Vennah Mary Harris Brown Cook

Black female, born 9 June 1913 in Pensacola, Florida.

She first appeared in my research as the mother of an infant stillborn at Pensacola Hospital on 23 December 1938. Father was Willie Andrews (born in Mobile). The parents’ residence was listed as Scotts Hill. The specific cause of the infant’s death was toxemia and prematurity with breach delivery; preeclampsia in mother. The informant on the death certificate was Mary Roberts, also a resident of Scotts Hill, who has not been identified. The infant was buried in the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.

Willie Andrews has not been identified as there are several Willie Andrews of the correct age in the Mobile area during the time of the child’s birth. While the death certificate says the infant is the child of “Willie Andrews and wife,” there is no record that Vennah ever legally married Willie Andrews.

Vennah appeared in the 1930 census of Escambia County, Florida in the household of her mother, Janie Hone. She was 17 years old at the time and married to James Brown, 16 years old, living in the same household. There was also a younger daughter of Janie’s, Mary Retter (spelled Maryetta in the census) Hone, 14 years old. Janie was working as a laundress out of her home on 235 Hyers Alley. James Brown was a laborer on an unspecified bridge.

The Pensacola Journal of 8 October 1929 (page 5) records the issuance of a marriage license to James Brown and Vennah Mary Hone; Florida marriage records indicate they were married on 7 October.

Vennah, her mother, and her husband appear in the Pensacola City Directory for 1931 at 235 Hyer Ave. After that, Janey Hone and Verna [sic] Brown are living at 28 Luke Avenue, with no sign of James. By 1936, none of them are listed in the Directory.

Vennah’s next appearance is in her stillborn daughter’s 1938 death certificate (see above).

There are marriage records in Akron, Ohio, for Vennah Hone and Mary Retter Harris: Mary Retter (born 15 June 1920 in Pensacola) married Jerome Brown Melson on 2 May 1947. Vennah Hone married Lawrence Cook (born in Brewton, AL) on 6 March 1950 in Akron. Vennah’s mother’s maiden and married names seem to have been reversed on the marriage record, as Vennah’s parents are listed as Jim Hone and Janey Harris. (Vennah also indicated she had never been married before, and that she was about 6 years younger than she really was).

Lawrence Cook died in 1965; his obituary indicates he had two children: Chester and Vennah Mary. Chester was born in Brewton in 1935, the child of a previous wife, Della May Williams. In her daughter’s 1970 marriage to Jimmie Earl Battle, Vennah gives her maiden name as Brown.

Vennah Harris Cook died on 23 November 1988 in Akron, Ohio. Her obituary stated she was 69 years old at the time and had lived in Akron for 55 years. (Both of these statements are off by about six years.) Vennah is buried in Glendale Cemetery in Akron, Ohio.

FAMILY:

Children: Unnamed stillborn daughter; Vennah Mary Cook Battles

Mother: Janie Hone Harris

Father: James Harris

SOURCES:

Florida Certificate of Death, Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.