When Jacob Luther "Jake" Phillips was born on 4 September 1851, in Cedar, Missouri, United States, his father, Jacob Phillips, was 46 and his mother, Minerva Jane Miller, was 42. He married Serena Butner on 3 May 1871, in Cedar, Missouri, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He died on 29 February 1876, in his hometown, at the age of 24, and was buried in Bearcreek, Cedar, Missouri, United States.