21 Phillips Street. Andover Historic Preservation Commission.
In May 1794, Judge Phillips wrote to his son, John Phillips (1776-1820), a student at Harvard, expressing anxiety about his son’s future. The trouble was, he was prodigal. “… my dear child,," his father wrote, "you will remember, that every other acquirement will be ineffectual, without the government of the temper; and that the longer this is delayed, the more difficult will be the attainment.” [1] After Judge Phillips’s death in 1802, John was made a partner in the paper mill — not an ideal choice. Apparently, he had not reformed. In 1809, he was insolvent, leading Reverend Bentley to comment in his diary: “. . . it was thought there was no end to his money. He has been very irregular in his habits & this is the true cause of his sufferings.” [2] Or was he bankrupt because he, along with his mother, Phoebe Foxcroft Phillips, had been persuaded by Eliphalet Pearson to support the founding of the seminary? Together mother and son had pledged to finance, among other things, the building of the seminary's dormitory at a cost of $16,000.
Unable to make good on the pledge, the widow Phillips had to move out of her palatial Mansion House, where she had lived in style and comfort with Judge Phillips, and turn it over to the seminary. Luckily, Samual Farrar, a local banker and long-time treasurer of the P.A. board, invited her to live at his house, at what is now 21 Phillips Street, where she died in 1812.
Nor was the insolvency a Phillips family problem only. According to Reverend Bentley, John Phillips had persuaded others to loan him money to contribute to the cause: “The failure of Hon. John Philips [sic] in Andover, has not a favorable aspect upon the Jesuits [3] College at that place," he wrote. ". . . by his failure he has involved many in great embarrassment.” According to Bentley's account, John Phillips owed someone in Salem “many thousands of dollars and this is but a part of sustained losses in Salem. It is supposed that Andover will receive a heavy shock, as the credit of the family had given him great opportunities to take advantages of the credulity of the Inhabitants.” [4]
In 1811, there was more misery for John Phillips. The paper mill burned down. And although it was rebuilt the following year, there was more trouble ahead for the enterprise. The paper mill wasn't subject to explosions like the gunpowder milll had been, but it was a smelly and unpleasant place to have sitting in the middle of town. Townspeople were beginning to complain. Machines and mills were good as long they were kept at their distance. And as the town grew, the only truly acceptable mills in the midst of civilized Andover were going to have to be intellectual ones.
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1. ACHC, William A.Trow collection, Sub-group IV, Series D, Sub-series 1-b-1.
2. Bentley, October 27, 1809.
3. I take the reference to Jesuits to be a dig at the seminary's missionary aspirations.
4. Bentley, October 27, 1809.
Unable to make good on the pledge, the widow Phillips had to move out of her palatial Mansion House, where she had lived in style and comfort with Judge Phillips, and turn it over to the seminary. Luckily, Samual Farrar, a local banker and long-time treasurer of the P.A. board, invited her to live at his house, at what is now 21 Phillips Street, where she died in 1812.
Nor was the insolvency a Phillips family problem only. According to Reverend Bentley, John Phillips had persuaded others to loan him money to contribute to the cause: “The failure of Hon. John Philips [sic] in Andover, has not a favorable aspect upon the Jesuits [3] College at that place," he wrote. ". . . by his failure he has involved many in great embarrassment.” According to Bentley's account, John Phillips owed someone in Salem “many thousands of dollars and this is but a part of sustained losses in Salem. It is supposed that Andover will receive a heavy shock, as the credit of the family had given him great opportunities to take advantages of the credulity of the Inhabitants.” [4]
In 1811, there was more misery for John Phillips. The paper mill burned down. And although it was rebuilt the following year, there was more trouble ahead for the enterprise. The paper mill wasn't subject to explosions like the gunpowder milll had been, but it was a smelly and unpleasant place to have sitting in the middle of town. Townspeople were beginning to complain. Machines and mills were good as long they were kept at their distance. And as the town grew, the only truly acceptable mills in the midst of civilized Andover were going to have to be intellectual ones.
_________
1. ACHC, William A.Trow collection, Sub-group IV, Series D, Sub-series 1-b-1.
2. Bentley, October 27, 1809.
3. I take the reference to Jesuits to be a dig at the seminary's missionary aspirations.
4. Bentley, October 27, 1809.
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