General Notes

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Jesse Green Phillips was undoubtedly a "man's man".
His mother died when he was about three.  He remembered walking
behind a burial wagon, not understanding where his mother was going in a
box.  His home was a few yards from the family cemetery where Joseph and
Sally Price Phillips are buried.  The small frame house still stands.
Since he was so small, it is believed that his mother died giving birth
to a brother identified as Price.  No record of a brother is found on the
1900 census or the 1880 census where the family is listed.  Price lived
only in Jesse's memory of whispered adult conversation.
Jesse was passed from aunt to aunt in his young years.  His father
remarried for the third time on November 18, 1898 to Lidia Selvey.  He
then had a stabilized home life.  He often worked in his uncle, Thomas
Gaitor Phillips' store in Haynes, Arkansas.  The store building was still
there in October 2000.
He ran away from home sometime prior to WW I.  He had started
wrestling in his early years taking on all comers.  In a theater in Heber
Springs, Arkansas he performed Grecian poses.  I never knew what they
were until the last Olympics.  Grecian poses were done behind a back
lighted sheer curtain.  They were designed to show off your body and
muscle without revealing too much of your anatomy.  He was seen by a
circus promoter searching for new acts.  He was offered a position with
their "Wild West Show" and traveled with their show all over the
southwest.
When war broke out in April of 1917, Jesse was too old to be called.
He lied about his age and enlisted. He became Company Commander of the
17th Regiment, Seaman Guard Company and was stationed at Camp Luce in
Great Lakes, Illinois.  His greatest wish was for actual combat, but he
was destined to train Military Police for the Navy.
After receiving his honorable discharge from the Navy, he returned to
Arkansas.  He wanted to go back with the "Wild West Show", but had become
reacquainted with Edna Goodwin Boone.  She had grown from a little girl
into a lovely divorcee with a small son.  They married in January of
1920.  This time his family decided he'd gone too far.  The marriage
caused a family rift that continued until 1950.  Edna encouraged Jesse to
enter sales.  He traveled for several years selling dry goods to various
stores.  During this period, he became interested in radio.  He tried to
enter that business full time, but was unable to make a living for his
family as radio was in it's infancy.  The family possesses a picture of
Jesse's radio service car sporting a 1925 Arkansas license plate.
Jack was born in 1927 and Jesse knew he had to find a way to make
more money.  He partnered with Tommy Shelton in establishing a hardwood
flooring company.  I don't know where he received his expertise, but he
worked in some of the most famous buildings in the United States.  One of
these buildings was the home of Thomas Jefferson.  Most of the flooring
there is slate, but at least one room has blocks on end. Blocks on end is
a type of flooring used in old, very expensive homes.  While working in
the Washington D. C. area, he became interested in genealogy, researched
diligently in the Library of Congress and remained active in research
until his death.
He attended William R. Moore, School of Technology sometime in the
30's.  He was interested in architecture.   His specialty was home
design.  He drew the plans for several homes along the Parkways in
Memphis, Tennessee.  These homes were built by C. M. Jacobson.  Mr.
Jacobson was a well known builder in the Memphis area.  Homes along the
Parkways were among the finest in Memphis.  "Mr. Jake" and Jesse
continued their business connections until the middle 1950's.
Jesse, his sons Jack and Joe and his son-in-law William Stone founded
a commercial floor covering company.  Their specialty was resilient floor
coverings and