Phillip Thomas is included in the list of children of William Thomas and Elizabeth Hill by John Bennett Boddie1858 but not by Worth S. Ray.551 In the Boddie account, he is described as “Phillip Thomas of North Carolina.” However, he gives no further information about Phillip Thomas.

Boddie does not attempt to give dates of birth or death for Phillip Thomas. However, his sister Elizabeth married first John Boddie, who died in 1720 (will dated 10 March 1720, probated 25 April 1720; Great Book p 27). Therefore, Elizabeth must have been born no later than about 1700. In addition, his brother Barnaby Thomas, of Bertie Co NC, died in 1735 (will probated 11 Dec 1735), so he also was presumably born prior to 1700. Finally, since his mother Elizabeth Hill Thomas died in 1702, he must have been born before that. All things considered, one can estimate the birth of Phillip Thomas as ca 1695.

There is no actual evidence that Phillip Thomas is the father of Matthew Thomas at this point, so this assignment must be considered a working hypothesis. However, the hypothesis is strengthened by the article “KNOX-THOMAS” that appeared in “The History of Carroll County Tennessee,” published in 1987 (see note on the page for Matthew Thomas).