William Addison PHILLIPS, Congress, KS (1824-1893)

PHILLIPS, William Addison, a Representative from Kansas; born in Paisley, Scotland, January 14, 1824; attended the common schools of Paisley; immigrated to the United States in 1838 with his parents, who settled in Randolph County, Ill.; engaged in agricultural pursuits; employed as a newspaper correspondent 1845-1862; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1855 and commenced practice in Lawrence, Kans.; first justice of the supreme court under the Leavenworth constitution; founded the city of Salina, Kans., in 1858; during the Civil War raised some of the first troops in Kansas in 1861; was afterward commissioned colonel and served as commander of the Cherokee Indian Regiment; prosecuting attorney of Cherokee County in 1865; served in the State house of representatives in 1865; attorney for the Cherokee Indians at Washington, D.C.; elected as a Republican to the Forty-third, Forty-fourth, and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1879); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1878; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; died at Fort Gibson, Muskogee County, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), November 30, 1893; interment in Gypsum Hill Cemetery, Salina, Kans.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present