The Cohen Family Photograph: Who Are These People?

Posted on by

Ordinarily finding a large collection of photographs would be cause for much celebration, but when almost none of those photographs is labeled, it can be cause for much frustration.

That is the case with the collection of photographs my cousin Ken inherited from his great-grandparents, Lilian Katz and Isaac S. Cohen. Isaac S. Cohen was my grandfather’s first cousin. Isaac’s father Joseph Cohen was my great-grandfather Emanuel Cohen’s older brother. Thus, Ken and I are third cousins, once removed, both descended from Jacob Cohen and Sarah Jacobs, my great-great-grandparents. (All photos in this post are courtesy of my cousin Ken except where noted.)

Fortunately, some of the photographs in Ken’s collection were labeled. Most important to me was this photograph labeled “Cohen Family.” Ken and I assumed that the couple sitting second and third from the left  in the front row are Joseph Cohen and his wife Caroline Snellenburg Cohen, parents of Isaac S. Cohen, and that Isaac was one of the other men in the photograph.

Joseph Cohen and Family c. 1915-1917

“Cohen Family” Courtesy of Ken Newbury

To help us identify the people in the photograph, I once again retained the services of Ava Cohn a/k/a Sherlock Cohn, the Photogenealogist. She concluded that the Cohen Family photograph was likely taken around 1915-1916 based on the clothing. Joseph Cohen would have been 67 in 1915, and the man who is sitting second from the left in the front row could be in that age range.

The other three men in the Cohen Family photograph all resemble each other, but who are they? Here are closeups of those three. You can see that they all have similar hairlines, long noses, and similar mouths and ears. To me, they look like brothers, although the third looks much younger than the first two, who have graying hair.

My hunch was that these three men were three of Joseph Cohen’s five sons who were still living in 1915. In 1915 the five living sons were Jacob, who would have been 43, Isaac, who would have been 41, Nathan, who would have been 39, and Samuel and Morris (the twins), who would have been 28.

I found a passport photograph of Jacob Cohen taken in 1922 when he was 51, and I do not see a resemblance to the men in the photograph. He has more hair and a different shaped head. Ava agreed that Jacob is not in the Cohen Family photograph.

So that leaves Isaac, Nathan, and the two twins Samuel and Morris. Since the photograph was in Isaac’s possession, Ken and I assumed that Isaac was in the photograph, and we knew what Isaac looked like from other photographs in Ken’s collection.

For example, this photograph is of Isaac S. Cohen and Lilian Katz and their son Jac, Ken’s grandfather, who was born in April 1907. Ava estimated that this photograph was taken in about 1908, when Isaac would have been about 34.

Isaac, Jack, and Lillian Cohen, c. 1908

Isaac, Jac, and Lillian Cohen, c. 1908

Ava opined that Jac was about nine years old in this photograph of Isaac, Lillian and Jac, meaning it was taken in about 1916.

Isaac S., Jac, and Lillian Katz Cohen. c. 1917

Jac is also in this photograph, sitting at the piano, and Ava thought he  was about six or seven when it was taken, meaning it dates to about 1913. A closeup of Isaac from this photograph appears below it.

Isaac S Cohen, c. 1913

These two profile shots were snipped from two other photographs also taken around the same time. One was from a large photograph of men promoting the sale of war bonds for World War I; the other from a photograph that Ava dated as about 1915  of Isaac with Lillian and Jac and Lillian’s father Leo Katz.

c. 1917
c. 1915

Here’s a lineup of three of the photographs of Isaac and the closeup of the man on the left in the second row in the Cohen Family photograph. Based on all the above photographs, Ava concluded that the man on the left in the second row of the Cohen Family photograph was Isaac S. Cohen, Ken’s great-grandfather.

Isaac S Cohen c. 1908
Taxi photo c. 1913
Beach photo c. 1916
c. 1915-1916

But who are the other two men in the family photo? Ava did not have enough information to reach a conclusion on that question. I have no photographs of Joseph’s son Nathan, so we have no way to identify him in the photograph. And I have no photographs of Morris, one of the twins, so cannot identify him either.

