Was the Census Taker Incompetent? Lewis Cohen 1862-1924

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Amy

Having now completed the stories of the seventeen children of Reuben and Sallie Cohen, I can return to Reuben’s siblings, the other children of my great-great-grandparents Jacob and Sarah Cohen. Reuben was their sixth child, followed by three daughters, Maria, Hannah, and Elizabeth, about whom I have already written. That means we are up to Jacob and Sarah’s tenth child, Lewis.

Lewis was born March 20, 1862, and grew up with his siblings at 136 South Street. In 1880 when he was eighteen years old, he was working as a clerk, presumably with his brothers in his father’s pawnshop. In 1886 when he was twenty-four he married Carrie Dannenbaum. At that time he was working with his brother Joseph as a pawnbroker at 1001 South 10^th Street and living at 404 South Second Street. By 1910, Lewis and Carrie had a daughter Helen, who was listed as being sixteen, and they were all living at 2144 Green Street. Lewis’ pawnshop was still on South 10^th Street at 1537, where he remained for another decade or more.

Lewis Cohen 1910 census

The only real wrinkle I encountered in researching Lewis was a strange entry in the 1920 census. On that census, Lewis and Carrie are listed as living with a son named Isidor Solis Cohen, 23 years old, who was working as a clerk in a department store. If Lewis and Carrie had a 23 year old son in 1920, then where was he in 1910 when he was thirteen?

Lewis Cohen 1920 census

I could not find any later record for him either. I found him on two other ancestry.com family trees as Lewis and Carrie’s son, but aside from the 1920 census, the only records relied on for support on those trees referred to different Isidor Cohens—one whose parents were born abroad and one whose parents were born in New York, whereas both Lewis and Carrie had been born in Pennsylvania.

The only source used on those trees aside from the 1920 census that referred to Isidor as Isidor Solis Cohen was a World War I draft registration, but on that form Isidor listed his contact person as J. Solis Cohen, MD.

Isidor Solis Cohen World War I draft registration

A quick search revealed that Jacob Solis Cohen was a prominent Philadelphia surgeon whose family had come to the United States far earlier than my Cohen family and from Russia, not England. I found Isidor living with Jacob Solis Cohen on the 1910 census along with his numerous siblings. It seemed pretty clear to me that Isidor Solis Cohen was not the son of Lewis and Carrie, but of Jacob Solis Cohen, MD.

So how did he end up living with Lewis and Carrie in 1920? Or was this just some strange mistake by the census taker? When I dug deeper and searched for the Solis Cohen family in 1920, I found something rather odd. Except for one brother who had married between 1910 and 1920 and one sister who was hospitalized, all of Isidor’s siblings and his father Jacob were living at 2113 Chestnut Street, but their listings were spread throughout separate pages of the census for the enumeration district. Jacob was listed with one daughter; three daughters were listed together on a different page; and one brother, Myer Solis Cohen, was listed not only apart from his sisters and father, but with two people a few years older than he named Ramsburgle. What made that even stranger was that Myer, aged 42, was listed as the son of the Ramsburgles, aged 49 and 48. Unless there was some truly miraculous event, there was no way Myer was their son.

Myer Solis Cohen the 42 year old “son” of the Ramsburgles, aged 49 and 48

Mixed in between the census pages listing all the other Solis Cohens was a page that listed Isidor as Lewis and Carrie’s son. The address was not 2113 Chestnut, but an apartment building called the Coronado located on the same block at 22^nd Street and Chestnut. All of these inconsistencies in this enumeration district convinced me that the listing of Isidor as the son of Lewis and Carrie was wrong, just as the listing of his brother Myer as the son of the Ramsburgles was wrong.

Thus, I believe that Lewis and Carrie had one child, Helen. Although the 1910 census gave her age as 16, it also said she was a cook for a private family. Looking at that census, it looks like the census taker had some information for Helen confused with information for the family cook, Margaret Johns. The numerous cross-outs make it rather hard to read. This was a different census taker, I assume, from the one who later took the 1920 census of the Solis Cohen family, but another census taker who was not very careful. Later census reports put Helen’s year of birth at about 1890.

At any rate, Helen was not 16 in 1910. Later that same year on September 28, 1910, she married William Bacharach, and the marriage record filed with their synagogue indicated that Helen was then 22. I know that this is the right Helen Cohen because the address given, 2144 Green Street, is the same address where Lewis, Carrie and Helen were living in 1910.

