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Mabel
(Bailey) Philp |
Mabel (Bailey) Philp was born on Nov. 12, 1884 in Isabel, Barber County, KS, the daughter of Randolph D. "Dick" and Frances Jeanette (White) Bailey.
When Mabel was five, in 1889, her mother was tragically killed by a bolt of lightning during a Kansas harvest. Mabel was taken into the home of her aunt, Helen (White) Clark near Laredo, Grundy County, MO, and grew up there. Her younger sister Blanche was brought into the household of their uncle Lester and Susan (McCarty) White, where she lived until adulthood.
When she was age 13, Mabel's uncle Layton White was named guardian for her and her sister Blanche. To provide sufficient "education, support and maintenance" for the girls, Layton petitioned the Barber County Probate Court to sell real estate in which they had a one-third interest each. Four town lots were involved, in Section 6, Township 30, Range 11, except for right of way held by the Central Kansas Railroad Company, and one-acre tracts which already had been sold to B.F. Coffman and Nancy Roby.
After reaching the age of 18, Mabel appeared in Barber County Probate Court with her Uncle Layton in 1902. She stated that she had "arrived at the age of her majority" and asked that he be discharged from any further responsibility as her guardian. In doing so, Layton handed to Mabel several IOU notes that he was carrying on her behalf, including a $50 note from her uncle George Washington Sellers and a $135 note from her uncle Otis White. While in open court, Layton also paid her $56.06 due her from his own account, plus accrued interest of $12.93.
Mabel received the awful news in 1908, when she was age 24, that her father had been killed in a freak accident in a coal processing plant, part of a zinc production works, in Iola, Kansas.
Mabel had hoped to become a missionary, and attended Missouri Wesleyan College and Scarritt Biblical Institute in Kansas City. When illness struck, she altered her career plans, and became a secretary in the horticultural department of the University of Missouri. She later moved to California, where in 1918 she was a secretary at the University of California at Davis, which had its roots as an institution for agricultural farming education.
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West Hall at the University of California's campus at Davis |
On Dec. 28, 1918, Mabel married Guy Lockhart Philp (1890-1947). He was born on June 7, 1890 in Federal, near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, the son of George and Alice (Kennedy) Philp. She was six years older than her husband. He was of medium height and build, with blue eyes and brown hair.
Theirs' is one of the very rare marriages between a member of our family, whose ancestors had left the Pittsburgh region generations earlier, and someone actually from Pittsburgh. How they met is unknown.
While still single, Guy registered for the military draft in June 1917, during World War I. At the time, he stated his home as Banksville Road in Mt. Lebanon, a tony suburb of Pittsburgh, but that his actual mailing address as R.D. #1, Carnegie, just outside of the city. He revealed his employment as a horticulturist, working for his father George.
They went on to have one son -- Rev. Allan Bailey Philp.
When the federal census was enumerated in 1920, the Philps lived on Cherry Street in Davis, Yolo County, CA. Guy's occupation was listed as "instructor - university farm." That year, young widow Charlotte Reddington and her toddler son John lived under their roof as roomers. The 1930 census shows the Philps and their young son residing on Seventh Street in Davis, with Guy working as a "teahcer - university."
Guy later was promoted to head of the horticulture and agriculture department at UCal-Davis.
On June 23, 1947, Guy died suddenly of a heart attack in Davis. He was just age 57. He was buried in East Lawn Cemetery in Sacramento, CA.
Mabel outlived her husband by 11 years. She died on Jan. 18, 1968 in Visalia, Tulare County, CA, at the age of 84.
~ Son Allan Bailey Philp ~
Son Allan Bailey Philp (1922- ? ) was born in 1922.
He married Margaret "Marian" Sill (1922-2007), the daughter of Harvey and Pearl Sill.
He became a clergyman, and served as pastor of Presbyterian churches in Bend, OR; Watsonville, CA; Visalia, CA; and, circa 1971, the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Sacramento.
They had two sons -- Mark Philp and David Philp.
Reported the Kaweah Commonwealth, the Philps enjoyed traveling, and "were able to explore Hong King, the British Isles, as well as Japan, where they made lifelong friends and developed an enduring interest in Japanese art and culture. Upon retirement in 1990, the couple moved to Three Rivers, where their family designed and built a home in the spirit of the Japanese culture that Marian so loved."
They also enjoyed classical music, with Marian performing as a classical pianist with the Tulare County and Sacramento symphony orchestras. She also served for many years as a church pianist and organist. In 2001, they relocated to Quail Park Retirement Home in Visalia, where they had been founding members.
Marian passed away at the age of 85 on June 12, 2007.
Son Mark Philp ( ? - ? )
Son David Philp ( ? - ? )
Copyright © 2000, 2009, 2011 Mark A. Miner