Making the Case for Sadie Brooks Ancestry

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This page is more about the discovery process to find Sadie Brook's ancestry, who we knew absolutely nothing about when we started. Also see a description of her short life after marriage and with children on the Harr Brooks page. We only moved her story here later so see the Page History feature here to uncover the progression of discovery we made early on.

We now believe her birth or maiden name was Sadie Brooks. While we suspected this at the start, we were led down the path of Cox based on various document discoveries along the way, but now come back to Brooks with further refinement.

For now, we pick up Sadie's story when she is just 20 years of age in Pittsburgh in 1900. What came before is still a mystery as well as why the frequent shifting in the first 10 years of marriage. Given we know virtually nothing of Jesse during his first 20 years as well, this is all a bit of a mystery still as to how they met, married and such. The biggest mystery now is how Sadie appears as a maiden in the June 1900 census but then ends up marrying Jesse in Colorado in April 1901 with a last name Cox.

Caveat:

Anyone who gets into genealogy quickly realizes that nothing is as it appears. Names that one thought unique are quite common. Sometimes, tidbits of information are not recorded twice the same way. So a genealogist has to have several theories in mind, do searches for records and documents that support or disprove a theory, and generally build up a case of evidence to make one theory stronger over all others. Included in this is searching for information to disprove what is found.

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What we heard

There are lots of stories floating around that can possibly be attributed to Sadie. Possibly that she is the one with American Indian blood. Or that she was a conscript bride from Wales. The latter appears to have some truth now but not about Sadie but someone close to her. The someone who played a role in the Harr family for 40 years after Sadie's death. That is Aunt Vie or Anna Violet Gibbs Davis.

Biggest issue is Sadie died before her grand-kids were born. So there was not much passed down; at least not through oldest son Walter. His daughter in law Dolly says she was told Sadie was a refined and cultured lady who could not take to the mountain living of Colorado. The link with the Gibbs family from England may explain that but maybe something else in her past will also.

Her grandson Walter states that his parents used to have a large, framed photo of her standing, in a long, more formal dress. No one seems to know what happened to this nor the photo of the maternal grandfather in a Cossack uniform on a horse; also supposedly framed and in the living room. As of now, no photo of Sadie is known to exist.

A nice item, that grandson Walter has just recently recalled, was that Sadie use to play the piano in the old silent movie houses of that time period. The piano in their living room growing up was her old one she used to practice on. It took playing an old Charlie Chaplin movie collection to trigger that memory for him. A nice memory to recall.

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Sadie Brooks Cox — her story as we now know it

Seems best to simply list the documents we have and then explain what they tell; especially the information points that are strengthened by more than one document. The source document is a link, if obtained, to the genealogy database. You need to login to follow the link. Documents not yet found but should exist are listed as well but without a link. Order implies the order the documents were discovered, as known.