Lewis died on May 9, 1924, from an intestinal obstruction caused by carcinoma sigmoid or colon cancer. He was 62 years old. His widow Carrie died four years later on June 14, 1928, from endocarditis.

Carrie Dannenbaum Cohen

Their daughter Helen and her husband William Bacharach had three children, Augustus, Lewis Cohen, and Jeanne. I am very lucky to be in touch with two of Helen and William’s descendants. They were able to supply me with the photos posted here and with some of the information as well. William Bacharach came from a family that, prior to Prohibition, had been in the liquor business, but when Prohibition became the law, the family sold the business and developed a business as pawnbrokers; family lore is that they sold their liquor business to a company that became part of what is today’s Seagram’s. Thus, William, like the Cohens, was a pawnbroker and spent his career in the business. He was very successful.

Helen Cohen Bacharach and her children c. 1927

During the Depression, William and Helen purchased a large house with seven bedrooms in the Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia. They also were very involved with the historic Rodeph Shalom synagogue and with the Philadelphia Jewish community in general. Helen died in 1950 from cancer, and William donated money and charity work to Moss Rehab, where there is an award given yearly in his name there, according to one of their descendants. After Helen’s death William moved to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. William died in 1973 in Tucson, Arizona, where he had retired.

Jeanne, William and Helen Bacharach

William Bacharach

This is what I know about Helen and William’s three children, Augustus, Lewis and Jeanne.

Lewis, Jeanne, and Augustus Bacharach

Helen and William’s son Augustus was their first born child, born on October 24, 1912. He was still living at home and not employed in 1930, presumably still in high school, but by 1940 he had married Jane Sinberg and was working as a salesman (I cannot decipher the entry for the industry). In 1950, Augustus was working in radio repairs, according to the city directory. He seems to have lived in the Philadelphia area all his life. He and Jane had one child. His wife Jane predeceased him by six years, dying in 1975. Augustus thereafter married Carolyn Sundheim Ostroff Osser, who had been married and widowed twice and had two children. Augustus died in December, 1981, leaving Carolyn a widow for a third time.

Helen and William’s second child, Lewis Cohen Bacharach, was born in August 22, 1914. He continued the Bacharach and Cohen family pawnbroker tradition until the 1960s when he closed the last of the family’s pawnshops. He and his wife Mary retired to Tucson, Arizona, and both lived full and long lives even after retirement. I was able to find a few articles and their obituaries which beautifully capture their lives and their commitment to helping others.

First, this profile of Lewis C. Bacharach from the June 2008 newsletter from his retirement community, Evergreen Estates in Lancaster, PA:

Resident Spotlight: Lewis Bacharach

Lewis was raised in Philadelphia, PA, the middle child with one brother and one sister. A graduate of Northeast High School, Lewis studied business for two years at Temple University. In 1942 Lewis began three years in the United States Army in New Guinea. It was while training at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, that he met Mary. She drove for the Red Cross Motor Corps and was volunteering for an evening of Bingo. That night Lewis offered Mary a cup of coffee and four dates later they were engaged. In July the Bacharach’s will celebrate their 65^th anniversary. They are the parents of two children and have two grandchildren.

Lewis said, “Doing for others is what brought him and Mary together.” They were always involved in community having singly or together volunteered for the following organizations: Art League, Brandeis Book Club, Lions Club, Mobile Meals, United Order of True Sisters, Tucson Medical Center, the March of Dimes and Food Bank. In 1977 Lewis helped organize and establish the LaCanada Magee Neighborhood Association, a neighborhood of 5,000 homes in Arizona. Lewis has served as president of Wyndmoor Lions Club, Whitemarsh Village Association and The LaCanada Magee Neighborhood Association. Lewis and Mary served as docents at the Arizona Desert Museum, a world known organization, where they had the privilege of hosting people from around the world.

