Person:Robert Thruston (1)

The children of Horatio Phillips were Jonathan Dickinson, who married Luciana Greene; Elizabeth (Mrs. Worthington); and Mariana (first Mrs. Robert Thruston, afterwards Mrs. John G. Lowe). From one generation to another the members of the family have been ornaments to the life of the city. The son, J. D. Phillips, followed in his father’s footsteps; a man of culture and taste, he was as generous as he was socially delightful and his gifts to public things were known to only a few friends. The first public library was especially indebted to him for its housing in the “new” Phillips block on the corner of Main and Second streets. The Phillips House was built by him and named in honor of his father. It was for eighty years the center of social and business life in Dayton and the best hotel in this part of Ohio. It is now destroyed. J. D. Phillips had one son, Horace, and four daughters: Mrs. A. D. McCook, Mrs. J. P. Davies, Mrs. J. Harrison Hall and Miss Sophie Phillips. All are deceased. Mrs. Kathleen McCook Craighead, J. P. Davies, the Misses Alice, Eliza and Agnes Hall are grandchildren; Mrs. Katherine Houk Talbott and her nine children, and their twenty-eight children, are third and fourth generation descendants of the Phillips family.

Steele, Robert Wilbur, and Mary Davies Steele. Early Dayton: with important facts and incidents from the founding of the city of Dayton, Ohio, to the hundredth anniversary, 1796-1896. (Dayton, Ohio: W.J. Shuey, 1896).
Horatio G. Phillips was one of the several merchants who laid the foundations of large fortunes in 1812. He was a native of New Jersey, and the son of Captain Jonathan and Mary Forman Phillips. He was born in 1783. His father was an officer in the Revolutionary army. In 1803 H. G. Phillips and a party of friends came west to seek a new home. At Cincinnati, on his return from a visit to Natchez, Mississippi, where he had had some thought of settling, he met D. C. Cooper, a New Jersey acquaintance, and at his invitation came to Dayton in the winter of 1804-05. At the close of the year 1805 he made the long, lonely journey on horseback, without a companion, to Philadelphia. Having purchased goods in that city, he went to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where, on April 10, 18o6, he was married to Miss Eliza Smith Houston. The journey to Ohio was made on horseback to Pittsburg, thence by flatboat to Cincinnati, and from the latter place to Dayton in a wagon. Their home till 1812 was a two-story log house on the southwest corner of First and Jefferson streets. His store was in his dwelling. In 1809 he took his wife and their infant daughter back to New Jersey on a visit to the old home. They traveled on horseback, a lead-horse carrying their baggage. J. N. C. Schenck, of Franklin, Charles Russell Greene, and other merchants, going east for goods, traveled with them. all the men of the party being armed with rifles as roaming bands of Indians made the journey through the woods dangerous. There were now occasional taverns, where a night could be spent in primitive style.
In 1812 Mr. Phillips built a two-story brick store and a residence on the southeast corner of Main and Second streets. Dayton was at this period the thoroughfare of all regiments and wagons bound for the seat of war, and the army brought a great deal of trade to Mr. Phillips and other business men. Troops were always stationed here and their purchases added largely to the profits of our merchants. In 1812-13 Mr. Houston, whom Mr. Phillips sent to Philadelphia to purchase goods, bought more largely than the latter intended, and fearing the stock could not all be disposed of here, he opened a store at Troy, with Mr. Houston in charge. Fortunately, the war created a demand for pork, whisky, flour, and grain, taken in exchange for merchandise, and he accumulated a large amount of these articles at Troy and Dayton, which he sold at good prices at those towns, or at the forts between New Lexington and Urbana. In 1815 he opened a third store in Greenville, under the control of Easton Morris. He was actively engaged in business for many years, and retired in his old age. He was one of the founders of the first Dayton bank, and was interested in woolen mills at Hole's Creek. In 1830, in partnership with Alexander Grimes and Moses Smith, he laid out the town of Alexandersville. In 1843 or 1844 he, with others, purchased from John Kneisley the water-power afterwards owned by the Dayton Hydraulic Company. His partners were Daniel Beckel, T. D. Phillips. and S. D. Edgar. He was an ardent advocate of the building of turnpikes. The Phillips House, built in 1850, was named in his honor. In 1831 Mrs. Phillips died. "By her death society lost one of its most hospitable and gifted members and the church a liberal giver and an earnest, unselfish worker.” In 1836, Mr. Phillips married Mrs. C. P. Irwin, who survived him many years. By his first marriage he had three children who lived to grow up : Elizabeth, deceased, who married John G. Worthington, and with her son and daughter lived in Washington ; Jonathan Dickinson, born December 31, 1812, married Luciana Z. Greene, and died in 1871, his wife dying in 1881; Mariana Louisa, born March 30, 1814, married, first, Robert A. Thruston, and, second, John G. Lowe.
J. D. Phillips was a man of culture and taste, and very generous and public-spirited. When he gave anything to his native city,- and his gifts were large and frequent,-it was, if possible, beautiful as well as appropriate and useful. He was one of the founders of, and a very liberal contributor to, the Public Library, and the extent of his gifts in that and other directions was known only to a few intimate friends. He was a warm friend of the Public Library, and (about 1849) proposed to construct a room on the second floor of his new building especially adapted
to the use of the library, and lease it to the association on very favorable terms The proposition was accepted, and a room forty by sixty feet, with lofty ceiling, supported through the center by Corinthian columns, was prepared. This room was elegantly furnished by special subscription, at a cost of over two thousand dollars. It is safe to say that at that day there was no library room in Ohio outside of Cincinnati that could compare with it in beauty and convenience. The room was finished in white and gold. A pair of handsome, large, revolving globes, in tall stands, and other ornamental and useful articles were, in addition to his contribution to the general fund given by Mr. Phillips He .. very hospitable, and loved, for his own enjoyment as well as for the honor of the town, to entertain at his residence distinguished guests during their stay in Dayton. His elegant, large ball-room was the scene of many a brilliant reception.
Mrs. John G. Lowe has, through a long life, been noted for generosity and active interest in benevolent and religious work, following the example of her mother, who was a leader in every undertaking for the benefit of the community. During the War of 1812 Mrs. Phillips took sick and wounded soldiers who were brought here from the battlefield, into her own home, and nursed them till they were well, and was one of the band of ladies who constantly forwarded provisions and clothes to soldiers at the front. Her daughter, Mrs. Lowe, was one of the founders and hardest workers in the Dayton Sanitary Association. which met daily to cut out and make garments and pack boxes of food and comforts for our men serving in the army during the Civil War. Mrs. Lowe has seven children living: General Gates P. Thruston, Mrs. G. W. Houk, Mrs. Charles Newbold, Henry C. Lowe, Houston Lowe, Mrs. Fowler Stoddard, Mrs. Thomas Caddis. A son and daughter, Dickinson P. and Jeannette J. Thruston, died in early manhood and womanhood.
J. D. Phillips had one son, Horace,-who married Miss Nannie Pease and lives in Seattle.-and four daughters. Mrs. A. McD. McCook, deceased, Mrs. J. P. Davies, Mrs. J. Harrison Hall, and Miss Sophia Phillips.

