Phillip Schutz was born in Woodland, Indiana, February 28, 1873 to Jacob and Sophia Ripple Schutz. His German-born parents came to America in about 1861 from Saarland Wiebelskircher, a coal-mining area of Germany.

Phillip had an aunt, his father's sister Maria Katherine, who married John Nicholas Engleman. She and her husband and her father Johannes Michael Schutz moved to Vermilion County, Illinois. When Phillip was old enough to leave home, he went to Illinois to visit his cousin Nick Engleman and eventually settled in Catlin.

Pearl and Phillip were married July 10, 1898. They bought a farm in northern part of Catlin Township. Here they reared 7 children: Russell Edward, Ruby Edith, Mabel Lee, Frieda Laverne, Davin "Sam," Theodore Virgil and Hazel Mildred.