Lewis said he misses “doing for others.” These days he faithfully visits Mary who is recuperating in the nursing care unit at Brethren Village.

http://www.evergreenestatesrc.com/jun08.pdf

I also was able to obtain more information about Mary from her obituary in 2011:

Mary was a graduate of Maryland Art Institute and moved to New York City where she was a window decorator. She also taught at the Devereaux Foundation and was a founding mother in the Mothers March of Dimes, a co-founder of the Tuscan United Order of True Sisters, an organizer of the Whitemarsh Village Policemen’s Ball, and a member of the National Council of Jewish Women. As a little girl, she sat on Babe Ruth’s lap and studied dance at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Her love of art was a guiding light in her life and she encouraged her son to become an artist. She was always doing for others and enjoyed being a Cub Scout Den mother. Brandeis University bestowed upon her the honor of “Woman of Valor.” At the age of 90 Mary wrote and illustrated a children’s book called Big Black’s Neighbors. She was a member of Temple Emmanuel in Tucson, AZ and attended Shaarai Shomayim in Lancaster, PA.

(Intelligencer Journal-Lancaster New Era (PA) – Monday, January 31, 2011)

Mary Bacharach

From Lewis’ obituary in 2013, I obtained this additional information:

[As a long time pawnbroker in Philadelphia, Lewis was] respected by his peers as well as his clients, among whom he was known for his honesty. In the ’60’s, he closed his business and went to work managing the bookstore of the Philadelphia Community College, where he stayed until retiring to Tucson, Arizona. During his time in Philadelphia, Lewis was involved in the Lions Club, Congregation Rodeph Sholom, and founded the Whitemarsh Village Association. While working and volunteering, he still found time to help his wife lead a Cub Scout Pack and raise his sons to value friendship, loyalty, and honor. He instilled the importance of a good name and the concept that a man’s word should be his bond.

When Lewis’s wife Mary visited Tucson in 1973, she fell in love with the desert. A few months after her visit, the house was sold and Lewis took on new challenges. Outgoing, gregarious (God help you if you went to the market with him; he knew and spoke with everyone), and willing to help anyone, he soon became part of the community. Along with Mary, he became a docent at the Desert Museum, where he loved introducing visitors to the plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. He started a neighborhood association in Casas Adobes East, where he fought to preserve the natural habitat and put limits on construction, and volunteered with the Food Bank. …. When other family members moved west, Lewis introduced them to his circle of friends and became the patriarch of the family, a role that he enjoyed.

Lewis and Mary returned to Pennsylvania while in their 90’s and moved to Evergreen Estates. When Mary’s health declined, necessitating a move to a skilled nursing facility, Lewis remained at Evergreen, visiting her faithfully until her death. Meanwhile, the wonderful staff and residents at Evergreen became his extended family and a source of support and camaraderie. He was a regular at the nightly pinochle gathering and enjoyed kibitzing in the evening over ginger ale. While in Lancaster, Lewis loved spending time with his children and grandchildren, and took pleasure in family gatherings and dinners, especially if there was a martini on the menu. He was proud of his extended family, and looked forward to his almost nightly chats with his niece … who kept him up on the news in Tucson.

(Intelligencer Journal-Lancaster New Era (PA) – Friday, June 21, 2013)

Lewis Cohen Bacharach

Lewis and Mary were clearly well-loved not only by their children and grandchildren, but also by every community where they had lived during their long and meaningful lives.

Helen and William’s daughter Jeanne was born December 15, 1917. She married Charles Towle, who became very well-known for his extensive collection of railroad related stamps. According to Wikipedia, Charles L. Towle “was a stamp collector who studied postal history and wrote philatelic literature on the subject…. On the basis of his studies, Towle, co-authored with Henry Albert Meyer, and wrote Railroad Postmarks of the U.S., 1861-1886, and, in 1986 Towle wrote his four volume United States Rates and Station Agent Markings. Towle wrote extensively on transit markings and received numerous awards for his effort. For three years Towle edited The Heliograph, the journal of the Postal History Foundation. … Towle was active in philatelic organizations, such as the Mobile Post Office Society, where he was president until he died, and as Chairman of the Board of the Western Postal History Museum, later renamed the Postal History Foundation. ….Towle was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1991.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_L._Towle

Family members told me that Charles’ stamp collection was donated to the University of Michigan. Charles and Jeanne lived in Dearborn, Michigan, for many years where Charles was the president of a railway company during the 1950s and 1960s. Charles and Jeanne later moved back to Philadelphia and then to Tucson, Arizona, where Charles became very interested in mineralogy, eventually donating that collection to other museums. He and Jeanne were also very active in the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum along with Lewis and Mary Bacharach.

Jeanne died in 1976 of cancer, like her mother Mary. Charles died in 1990. They had four children who survived them and many grandchildren.

