Phoebe Simson Wilmar Witheat, my 3x great grandmother, was baptised at Dedham, Essex, on 7 January 1794. She was the daughter of George Witheat and Phoebe Witheat (née Simson).

She married James Mason on 10 January 1816 – the witnesses were George and Sarah Witheat, Robert and Harriet Mason, and Mary Witheat. They lived at Moverons Farm, Brightlingsea, Essex.

Phoebe died on 13 May 1849, aged fifty-five, whilst visiting her son, James junior, who farmed at Brantham, just across the Stour in Suffolk. Her death came just a week after that of her sister, Sarah Whalley. They are buried next to each other at Brantham, Phoebe in what would be something of a family grave. The inscription on her tombstone, located to the west of the tower in Brantham churchyard, is now illegible, but is reproduced in the Brantham Churchyard Survey of 1981 (supplied by the parish church, entry no. 245):

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF

PHEBE SIMSON WILMAR MASON

WIFE OF JAMES MASON ESQ. OF MOVORONS BRIGHTLINGSEA

ESSEX

WHO DIED ON THE 13TH OF MAY 1849

AT SANDFORD HOUSE IN THIS PARISH

THE RESIDENCE OF HER SON

WHILST ON A VISIT THERE

IN THE 55TH YEAR OF HER AGE

ALSO OF

PHEBE SIMSON MARIA ROBERTS

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE MARCH 12TH 1880

AGED 62 YEARS

ALSO

IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF JAMES MACKENZIE ROBERTS

ELDEST SON OF CAPTAIN L. ROBERTS R.N.

WHO FELL ASLEEP ON PALM SUNDAY MARCH 30TH 1890

AGED 66 YEARS.

It is described as a table-top tombstone (top overhangs plinth) on a concrete base. It appears to have been originally enclosed by railings. (‘Sandford’ is probably a mis-transcription for Samford: James junior was living at Samford’s Farm in 1851 and in White’s 1855 directory.)