Sarah Bradley Cox Oort Kidd Rouseby

Sarah married husband number 1, Cox, a flour merchant not long after she arrived in New York at 15.  He set her up in what became a very successful shop on Pearl Street and she acquired real estate, silver and other valuables.  

Then Cox died.  Since women did not own property in colonial times, Sarah's substantial wealth became the prey of the authorities.  Her shop was closed and she fell on hard times. 

Husband number 2 was John Oort who turned out to be not much of a businessman.  

He died in a boating accident and the authorities settled his estate confiscating many of Oort's possessions which were actually Sarah's. 

On her third try, Sarah married Captain William Kidd.  Admittedly, they seem to have filed for a marriage license several days after Oort died causing some of their neighbors to wonder about the convenient timing.  It seems to have been a love match.  They became solid citizens, had two daughters.  When he got a commission as a privateer, he left for Africa, and returned after a couple of raids with enough treasure to make him the richest man in the colonies.  He also tried to navigate the fallout, caching some of his loot in multiple locations from a tree in Long Island to an apron in New England and and trying to appease his fickle patrons who brought him down on what were probably trumped up charges.  Sarah was loyal enough to follow him to Boston and managed to get arrested and imprisoned in Stone Prison.  

Kidd was taken to London and executed. 

This time Sarah opted for a quieter life and married Christopher Rousby.  She had two sons with him.  When he died, she operated a tavern.

Sarah died of diptheria and is buried at Trinity Cemetery.