She died young, taken from her husband and children
A precious woman, Leah daughter of (title?)
Mordecai zl died Thurs 27 Menachem Av
....
She returned to her father's house in her youth
she ascended to heaven at the cost of her days
Praised (loved/respected) by all her acquaintances
May her soul be bound up in the bond of life eternal
[notes: the first (rightmost) letters of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines are emphasised and say:
לאה
which is LEAH.
The name of the fifth month on the Jewish calendar, Av, literally means 'father'. It is customary to add the name 'Menachem', which means comforter or consoler—so , as here, Menachem Av.
מתה בעול ימיה מבעלה ומעולליה
אשה יקרה מ לאה בת כהרר
מרדכי זל מתה בי הכז מנחם אב
תרמנ
לבית אביה שבה בנעוריה
אל שמים עלתה בדמי ימיה
הלילו עליה כל מכיריה
ת נ צ ב ה
IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF
LEAH
THE BELOVED WIFE OF
ALFRED BROOKS
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AUGUST THE 30
TH 5643 – 1883
AGED 31 YEARS.
--
DEEPLY LAMENTED BY HER SORROWING HUSBAND BY HER BELOVED CHILDREN AND RELATIVES
--
MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE
Leah Marks was born in 1851 in Birmingham to James and Sarah Marks. Her father James was born in Poland in 1811 and was a cap maker. They had seven sons and seven daughters.
In 1872 Leah married Alfred Brooks, who was born in Warsaw in 1851. Their first child Gertrude was born in Stourbridge in 1872. They then went to South Africa where their daughter Florence was born in Paarl, Western Cape in 1878, Amelia in 1880 and son Louis in 1881 in Kimberley. There is a record of them returning to England in March 1882.
Leah was visiting Bath in August 1883 where she died aged 32 of smallpox in what was described as the ‘statutory hospital’, Claverton. There was a smallpox epidemic in Birmingham at the time so perhaps she travelled with the disease.
Alfred died in Birmingham in 1922. Gertrude, Florence and Amelia remained in England. Louis went to New York in 1923 where he died in 1940.
In 1891 census (32 Princes Street, Birmingham): Leah’s children are living with her sisters Gertrude and Amelia and her mother Sarah. The children are recorded as Gertrude L Brooks aged 15 born Birmingham, Amelia G Brooks aged 11 born Cape Town South Africa, Florence L Brooks aged 11 born Cape Town South Africa, and a nephew Louis M Brooks aged 10 born South Africa.
Notes on the Hebrew inscription
The first (rightmost) letters of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines of the Hebrew inscription are emphasised and say: ‘which is LEAH’.
The name of the fifth month on the Jewish calendar, Av, literally means ‘father’. It is customary to add the name ‘Menachem’, which means comforter or consoler—so, as here, Menachem Av
Census records
1851
13
Moat Lanes
Birmingham
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
1861
27
Edgebaston St
Birmingham
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
1871
5
Wellington Terrace
Balsall Heath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
Associated addresses
Statutory Hospital
Claveton
Statutory Hospital at the bottom of Brassknocker Hill