alma Caroline (née Seymour) Sherman. Together, they were the parents of six children, five of whom lived to maturity: * Janet Sherman Phillips (b. 1909), who married Leander McCormick-Goodhart (1884–1965), son of

Frederick E. McCormick-Goodhart Frederick Emanuel McCormick-Goodhart (January 5, 1854 – September 26, 1924) was a British-born barrister who later moved to the United States and is known for building Langley Park (Langley Park, Maryland), Langley Park in Langley Park, Maryland. ...

and grandson of

Leander J. McCormick Leander James McCormick (February 8, 1819 – February 20, 1900) was an American inventor, manufacturer, philanthropist, and businessman and a member of the McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia. Along with his elder brothers Cyrus and Willia ...

, in 1928. * Katherine Phillips (b. 1910), who married Lucien Gerard van Hoorn, the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

to Austria and Hungary, in 1932. She later married British doctor Frederick L. Rutgers in 1942. * Alma Phillips (1913–1913), who died in infancy. * Margaret Sherman Phillips (1914–1990), who married Augustus Craig Succop in 1934. * Thomas Wharton Phillips III (b. ). * Roger Sherman Phillips (1922–1969), who married Virginia Dickson (1922–2011) in 1943. He later married Jeannie Kay DeKlyn (1938–2008), a daughter of Dr. Ward Benedict DeKlyn. After the death of his first wife in 1945, he remarried the following year to Greta W. Schoenwald. Greta, a

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

soloist, was a faculty member at Bethany College in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

from 1955 to 1958. He died at his mansion, Phillips Hall, on Butler Plank Road in Penn Township,

Butler County, Pennsylvania Butler County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 193,763. Its county seat is Butler. Butler County was created on March 12, 1800, from part of Allegheny County and named in honor of Gen ...

on January 2, 1956. After a funeral at the North Street Church of Christ, where he was a member, he was buried in North Cemetery in

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Thomas Wharton Jr. 1874 births 1956 deaths Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Settlement workers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives