Phillis, born on July 10, 1774, was the daughter of Tenor, enslaved by the Reverend Roger Newton of Greenfield, Massachusetts. In 1778, he baptized Phillis, "a negro Child born in my House." Tenor lost a daughter by that same name in 1781. It is unclear which Phillis was baptized in 1778, and whether the 1774 birth year is for the child who died or the one who survived.
Phillis, as described in Willard's History of Greenfield (Massachusetts) was a mischievous character. When she was about 16, she was friends with another African American girl and a 40-year-old African American man named Jack. For fun one day, the girls both climbed into a barrel and rolled themselves part-way down a hill. They then persuaded Jack to try it, but his experience was not as pleasant. He rolled all the way down and the barrel collided with a tree and broke apart, leaving Jack badly bruised. This did not, however, deter him from trying to court Phillis. She was not interested though, and decided to put an end to his visits in a rather dramatic manner. As she was carding tow (brushing flax for spinning) during one of his visits, she surreptitiously dropped some near his feet and then "accidentally" dropped a lit candle on the tow. Jack suffered minor burns but was not completely deterred until Phillis "treated" his barrel ride wounds with salt. The poor man took the hint and never visited her again. Apparently, Phillis's practical jokes continued, as Willard wrote: "But the trick which Phillis played off upon a Rev. Clergyman who called on an extreme cold day after a long cold ride, by mixing too much strong water with that of weaker composition, it will not do to tell of—no that will never do." (Willard's History of Greenfield, David Willard, 1838, pp. 141-144)
Phillis married Caesar Augustus Fenimore (Finnemore), the son of Romus (Romulus) and Rozanna (Rose) of Shelburne, Massachusetts. He was born circa 1780. The couple moved to Shutesbury, Massachusetts, where their first child, Caesar Augustus, Jr. was born around 1800. By about 1802, the Fenimores were living in Leicester, Massachusetts. Phillis had 11 more children. Four of them died by the age of two, six died between the ages of four and 11, and only Caesar Augustus, Jr. and his sister Louisa lived to adulthood. Phillis died circa 1834, in Amherst, Massachusetts.