I was able to obtain two photographs of Samuel Cohen from his grandson Sam, but they were taken when Samuel was older. Even so, Ava and I both concluded that Samuel Cohen had ears that were closer to his head than any of the men in the Cohen Family photograph as well as a different shaped nose and thus was not in this photograph.

Samuel Cohen
Samuel Cohen

So without photographs of Joseph’s other sons, it’s impossible to make any identifcation of the other two men in the Cohen Family photograph.

And what about the women in the photograph? Assuming that Caroline Snellenburg Cohen is sitting next to Joseph, who are the other four women? They certainly appear to be much younger than Caroline. Joseph and Caroline Cohen had four daughters, and Ava thought it was likely that the four women are their daughters. In 1915 Bertha would have been 42, Sallye 38, Fannie 33, and Julia 31. The woman seated on the far right is the spitting image of Caroline. I’d be shocked if she was not her daughter.  So this could be a photograph of Joseph and Caroline, their four daughters, and three of their five sons. But we can’t be certain.

The other mystery is….who was cut out of the photograph?  Ava focused on the sleeves and the size of the hands and concluded that it was a woman. But who could she have been?

One possibility is that it was Lillian Katz, Isaac S. Cohen’s wife. Why, you ask, would she have been cut out of the picture?

Well, it appears that sometime between 1915, when they were living together in Atlantic City, and 1919, Isaac and Lillian separated and then filed for divorce in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in April 1919. They were divorced on February 20, 1920, on grounds of desertion. In 1920 Lillian was living with her parents in Pittsburgh with her son Jac (incorrectly listed here as John) and listed as divorced, and Isaac was living in Philadelphia with his sister Julia and her husband.1

Lillian Katz Cohen, 1920 US census, Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 14, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1522; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 550
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census

Isaac Cohen 1920 US census, Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 38, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1635; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 1328
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census

Ken told me that  when his grandfather Jac was a boy, he was run over by a trolley car while sledding; as a result, he lost an arm. We have the hospital record from Jac’s accident, and it’s dated January 6, 1917.  Ken wondered whether the injury to their son caused a rift between Isaac and Lillian, as sadly often happens when a child is seriously sick or injured and upset parents find it difficult to deal with the tragedy.

But the story has a happy ending. On August 12, 1921, Isaac and Lillian applied for a marriage license in Philadelphia and were remarried:

And records suggest that they remained married for the rest of their lives.

But maybe someone cut Lillian out of the family picture during the brief period when she and Isaac were divorced. It would seem odd that Lillian saved a photograph from which she had been removed, but stranger things have happened. But as Ava said, we really have no idea who was cut out or why. It’s just speculation.

In the end, we still have many questions but at least a few answers about the Cohen Family photograph. It’s a good reminder that I really should do my descendants a favor and go label all those photos from my own life.

Thank you to my cousin Ken for sharing the photographs and to Ava Cohn, aka Sherlock Cohn the Photogenealogist for her invaluable insights and her determination to get this right!

 

  1. Isaac listed his marital status as married; the divorce didn’t take effect until February 20, 1920, and the census was enumerated on January 17, 1920. Obviously Lillian was already considering herself divorced. ↩

27 thoughts on “The Cohen Family Photograph: Who Are These People?”

  1. Hi Amy, this is a great story about the remarriage of Isaac and Lillian, very uplifting. I suppose someone removed Lillian from the photo out of temper. I share your frustrations about trying to identify old photographs. I have a striking head -and -shoulders photo from around 1910 and nobody in my family has a clue about who the lady may be. There’s no mistaking your Cohen men were all closely related though!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks, Shirley! Of course, I am only speculating that it was Lillian. Could have been anyone. And as Ava pointed out, maybe someone cut out the person to make a photo to insert in a locket. Sadly, we will never know.

      Like

      Reply ↓

    • I admit I’ve been tempted to do that myself! And with modern technolocy and digital photos, you can simply crop yourself out and no one will ever know….

