An Australian gold-seeker returned to Freeport, Ill., and kept a meat market.

The evidence

• “Lawrence Co., N. Y., where he engaged at farming and followed it until 1847, then came to Chicago; was proprietor till 1848 of a hotel on the Galena & Chicago Railway, sixteen miles from Chicago ; in 1850, he went to Freeport, Stephenson Co.j 111., where, in partnership with his brother William H., he bought a farm of 400 acres, wild prairie land, which they improved ; in 1853, Phillip sold his interest in the farm, then went on a gold expedition to Australia ; stayed at Melbourne only a short time, then wandered over Australia, prospecting and mining; he returned in 1856 to Freeport, where he kept a meat market which proved profitable; sometime afterward engaged in farming in Stephenson Co., 111. Married in Freeport, Dec. 8, 1861, Miss Mary Lowes, who was born in Lincolnshire, Eng. ; they have five children — Charles L., Edgar, Carrie E., Frederick and Nellie.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/36-bios-harmony.md, PDF p. 891 / book p. 896

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources