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TWO REFORM MAYORS OF BOSTON.

JOHN PHILLIPS.


By The Editor.


The progenitor of the Phillips family in America was the Rev. George
Phillips, son of Christopher Phillips of Rainham, St. Martin, Norfolk
County, England, _mediocris fortunæ_. He entered Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, April, 20, 1610, then aged seventeen years, and
received his bachelor's degree in 1613.

[Illustration: JOHN PHILLIPS, THE FIRST MAYOR OF BOSTON.]

After his graduation he was settled in the ministry at Boxted, Essex
County, England; but his strong attachment to the principles of the
Nonconformists brought him into difficulties with some of his
parishioners, and as the storm of persecution grew more dark and
threatening, he resolved to cast his lot with the Puritans, who were
about to depart for the New World. On the 12th of April, 1630, he with
his wife and two children embarked for America in the "Arbella," as
fellow-passenger, with Gov. Winthrop, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and other
assistants of the Massachusetts Company, and arrived at Salem on the