Phips (William) is born in Maine.

The son of a blacksmith and one of 25 children, William Phips arrives in Boston in 1673, becomes a ship’s carpenter, then a sea captain, and earns a knighthood by retrieving treasure from a sunken Spanish ship in the Caribbean in 1687. He returns to Boston as provost marshal of the new Dominion of New England, builds a big, brick house at today’s 200 Salem Street, and becomes a member of the Second Church in Boston. Phips serves as governor of Massachusetts in (1692*-1694), but is recalled to England face charges of misconduct as a result of the numerous complaints against him by Boston residents in November 1694. He dies a few weeks later.