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Note: Jim was born in Alabama and moved with his parents to Franklin Co. Arkansas as a young man. There he met Maggie McCrea and a courtship began. When Jim's parents moved on west to Pottawatomie Co. I.T. and settled at Wanette near their relatives, the William Trousdales, Jim went along. He and Maggie wrote letters and finally Jim took a wagon and went to see her. They were married and Jim brought her back to I.T. They lived around Lindsey for a while. After Mary was born, Jim and Maggie went back to Arkansas. They lived and farmed on Arbuckle's Island in the the Arkansas River near Vesta. Hartwell was born there. They then returned to the Lindsey area where they lived on the bank of the Washita. Hartwell learned to swim in the river when Jim tied two one-gallon syrup buckets together and threw them and Hartwell into the water. When Hartwell was about eleven or twelve, the family, now with seven children, loaded three wagons and headed to Atoka County. Jim drove one wagon, Hartwell another and a hired hand named Walter drove the third. They lived out of the wagons with Maggie cooking on a campfire. On arrival in Atoka, they spent a few nights in the wagon yard and then moved to Scratch Hill, approximately two miles east of Atoka. The place was named after a Mr. Scratch who owned a sawmill there. The Phillips family camped there until Jim found some acreage he wanted about two miles south of the community of Lane. Adjoining property was owned by Mike Mayer who donated a piece of land for a school. Jim was elected to the school board and with help from neighbors, built a one-room school house from logs. The place was called Mayer's Chapel as it also served as a church. The school was located on the north side of the intersection of what is now Blackjack Rd. and Osage Ln. Several of the Phillips children attended school here. Jim farmed and bred prize sorrel mules. Hartwell left home while they lived at Lane. Occasionally Jim and his sons, Lonnie and Albert, would take two wagons to Antlers, a distance of about twenty miles, load them with lumber and take it to the lumber yard in Atoka. This is a total of about sixty-four miles. This trip would take twelve or fourteen hours. Lonnie was about ten years old and Albert was two years younger.
Jim took great pride in his mules. He had brass mounted harness that he used for show and he allowed no one but himself to drive them. Occasionally Hartwell was given this privelege. Jim won many ribbons and awards at local fairs with his mules.
Jim was a big man who loved to show off his considerable strength. He had a great sense of humor and loved a joke on himself as well as on others. He moved around a lot but is still remembered around the old community of Star, a few miles east of Boggy Depot. The property just east of the old Star school site is still known as the "Old Phillips Place".
Jim and Maggie had ten children. All lived to adulthood and had families. Hartwell was the first to die in 1943, preceding both parents.
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