Year	Order	Document	Info
1900 Jun	13	Census Record of Edwin Mudge, Pittsburgh Ward 22	Servant Sadie Brooks, age 20, born Apr 1880. Death Certificate by son Walter lists birth date of 14 Apr 1880 in Pittsburgh. Other servant there is Beatrice Gibbs, older sister of Aunt Vie.
1901 Apr11	6	Marriage Certificate of Jesse Harr in Buena Vista, Colorado	to Miss Sadie B Cox residing in Salida
1902 Apr17	14	Death Record Orville Harr	4 mths old; born in Colorado; died in Pittsburgh; mother Sadie Harr
1903 Jul30	8	Birth Record of Walter L Harr in Pittsburgh Ward 27	mother Sadie Harr
1905 Apr	5	State Census of Mrs M.C.Hunycutt in Burlington, Iowa	with Jesse, Mrs Sadie Harr, and Walter (likely there due to death of Jesse's sister Cora in Burlington, Iowa on 13 Apr 1905)
1905 Sep17		Birth Record of Mildred Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	(not yet found)
1908		Birth Record of Ruth Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	(not yet found)
1910 Apr19	2	Census Record of Jesse Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	with wife Badie Harr, age 30
1917/8		Divorce Record of Jesse Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	Case 159099; bef May 1918
1920 Jan19	3	Census Record of Sadie Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	divorced, age 39
1923 Mar24	7	Marriage Record of Mildred Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	mother maiden is Sadie Cox
1925 Nov7	8	Marriage Record of Walter L Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	mother maiden is Sadie Brooks
1927 Jul9	10	Marriage Record of Ruth Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	mother maiden is Sadie Cox
1928 Mar3	9	Marriage Record of Mildred Ritson in Cleveland, Ohio	mother maiden is Sadie Cox
1928		Death Notice of Sadie Harr	Not mentioned
1928 May4	1	Death Certificate of Sadie Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	age 48, birth date 14 Apr 1880 in Pittsburgh, father unknown (Brooks) of Pittsburgh and mother unknown; info by son Walter
1928 May4	11	Funeral Services Receipt and Tombstone of Sadie Harr in Cleveland, Ohio	(no real info)
1960	4	Death Cert Walter L Harr	mother maiden is Sadie Brooks; info by Agnes Harr
1969 Jun23	12	Death Notice of Mildred Baker	mother is Sadie Brooks Cox Harr

Sadie before Jesse

Sadie was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 14 April 1880. This according to her son's declaration in the death certificate, the 1900 census and confirmed by the 1910 and 1920 census when looking at the actual dates of the census. But we have as yet to get a birth record or early census records to verify her birth town, parents or other details. We have found Walter L's birth record in Pittsburgh in 1903 but it simply lists Sadie Harr as the mother.

Sadie's death certificate lists her and her father as being born in Pennsylvania. Sadie indicates in her 1910 census report that both parents were born in Pennsylvania like her. But her 1920 census report states her mother was born in England. There was some belief Sadie was a conscript bride from Wales. So maybe it was her mother that was the conscript bride? But we still have not found a Sadie Cox from the Pittsburgh area born around 1880.

First ten years of marriage - a whirlwind

Luckily, Walter L's wife (Agnes) was a pack rat and somehow, through an arduous chain of possession change, we discovered the marriage certificate for Jesse and Sadie in 2009 in the possession of her daughter in law Rachel (Dolly). From the marriage certificate in 1901, we now have a surname for Sadie of Cox before marrying Jesse. Presumably maiden because it lists Miss Sadie B Cox. From Sadie's death certificate by son Walter and Walters own marriage certificate, Sadie's maiden last name is indicated as Brooks. But http://mycuz.us/gen/source.php?sid=S108Mildred and Ruth's marriage certificates before her death list it as Cox. Mildred's death notice lists it as "Sadie Brooks Cox Harr" in 1969. Maybe Walter was simply recalling her middle name only? Maybe only Walter knew the real truth? Maybe she was Mrs Sadie Cox when she married Jesse and not Miss?

Although Sadie was married to Jesse in 1901 in Colorado, she declares (as does Walter L later) that son Walter was born in 1903 in Pennsylvania (which we have since confirmed). But in 1905, the family is in Iowa at Jesse's mothers' house during that state census. The two daughters (Mildred and Ruth) are born in 1905 and 1908 in Cleveland, Ohio; respectively. We now uncover a death certificate for a 4 month old Orville Harr, born to Jesse and Sadie, who died in Pittsburgh in April 1902 but was born in Colorado. Based on information now discovered about Jesse's sister Cora, we believe they were simply captured in the Iowa state census while at Cora's funeral. Cora was living in Burlington at the time; the site of the census entry.

Grandson Walter remembers visiting "relatives" in Pennsylvania often in the 1930's and early 1940's. Beside the Bakers (his Aunt Sis. i.e. Sadie's daughter Mildred; who were there due to Jim Baker's family background in the coal mines), maybe it was Sadie's siblings, or distant relations of Jesse? Walter simply remembers the town name "Beaver". There are many names like Beaver Falls, Beaver Valley and the like northwest and south of Pittsburgh. Anna V. "Aunt Vie" Davis, known as Sadie's best friend, was from Pittsburgh and visited Cleveland every year and stopped by to see Walter, Agnes and her kids. We are researching her as well to shed more light on Sadie.