      Like

      Reply ↓

  3. Amy,
    Once again, you are the rock star of Cohen genealogy and history. Your ability to bring to life the stories and brilliantly sleuthed records of our historical family is moving and relevant. As you write about the joys, sacrifices and tribulations that defined our ancestor’s life’s journeys, I am left with deep gratitude for your work and how it contributes to who I am. In this blog, you uncovered many of the mysteries of my great grandfather and grandfather. For me, it is inspiring that my great grandfather and great grandmother were reunited after the tragedy of my grandfather’s arm amputation. From all the records and 25th anniversary cards, they seemed to be happily married as well. Thank you so much!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓

    • Thank you so much for your kind and generous words, Ken. I never could have done this without your help. Your collection of photographs and documents opened the door to telling this story. Now if only we could identify all those OTHER people! So glad we found each other, cousin.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  4. How fascinating! I too have photos with unidentified people in them – some are definitely not family members, based on the context, but there are a couple I believe are relatives, but I’ve no idea how to figure out who they are.

    So lovely that Isaac and Lilian remarried. Re: the woman cut out of the photo – my grandmother did this after one of my cousins and his wife divorced (she had been horrible to him).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I highly recommend asking Ava for help if you are trying to identify people in photos, especially if you have other photographs of family members.

      The cut-out is mysterious. If the other women are the daughters, who would that other woman be? It’s an unsolvable mystery—so far!

      Like

      Reply ↓

  5. Oh, the frustrations you had to look at so many pictures without any date or identification, Amy. And now in our digital age when photos are no longer in albums or stored in boxes, the problem is far worse than before. I committed myself to the laborious task to tag all our family photos so that future generations might have access to the information needed in search of their family roots. Have a great week! Perhaps the election will bring about a good measure of peace and harmony to your country.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I am impressed that you did that, Peter. Did that include old as well as more recent photos? In some ways digitizing does help because usually there is a date stamp so for recent photos taken, for example, on a phone, the date and sometimes the location is included in the metadata on the image. But for older photos that are scanned, that’s not going to work since the date it was scanned, not the date it was created, will show up.

      Peace and harmony would be lovely, but I fear we will see the opposite—civil unrest at a minimum, civil war at the worst.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

      • It does include old photos scanned and digitized. It is important for me to tag them with data I happen to know. Even if the data are incomplete, adding approximate date and the name of an aunt or uncle I happen to recognize is very important.
        Let hope not end in despair, Amy. let our quest for peace and harmony among all people not be hampered by feelings of hopelessness.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Great photo. I have so many unidentified photos. I am always trying to match a face and name. I always have a feeling of glee when I make a connection. I think you can assume that the other two men are sons and the women are daughter in laws, as this definitely looks like and is labled as the Cohen family. Take care!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks, Ellen! I, of course, won’t assume too much—one thing I’ve learned from Ava is not to make assumptions, but to keep looking for photos and clues to help with the identification.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  7. What an interesting post. The photo is wonderful and Ava Cohn is so informative. You both have done some great detective work. Hoping more clues will reveal themselves and you will be able to solve some of the unknowns. I have Cohen/Cohn, Minnie Cohen who married Samuel Strulowitz with no other info other than birthplace Romania (shared names with you but no DNA connection) I went back and looked on my page and had a new hint for her, a death record with and a ‘purchase record’ with a certificate #. Minnie Strolowitz maiden name ‘Coher’, spouse Sam Strolowitz daughter Rebecca ‘Haimonitz’….when I click on purchase certificate I get a page with a huge We’re Sorry you’ve reached a non existence or outdated page. Amy, have you run into this?…I am freaking out – a record that might give some info and I can’t get it?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

      • Yes it gives me the certificate number and it is NYC. I am really shocked the link to order is not going to the site for ordering. I wonder if it is a glitch. I guess you haven’t run into this problem? hmmm Yup, I will try another route for order. Thanks Amy

        Liked by 1 person

      • Is it Vitalsearch? Send me the FB link by email. I’ll take a look. I try not to order records through them as they are a huge ripoff!

        Like

  9. I have a box of photographs from my in-laws and most are unidentified. In 1996 I was able to sift out the ones of the family members my husband and his paternal first cousin knew. However, there are still some that may never be identified. I’ve learned a bit about identifying people in photographs since I started blogging and should take another look at them. I actually ran across the box only last week when looking for something else. So I know where it is and need to find the time…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  10. Too bad she couldn’t paste her self back into the photo! That seems like a really good guess about why someone was cut out. Wonderful work on identification, But I feel frustrated when we can’t know for sure.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.