Phipps-Kendrick Family
of Dickenson County, VA
Philip, an apostle of Jesus, is a popular English surname. Most of the nursery forms are still found as the chief components of its surnames--Philip or Phip. Thus are derived Phelps, Philps, Phipps, and Phipson. Adding to these are Phillips, Philipsons, Philcoxes, Philpotts, and Phillots,--all are derivations of Phipps.
The Phipps name from Greek meaning a lover of horses (also a nickname for Philip, and meaning the son of Philip), occurs first in an early deposition of one Johannes Phipps, of Cemely, Somersetshire, England, who appears in a deposition of 1292 stating that he was about 60 years old hence born about 1232. About 200 years later in 1493 the name appears again in Cemely, where is found a second Johannes Phipps, so it is believed that the second Johannes is a descendant of the first Johannes. Robert is believed to descend from this line.
There appears to have been 3 main early Phipps immigrants to America;
James Phips of Maine, Solomon Phipps of Massachusetts and Joseph Phipps of Pennsylvania. They all arrived prior to 1690. (There were Phipps who also showed up around 1700 in VA and MD - relationship unknown)The three above for the most part appear unconnected - although some have tried to say that Solomon was a brother/son of James.
The English ancestry that has been attributed to James, and most recently has made an appearance in The New England Knight, Sir William Phips 1651-1695 by Emerson Baker (published May 1998 by Toronto Press, and a very good read) is interesting as it shows a possible connection among all the families.
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