Sadie the single Mother

So Sadie had to take care of her three kids for almost 10 years before she herself passed away of Uterine Cancer. She had the cancer for over a year and her two daughters were married shortly before she passed; lifting some of the burden on only son Walter who had been working since age 14 to support the mother and two sisters.

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Sadie B Cox or Sadie Brooks — tracing and discovering her roots

There are many Sadie Cox's, Sadie Brooks and even Sadie Harr's in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio and other states nearby in this time period with the (near) same birth year and even month. Compound this with the fact that the 1890 census is gone, and Sadie was a month old for the 1880 census, that leaves us with the 1900 census at best to find her first. But none of the possibles seem very probable. Early on, we looked for Sadie Brooks due to her death certificate and her son Walter's guess. But after seeing the marriage certificates — both Sadie's and her daughters — we switched to looking for Cox. Only now, after researching and correlating information on "best friend Aunt Vie", are we back to believing her maiden name was Sadie Brooks.

Possible Census Records

There are two census records from 1900 for Sadie Brooks that have the closest fits of any to Jesse's wife. If you are to believe the Sadie in the 1900 census from Iowa, this could fit for the story of Sadie's mother being Welsh. If you believe the 1900 census from Pennsylvania, the Sadie there states both parents are from Pennsylvania like Sadie does later in 1910. The other servant girl her age in Pennsylvania had both parents from Wales and may explain the story passed down. There is also a Sadie Brooks north of Pittsburgh born in 1880 but we can follow her through, in that town for many years after. (Need to recreate this early story of the many possibilities we were juggling.)

The Sadie from Pittsburgh is the servant in the house of Edwin Mudge, a stockbroker. He has a wife of 21 years of age, his mother of 54 living there, two servant girls, of which Sadie is one, that are not much younger than his wife, and a nurse. His neighbor has a servant and coachman. So seems like a wealthier neighborhood for the time.

This Sadie shows being born in April 1880 and this matches the birth date of 14 April 1880 that her son Walter L put on her death certificate. As Walter L was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1903, this fits she was in Pittsburgh before marriage. Sadie Brooks also lists both parents born in Pennsylvania in this 1900 census; which matches the 1910 census later by Sadie Harr.

The Definitive Link

Based on the correlation with Annie V Davis or "Aunt Vie" ancestry, we now take this 1900 census record of Sadie Brooks as our Sadie. This because she is a servant in the house with a Beatrice Gibbs. Beatrice is the older sister of 10 year old Annie V Gibbs who lives with her parents across town. Annie Violet Gibbs would later marry David Davis to become Annie Violet Davis or "Aunt Vie" as she was known to Sadie's grandchildren. Annie and Beatrice's mother, Ann Gibbs, would die in 1923 at Anna Violet Davis house on East 69th Street in Cleveland, Ohio.

Annie's sister Beatrice was born in Wales as was her oldest brother. Her parents were born in England and younger siblings including Annie born in Pennsylvania. The two older kids emigrated in 1887 with the father and mother coming earlier in 1881 and 1882; respectively. The kids appear living with mother Anna in an 1881 census in Wales. So this all likely explains the "Wales" story of old that Sadie's Grandkids remember. Likely stories from Aunt Vie on her yearly visits that were about her family and not Sadie. (Although the posit of Sadie's mother being from Wales / England is still a possibility.)

To understand how we are tracing Aunt Vie, see her ancestry page. We started tracing Aunt Vie thinking it would help shed light; which it has.

Another item just uncovered that we need to track down. Supposedly Sadie owned some grave-sites in Pennsylvania that she later "sold" to Aunt Vie to use for her family. So need to see if records are available. Possibly would indicate the burial location of Sadie's parents.