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WINFIELD S. PHILLIPS.
The records of Gallatin county show that never before have there been so many able members of the bar within its confines. With so many important matters before the country which involve serious problems of jurisprudence, it is exceedingly necessary for the lawyer of today to be able to cope with them and lend his aid in obtaining justice. Because of the necessity for successful qualifications, the present day lawyer is being asked to occupy positions of trust and responsibility, and among those heading large institutions where
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the interests of many are to be conserved, the proportion of lawyers is large. One of those representatives of this learned calling who has attained to considerable prestige both as a lawyer and financier is Winfield S. Phillips, of Ridgway, Illinois, president of the Gallatin County State Bank. Mr. Phillips was born at Normandy, Bedford county, Tennessee, January 20, 1854, and was nine years of age when brought by his parents to Golconda, Pope county, Illinois.
At the age of twenty years Mr, Phillips began to teach in the country schools near Golconda, continuing therein for six years, and pursuing his law studies with Thomas H. Clark, of Golconda and D. M. Kinsall, of Shawneetown. He came to Ridgway in 1880, and on July 8th of that year was admitted to practice, in which he has continued here to the present time with great success. The general high esteem in which Mr. Phillips is held was made manifest in 1906 when, in a Democratic county of 6,000 majority, he was elected county judge on the Republican ticket, and at the end of four years was presented by the bar association with a beautiful gold-headed cane, an honor never before conferred at the end of four years, although on two occasions it has been given to others after eight years of service. He has been prominent in conventions of his party, served as chairman of the county central committee for fifteen years, was chairman of the congressional committee for a long period, and is now state central committeeman for the twenty-fourth district. He was appointed a trustee of the Southern Illinois State Normal University by Governor Yates and reappointed by Governor Deneen, serving in that capacity for eight years, and was also one of the first trustees of James Millikin University at Decatur, Illinois. He is a prominent member of the State Bar Association. Mr. Phillips has been equally prominent in financial circles, being president of the Gallatin County Bank, of which he has been the head since its organization as a state institution. This bank, which has its own handsome building and is equipped with modern fixtures throughout, is known as one of the solid and substantial banking businesses of the southern part of the state and its officials are men of the highest integrity and standing in the business and financial world. Mr. Phillips is also one of the original stockholders of the Norris City State Bank, of White county, and he and his son have owned the controlling interest in the bank at Omaha, Gallatin county, for two years.
On May 11, 1879, Mr. Phillips was married to Leuella Porter, of Gallatin county, who was born in Covington, Kentucky, daughter of Captain B. C. Porter, an old steamboat captain who is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips have had the following children: Sarah Agnes, who married Otis C. Moore, of Chester, Illinois; W. Braxton, a graduate of the business college at Quincy, and now assistant cashier of the Gallatin County Bank; Anna Alice, who resides at home with her parents; and Clyde W., who like his brother completed his education in the Quincy business college. Mr. Phillips is a Master Mason and belongs to the Odd Fellows. He and Mrs. Phillips hold membership in the Presbyterian church, with which he has been connected since boyhood. He has been active in church work for a number of years, and is now acting in the capacity of elder. Mr. Phillips has associated himself with every movement that would tend to advance Ridgway in any manner, and in every field of endeavor his standing has been high. His popularity is not confined to the members of his profession or his business associates, but extends throughout this section of the state, where he is well known and highly esteemed.