Sara Julia (Harris) Holiday (1896 - 1945)

Born 16 Aug 1896 in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Ancestors

Died 6 Oct 1945 at age 49 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Biography

Sadie (Harris) Holiday is a part of US Black heritage.

Mother of legendary singer Billie "Lady Day" Holiday.

She was born Sara Harris, daughter of Charles F. Fagan and a woman known only as Miss Harris.^[1]. According to her death record, her mother's name was Julia.^[2]

Sarah and Clarence were not married and did not live together when they had their daughter. Not long after Eleanora (Billie) was born, Clarence abandoned his family to pursue a career as a jazz banjo player and guitarist.

Sarah moved to Philadelphia at age 19, after she was evicted from her father's home in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, for becoming pregnant. With no support from her father and stepmother, she made arrangements with her older, married half-sister, Eva Miller, for her daughter to stay with her in Baltimore.

By early 1929, Billie had joined her mother in Harlem. Their landlady was a woman named Florence Williams, who ran a brothel at 151 West 140th Street. Sarah had became a prostitute, and Billie, who was not yet fourteen, also became a prostitute at $5 a client. On May 2, 1929, the house was raided, and they were sent to prison. After spending some time in a workhouse, Sarah was released in July, and Billie was released in October.

She passed away in 1945.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ O'Meally, Robert G., Lady Day: the many faces of Billie Holiday. (New York: Arcade Pub., 1991,) p. 69; imaged at Internet Archive, (https://archive.org/details/ladydaymanyfaces00omea/page/68/mode/2up : accessed 9 Feb 2023,) image 68 of 207.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WTB-KHK : 3 June 2020), Julian Fagan in entry for Sadie Holiday, 1945.

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M63L-Z3N : 1 February 2021), Sadie Fagan in entry for Robert Miller, 1920.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X42X-76X : accessed 22 January 2021), Sadie Fugan in household of Luther B Mathens, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 886, sheet 5A, line 7, family 64, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1563; FHL microfilm 2,341,298.
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3YG-Y15 : 7 January 2021), Elnora Holliday in household of Sadie Holliday, New York City, New York County, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1849, sheet 9A, line 12, family 167, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2669.

See also:

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 January 2021), memorial page for Sarah Julia “Sadie” Fagan Holiday (18 Aug 1896–6 Oct 1945), Find A Grave: Memorial #5965421, citing Saint Raymond's Cemetery New, Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Warrick L. Barrett (contributor 395) .
• Wikipedia: Billie Holiday