Phillips, James Wheaton

   (1830–1901)

   HPL’s grand-uncle; elder brother of Whipple V.Phillips. He married Jane Ann Place on November 6, 1853. He owned a farm on Johnson Road in Foster, R.I., where HPL and his mother stayed for two weeks in 1896 and again in 1908. HPL and Annie Gamwell visited the site in October 1926. Phillips, Robie Alzada (1827–1896).

   HPL’s maternal grandmother; wife of Whipple V.Phillips, whom she married on January 27, 1856. They had five children (see entry for Whipple Van Buren Phillips below). Her death and subsequent mourning by the family terrified young HPL and inspired dreams of “night-gaunts,” which he would much later use in fiction (e.g., The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath [1926–27], the “Night-Gaunts” sonnet of Fungi from Yuggoth [1929–30], etc.). Her collection of astronomy books served as the nucleus of HPL’s own collection after he became interested in the science in late 1902. HPL spells her name as “Rhoby,” but her tombstone (at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence) gives her name as “Robie.”