Jeanne Bacharach Towle

Thus, Lewis Cohen, my great-granduncle, has a wonderful legacy in the many contributions and commitments to community made by his daughter and son-in-law and their children.

The Genealogy Village: An Update on Maria Cohen and William Levy

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Amy

Over three weeks ago, I blogged about Maria Cohen, Jacob and Sarah’s seventh child, and her life. She had married William Levy, and they had had four sons, one of whom committed suicide as a teenager, and two others who predeceased her, Lewis, who died when he was 38 in 1915 only five years after marrying Emma Fogle, and Jacob, who died the following year when he also was only 38. Only one son, Isaac, survived her.

At the time I wrote the blog, I could not find any records for Maria or William after 1900, except as names on their sons’ death certificates. I did not know when either of them died. In addition, although I had a death certificate for their son Lewis and was able to find his headstone through FindAGrave, I was confused by the fact that the headstone referred to Lewis and his wife Emma as father and mother, but I had no record of any child born to Lewis and Emma. I put those questions aside after much searching, figuring I would return.

So I returned to Maria and William after the updates to the Pennsylvania death certificate database earlier this week. First, I called Adath Jeshurun cemetery in Philadelphia to see if Maria and William were buried there. Since all three of the sons who had died were buried there, I assumed that Maria and William would have been also, and that hunch paid off. The very helpful woman at Adath Jeshurun gave me the dates that Maria and William died and were buried.

William had died September 10, 1906 when Maria was only 49 and had already lost her son Benjamin. She would lose two more sons in the next ten years. Maria herself died March 24, 1925. I now had their dates of death, but still no death certificates. Even with the new update, I could not find a death certificate for either William or Maria even though both had died before 1944. I was bewildered.

I then searched for all people named Levy who died in 1925 and finally found Maria—spelled Mrriac in the ancestry.com index. What?? Mrriac?? No wonder I couldn’t find it. But it was clearly Maria—daughter of Jacob Cohen and “Sallie Jacob.” She had died from diabetes and myocarditis and had been living at 5035 Funston Street in Philadelphia at the time of her death. The informant on the certificate was Mr. S. Levy of the same address. Since her only surviving child was her son Isaac Harry Levy, I had no idea who S. Levy was, unless he was the son of Lewis and Emma Levy.

Maria Cohen death certificate 1925

I still could not find William Levy’s death certificate nor could I figure out how to find Lewis and Emma’s child. I turned to others for help. There is a Pennsylvania Genealogy group on Facebook and also a Tracing the Tribe group focused on Jewish genealogy. I posted my questions on both groups, and within a few minutes, someone on the TTT group suggested I search the Pennsylvania death index by William’s date of death instead of by his name, and tada! There it was. William also had died from diabetes.

William Levy death certificate 1906

But that still left me without an answer to the next question: who was the child of Emma and Lewis Levy? Another half hour later I had that answer as well. Somehow someone else with fresh eyes found Emma Levy, a widow, on the 1920 census, living with an eight year old daughter named Henrietta as well as two relatives named Fogel. This was obviously the right Emma, and I now knew her daughter’s name.

Emma Levy 1920 census

They also appeared together on the 1930 census, but on the 1940 census, Henrietta was gone. Now I need to find her married name. Two kind people from the Pennsylvania group are continuing to help me.

I still do not know who Mr. S. Levy was on Maria’s death certificate, nor do I know what happened to Henrietta. I also have not found Maria on the 1920 census. But with the help of others, I am able to put some closure on the sad life of Maria and William Levy.

Pennsylvania, I love you!

A Man of Character and Integrity: A Profile of Reuben Cohen, The Pawnbroker

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Amy

Reuben Cohen

In 1921, The Literary Digest published a profile of Reuben Cohen, Sr., and his career as a pawnbroker. As I posted previously, I had a skeptical view of pawnbrokers before I started researching my Cohen ancestors. Certainly some of that research has been consistent with that view, but overall my opinion of the pawnbroker business has changed dramatically, especially after reading from Wendy Woloson’s In Hock, Pawning in America from Independence through the Great Depression (2006).

There appears to be no reason to doubt the integrity or the character of most of the Cohen men who went into the pawnbroker business in Philadelphia, starting with my great-great-grandfather Jacob and carried on by his sons, sons-in-law, and grandsons.

