Mr. Phillips was born in New Jersey on the 7th of August, 1863, and is of English ancestry, the progenitor of the family in America having emigrated to the new world with Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts colony. He was a Congregational minister, being one of the very first of that faith in the old Bay state. There were representatives of the family in all the early wars of this country, including the Revolution, in which our subject's great-great-grandfather. Captain John Phillips, bore a prominent part. He participated in the battles of Trenton and Princeton and succeeded in capturing a quantity of the redcoats supplies, which he turned over to General Washington, who was in command. After the war he made his home in Princeton, New Jersey, throughout the remainder of his life. His grandson, Henry D. Phillips, who was the son of Theophilus Phillips and Mr. Phillips' grandfather, became an extensive landowner, having over one thousand acres in New Jersey, and he was not only one of the wealthy citizens of his community but was a man of influence. He attained the age of eighty-four years.

John F. Phillips, the father of J. Warne Phillips, was born in Princeton and was educated at the Princeton University. Inheriting his father's farm, he spent his entire life upon the old homestead and died there at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Hannah Warne and was also a native of New Jersey, survives him and is now in the sixty-second year of her age. They had five children, four of whom are still living.

The early life of J. Warne Phillips was passed in the east, and, like his father, he was educated at Princeton University, graduating with the class of 1884 and afterward taking a post-graduate course at the same institution. From 1886 until 1889 he occupied the chair of morphology of the vertebrates and physiological psychology there, and was chemist on the board of health at Trenton, New Jersey. Going abroad, he studied in Germany for a time, and received the degree of Doctor of Science from Princeton University in 1889.

Coming to Nevada in 1889, Mr. Phillips first located at Reno, where he filled the chair of chemistry and physics in the Nevada State University for eleven years. He removed to Silver City in 1900, forming a partner ship with R. D. Jackson in the Dazet quartz mill and Jackson's cyanide plant, which they now have in successful operation. They also own two good mines, the Powder House and the Surplus, and besides crushing their own ore they do considerable custom work for other miners. Theirs is a ten-stamp mill, and is run by electric power. Mr. Phillips is not only a man of good business ability, but by education and practical training he has become thoroughly familiar with every department of mining, and is therefore meeting with success in this venture. He was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, to which his parents belonged, and he affiliates with the Republican party. Fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and stands high socially.

Source:
A History of the State of Nevada: Its Resources and People
By Thomas Wren, Lewis Publishing Company
Published by The Lewis publishing company, 1904