Sarah Noah Decosta was born in on March 21, 1813 [1] at Mile End Old Town, London, England. She was the daughter of Solomon Noah DaCosta and Leah and was the fourth of their five children, her only sister was the eldest in the family and almost 13 years older than Sarah. Three brothers followed and 4 years after Sarah was born her youngest brother completed the family. They lived in Mile End, London England, where Sarah's father was a hatter. Sarah's family was Jewish and they attended the Bevis Marks Synagogue which indicates that they were of Spanish or Portuguese origin.
Sometime before 1841 Sarah married John Reeves, [2] who was a brushmaker and they lived in Spitalfields, London, Sarah, having married outside her Jewish community had all her children baptised in the established Church. Sarah and John had a son and three daughters. The 1861 census tells us that Sarah was working as a needle woman, but by 1871 she was widowed and working as a brush drawer,[3] possibly trying to keep her husband's business going. By 1881 Sarah was working as a Bible Nurse.[4][5]
Sarah died at Mile End Old Town in 1904 at the age of 91.[6]
Marriage Anomaly
According to the census records John and Sarah were married before 1841, but I cannot find a record of their marriage until the one shown in Images 5 and 6 in 1862 thirteen years after the birth of their last child. I doubted this record, but John and his father have the right occupations and it is in the right area, so I have to accept it is the same couple. They possibly had a Jewish marriage in the 1830s. It may be that marriage in the established Church entitled them to some civil rights otherwise denied them, especially in respect of Sarah's Jewish origins.
Sources
↑Birth FHL book #942.1/L1 K35s pt. 5.
Name: Sarah da Costa Noah
Surname: Noah
Given Name: Sarah da Costa
Sex: F
Birth: 21 Mar 1813
Cited in:
Title: The Birth register (1767-1881) of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London Author: Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira, BA and Chloe Loewe, PhD Publication: London, The Spanish and Portuguese jews' Congregation, 1993. FHL book #942.1/L1 K35s pt. 5.
↑ See Image 1 of 1841 Census showing Sarah as John's wife
↑FS FMP1871 Census Also see Image 4
Name: Sarah Reeves
Event Type: Census Event Date: 1871
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Relationship to Head of Household: Self
Birthplace: Mile End, Middlesex
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Whitechapel Sub-District: Mile End New Town
Parish: Stepney County: London, Middlesex
Household Role Gender Age
Sarah Reeves Self F 57
Mary Ann Reeves Daughter F 21
Citing this Record:
'"England and Wales Census, 1871,'" index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VB8G-HH2 : accessed 22 Nov 2014), Sarah Reeves, Mile End New Town, Stepney, London, Middlesex, England; from "1871 England, Scotland and Wales census," index and images, findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk : DC Thomson, n.d.); PRO RG 10, folio , p. 4; Whitechapel registration district, Mile End New Town subdistrict, ED 8, household 18, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 823381.
↑Research Notes
Re. Occupation in 1871 Census. I have not been able to find out what a 'Bible' Nurse meant but putting SMS (Subsidiary Medical Services) after nurse meant that the person had had some medical training. Nurses often added these letters on census returns because up until 1919 anyone could call themselves a Nurse. It is possible that Bible nurse meant that her nursing was sponsored by some church or mission.
↑1881 Census
Name: Sarah Reeves
Age: 64
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1817
Relationship to Head: Head
Gender: Female
Where born: Mile End Rd, Middlesex, England
Civil Parish: St George Martyr
County/Island: London
Country: England
Street address: 27 Red Lion St
Marital Status: Widower (Widow)
Occupation: Bible Nurse (SMS)
Registration district: Holborn
Sub registration district: St George the Martyr
ED, institution, or vessel:6 Piece: 339 Folio:6 Page Number: 5
Household Members:
Name Age
Sarah Reeves 64
Mary A. Reeves 28
Louisa Reeves 8
Caroline Harrington
↑England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 Name Sarah Reeves Estimated Birth Year abt 1813 Registration Year 1904 Registration Quarter Jan-Feb-Mar Age at Death 91 Registration district Mile End Old Town Parishes for this Registration District Mile End Old Town Inferred County London Volume 1c Page 310. GRO Death Index
Name: REEVES, SARAH Age at Death (in years): 91
GRO Reference: 1904 M Quarter in MILE END OLD TOWN
Volume 01C Page 310
Cited on: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp
Census Images
Images 1, 2, 3 & 4 show the Census for 1841, 1851, 1861 & 1871 The image for 1871 gives more detail than the transcript.
Is Sarah your ancestor? Please don't go away! Login to collaborate or comment, or contact
the profile manager, or ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Sarah by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Sarah: