This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: prairiedog166 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.phillips/8061/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Because Gabriel did not sign his Last Will he probably was illiterate and therefore we may assume the same of his father. We assume that Gabriel was Quaker since there is no census record of his slave ownership and Bucks County was home to many anti-slave Quakers, especially Welsh Quakers. Gabriel's father may have been a Welsh-persuasion Quaker. In 1758 Gabriel (Philipps) married Hannah Brower and Brower may be a German name. Their marriage was in a Lutheran oriented church (Tohickon) but it was a "union" church-several protestant denominations used a union church. Their first child Susanna, b 1759, was baptized in the church in 1760. It is probable that Hannah and the Browers were German and Lutheran because Quakers did not baptize infants. If we could find Browers in Bucks County we might find a clue to the life and times of Gabriel and his parentage. Gabriel may have been a Baptist. There is a record of one of his sons (Gabriel Jr) having become a Baptist minister in South Carolina. Usually ministers were literate so it may be that Hannah and her family were somewhat educated and that she was instrumental in her son Gabriel's religious career. Gabriel probably lived in Bucks County before getting married in 1758. He probably lived there when his daughter was baptized in 1760. Undocumented as far as I know: Gabriel's son Peter was supposedly recorded as a birth or baptism at Tohickon Union Church in 1763. Tohickon is located near Bedminister township, Bucks County. Summary: Because Gabriel is an unusual first name it should be easier to find his father. (DNA match connects Gabriel to a John Phillips, possibly a brother. But John is so common that we are lucky to have a Gabriel to concentrate on.) IF Hannah was Gabriel's first marriage he may have been about 25 years old in 1758, therefore born somewhere around 1733-but where? If Gabriel was a Quaker and married an outsider he would have been formally disowned by the Quaker church and probably by his father, thus possibly erased from family bibles, etc. Are the Browers hard to find because the name was Brauer or other German name? Gabriel may have been Welsh: most of his 12marker matches are to surnames identified with Wales. In 1733 Welsh imigrants were still using the old naming system; he may have been born Gabriel ap Philip. Gabriel's "older brother" John is first documented in Virginia (1790 census) and North Carolina (d 1801, Last Will marked with His X). Gabriel is documented in Pennsylvania and-in 1783--South Carolina. Between 1760 and 1783 there is no documentation of Gabriel. If the father was still living in 1783 he might have been in SC with Gabriel. Gabriel died in Newberry, SC in 1809, documented by probated will. If we could find his grave we might find a father buried nearby. Many researchers claim, undocumented, that Gabriel was born in Ireland. Because there are many Irish named cities and towns in Pennsylvania it could be that he was born in one of those Pennsylvania locations (not in Ireland). (See Group 9 for DNA documented kindred http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/p/phillips/pats.html ) Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.