Magnolia Group Press Announces "The Good Intent: The Story and Heritage of a Fresno Family" by John Renning Phillips
New York, NY, December 04, 2007 --(
PR.com)-- Magnolia Group Press is pleased to announce the publication of the first book by John Renning Phillips, titled “The Good Intent: The Story and Heritage of a Fresno Family.”
In 1918, John Pressley Phillips, the son of W. W. Phillips of Fresno, married Ruth Anderson, the daughter of David Pressley Anderson of Santa Rosa. Although not related, their fathers had more in common than just their middle names. They both descended from solid, southern families established that could trace their bloodlines to nobility in 17th Century Britain. Rooted in America, family members included both a British Loyalist and three signers of the Declaration of Independence. They flourished as planters in South Carolina and Mississippi until the Civil War. Like many Confederate families reduced to nothing at war’s end, the Phillips and Andersons came to California to start over. Both families thrived -- in farming, banking, politics, the arts and community leadership -- especially in the fertile Central San Joaquin Valley. The marriage of these two southern families has linked two surprisingly rich and distinguished threads of ancestry. The names of relations in the near and distant past may startle as well as impress the reader.
Archival photos and graphics throughout the text illuminate the saga of these two families as they endured and participated in major events in the past few centuries.
The cover art was designed by David Costa, Wherefore Art? London, whose many clients include The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, Sir Elton John, The Rolling Stones, and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
512 pages
137 images
ISBN: 0979786703 Format: 6 x 9 Paperback SRP: $19.95
ISBN: 0979786711 Format: 6 x 9 Hardcover with jacket SRP: $34.95
“John Renning Phillips’ wonderful volume of family history –so meticulously researched and well written – will take its place in our Archives’ family histories collection. It is a welcome addition to all of the family voices that speak to us from vivid, personal viewpoints about our remarkable history in the heart of California.”
—Sharon Hiigel, Curator, Fresno Historical Society, Fresno, California
“John Renning Phillips’ book, The Good Intent is well written and obviously extensively researched. We are happy that the state of South Carolina and our small village of Kingstree are remembered in this book.”
—Joanne Bass Brown, Museum Director, Williamsburgh Historical Society, Kingstree, South Carolina
About the Author
John Renning Phillips attended public schools in Fresno, California and earned a degree in economics from Occidental College. He has lived in San Francisco and London and currently resides in New York City with his wife and daughter. This is his first book.
The names, organizations, events and places featured in this book include: David Adams; Nathaniel Adams; David Pressley Anderson; Civil War; Bank of America; Battle of Buena Vista; Beauvoir House; Robert the Bruce; Luther Burbank; California Bankers Association; E. Morris Cox, Jefferson Davis; Declaration of Independence; Richard Lawrence Dixon; Maynard Dixon; Queen Elizabeth II; Federal Fruit Distributors; Fresno; California; Fresno Art Museum; Fresno Philharmonic; Che Guevara; E. Dixon Heise; Hopswee Plantation; Sir Nathaniel Johnson; Juilliard School of Music; Augustus D. Juilliard; M. Theo Kearney; Kingstree; South Carolina; John Knox; Thomas Lynch, Jr.; Ordinance of Secession; James Phillips; John Pressley Phillips; Seaborn Moses Collins Phillips; William Walker Phillips; John Gotea Pressley; T. Newton Russell; Santa Rosa; California; Shaver Lake Fishing Club; Sun-Maid Raisins; Zachary Taylor; Thorntree; U. C. Berkeley; Whipple House; William Whipple; David Wilson; James Alexander Witherspoon; Rev. John Witherspoon; and Yazoo City, Mississippi.
For more information or to contact the author, visit http://magnoliagroup.wordpress.com/
About Magnolia Group Press
Magnolia Group Press is a new publishing company. “The Good Intent” is the company’s first of many books to come.
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