Int. # Name Birth Date Death Date Sec. Lot Tier Grave Burial Age Birth Place Undertaker
72709 Thruston, Charles M 6 Apr 1900 19 Nov 1964 55 9 21 Nov 1964 64 Nashville TN Boyer
6922 Thruston, Charlotte F 14 Aug 1871 55 1713 12 Sep 1871 37
7494 Thruston, Dickinson P 1 Feb 1873 55 1713 4 Feb 1873 35 Dayton OH
76620 Thruston, Gates Phillips 6 Jun 1925 19 Jun 1970 55 9 22 Jun 1970 45 Dayton OH Boyer
5127 Thruston, Jeanetta J 15 Jun 1866 55 6 18 Jun 1866 29 Dayton OH
101731 Thruston, Joann C 1 Dec 1927 27 Jan 2009 55 9 2 2 Feb 2009 81 TX Tobias
87 Thruston, Robert A 16 Aug 1839 55 6 26 Feb 1845

U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970
Name: Robert Alexander Thruston
Birth Date: 1803
Birth Place: Dayton, Ohio
Death Date: 1840
SAR Membership: 51198
Role: Ancestor
Application Date: 23 Feb 1931
Father: Buckner Thruston
Mother: Jeanette January
Spouse: Marianna Lhuise Phillips
Children: Elisa Thruston

Robert Alexander Thruston
Birth: 1806 Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, USA
Death: 10 Aug 1839 Montgomery County, Ohio, USA
Burial: Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, USA
Plot: Section 55 - Lot 6
Memorial #: 60779045
Bio: Marianna Louise Phillips was born in March, 1814. She married Robert A. Thruston, a graduate of West Point, a brilliant and eloquent member of the bar, and a representative in the State Legislature in 1836-37. They had four children—Jeannette, Gates P., Dickinson P., and Mrs. George W. Houk. Mr. Thruston died while still a young man, and Mrs. Thruston married John G. Lowe.He was son of Judge Buckner Thruston.
Family Members
Spouse
Marianna Louise Phillips Thruston-Lowe 1814-1896
Children
Eliza Phillips Thruston Houk* 1833-1914
Gates Phillips Thruston* 1835-1912
Jeanette J Thruston* 1836-1866
Dickinson Phillips Thruston* 1838-1873
Created by: Gwen Taylor (46883791)
Added: 28 Oct 2010
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60779045
Citation: Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 24 January 2018), memorial page for Robert Alexander Thruston (1806–10 Aug 1839), Find A Grave Memorial no. 60779045, citing Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, USA ; Maintained by Gwen Taylor (contributor 46883791) .

"Robert Alexander Thruston, the third son of Judge Bucker Thruston, was the father of Gates Phillips Thruston. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1806, and educated principally at the College of Georgetown, District of Columbia. He was admitted to the bar, and, soon afterward, his father reluctantly consented to his coming West. He opened an office in Dayton, Ohio, in 1830..."
" three elder children ... Eliza Phillips ... Gates Philips ... Jeanette January ... [youngest] Dickinson Phillips Thruston ..."
"In the summer of 1839, the beloved husband suddenly died, leaving a young widow indeed - of twenty-five years, with four children."