Rebecca Redman Cox - Doug Sinclair's Archives

Rebecca is on the left with her granddaughter Eveline Hoyt (middle) and Eveline's other grandmother, Lydia (Stevenson) Hoyt (right)
(painting by Doug Sinclair)

Rebecca was surely named for the Redman family of Burlington Co., who were active in the Quaker church. Thomas Redman (Sr. or Jr.?) is on a 1792 list of members of the Friendship Fire Co. with Jacob Cox and Samuel Kennard. Rebecca married out of the Quaker faith, as did her sister Beulah, but James' Brady's religious affiliation isn't yet known.
In "The History of the Cox Family of America," there is a transcript of a letter written by Rebecca to her nieces, daughters of Joseph Hugg Kennard, shortly after his death.

"My Dear Girls: Many times I have written to you in my mind, but did not commit to paper. Oh, how I live over again the pleasant, happy days I spent with you! - happy beyond expectation. I am not unmindful of our visits, and the beautiful ride. You will remember, my dear Beulah, how we were struck with the sudden and sublime sight of a wonderful rainbow; and yet it could not be called that. I never saw anything like it. It stood in the air so near us; The overhanging clouds that surrounded it, edge it with rich colors of surpassing beauty. It called forth the exclamation from your now sainted father, 'It seems like a monument of glory.' I think he saw more of its glory than I was permitted to see.

No man, I think, could live a more beautiful Christian life than he did. His devotion to the church; his love and sympathy for the poor and afflicted; how great! Many times during my visit of weeks to you, I have seen him come in wearied, tired out, yet uncomplaining. On the occasion, I think it was on the last Saturday afternoon; I said 'Brother, you look greatly fatigued, I think you are doing too much.' He answered: 'Sister, If I had the money some have I would make some widows and orphans' hearts sing for joy, in less than 24 hours.'

The last sermon I heard was from the text 'How much owest thou my Lord?' He spoke of the debt of the church. In the afternoon I said 'I think you are anxious to have the church out of debt, that when you are called up higher, you can leave it as a sort of lagacy to your people.' He replied: 'I hope to live to see it out of debt, and then, if I should live two years more, I will be seventy and the church thirty years old. Then I want to have a jubilee, and I want you to be here.'

your affectionate aunt, R.B.

Rebecca appears in the 1841-42 New York City directory as the widow of James, living at 63 Crosby St. She died at 265 W. 23rd St. while she was living with her daughter Anna Teets and her family. Her death certificate is difficult to read, but old age is given as the secondary cause. An obituary and funeral notice appear in The New York Herald on 21 January 1867 and The New York Times the next day:

Brady - On Saturday evening, January 19th, after a short illness, Mrs. Rebecca Brady, age 74 years.
The relations and friends of the deceased, also those of her sons George W. and Benjamin F.
are respectively invited to attend the funeral on Tuesday afternoon at one o'clock from her
late residence [from the residence of her son-in-law Ralph Teets; NYT], No. 265 West 23rd Street,
without further notice.

Rebecca owned the plot in Green-Wood Cemetery in which she and many of her family are buried. A portrait of her was painted, probably in the 1840s, and passed down in the family of Rebecca (Brady) Besson.

children of Rebecca Redman Cox and James Brady:

i. Mary Kerr, b. abt. 1813
ii. Elizabeth Ann,b. abt. 1818
iii. Rebecca Jane, b. 1821
iv. Anna Maria, b. 25 April 1824
v. William Wallace, b. 3 August 1826
vi. George Washington, b. 3 September 1829
vii. Robert O., b. (5?) April 1831
viii. Benjamin Franklin, b. abt. 1835

vital records sources:

1.