The profile of Reuben Cohen, Jacob’s son, my great-grandfather’s brother, provides a fitting end to my telling of the story of Reuben and Sallie and their seventeen children. It appeared in the Literary Digest for April 23, 1921, pages 48, 50, just five years before Reuben died. Most of the article consists of direct quotes from Reuben himself, making it a valuable piece of family history for me and for all my Cohen cousins and relatives.

Reuben is portrayed as an honest, good, man, an articulate and thoughtful man, a man who believed that his work was not only about making money for himself and his family, but also about helping people who needed money and were not able to get that money from a traditional bank. I am quoting the article in full because I hope that it helps to preserve the legacy of Reuben Cohen and also to provide a more positive view of the role of the pawnbroker.

PEOPLE AND PLEDGES THAT COME TO A PAWNBROKER

COFFINS, false teeth, wooden legs, anvils, anchors, horses, and auto mobiles—that sounds like an extract from the catalog of a museum of contemporary times, but, really, it is a partial list of odds and ends taken in by a Philadelphia pawnbroker. For ﬁfty years, we are told, Reuben Cohen has performed the office of “uncle” to an innumerable army of more or less distant relatives whose ways of living, or misfortunes, led them to establish a connection with him. Once, he avers, it was an undertaker, to whom the continued good health of the community had meant serious ﬁnancial loss. The undertaker had become overstocked with cofﬁns, and needed hard cash for the butcher and groceryman he had failed to bury. At another time it was a horse dealer, who needed ready money more than a mount. At another time, still, it was a man who found that he could get along temporarily without his underpinning provided he could get something under his belt. False teeth form a ready article of sale and are more easily disposed of than anchors. But even an anchor may ﬁnd a temporary resting-place in the back room of a pawnshop.

During his half century under the sign of the three balls Mr. Cohen evidently turned few away from his door. And he found that it isn’t only the poor who seek to be tided over an unlucky ﬁnancial venture, or to raise money for an unexpected need. Sometimes people who are reputed rich ring the bell after nightfall, and come in lugging the family silver or a bagful of ancient heirlooms. Reuben Cohen has been “uncle” to them all, and he has had a rare opportunity to study all phases of human nature. Said he recently to a reporter for the Philadelphia Public Ledger:

“A woman who had all the appearance of class came into my place one day and pawned a ﬁne silver set. It was after I had been in business long enough to have saved enough money to take a real vacation.

“My wife and I went down to the old Hotel Stockton, at Cape May, three days later. And whom should I see, as I walked into the lobby, but that woman who had pawned the silverware. She was drest in the height of fashion. No, she didn’t recognize me then, and she never recognized me many other times when I saw her there. But I recognized her. Incidentally, she never redeemed her silverware.

“Now you don’t want to get the idea that everyone who comes to a pawn broker’s shop is a waster, a spender, improvident, you know, and all that. Maybe some of those with that richness bluff are that way, but the majority of the people who come to me are poor.

“I think a reputable pawnbroker can be described as the poor man’s banker. Poor people can not get loans from banks. Still there are lots of times when a poor family that has only so much income coming in each week has to have what is to them a large sum at one time. They go to a pawnbroker then, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t.

“Then there are some really well-to do people who can get loans from banks, but have real misfortunes and ﬁnd themselves unable to pay off the bank loan. Then they pawn some stuff to get the money to pay off the bank loan.

“That was the case with the last fellow who pledged an automobile with me. He had to meet a note on a Camden bank, and he begged me to take the automobile as a pledge. I got stung on that deal, too. I had to sell that automobile later for a good deal less than I lent that man.

“I can tell the value of most things pretty well, but I don’t think I’ll take a chance on another automobile. I might still take a horse, but no more of them are being offered. I took quite a few in my day.”

Mr. Cohen gave a reminiscent chuckle as he told about the time an undertaker had pledged several cofﬁns and some coffin trimmings:

“My assistant was out when the cofﬁns came in,” he said. “The cofﬁns were stood up at the back of the store. When I heard my assistant coming in, I ran back and stood up in one of the coffins. When he saw me there, he gave a frightened jump and might have run out of the place if I hadn’t stept out and laughed. That undertaker’s business must have picked up, for he redeemed the cofﬁns and the trimmings, and you can be sure I was thankful for that.

“Talking about business ups and downs, I had a funny experience one night ’way back. In those days Saturday nights were our busiest times. One Saturday night when old Maxwell Stevenson was running for Congress in this district he made a speech on the corner right across from my place.

“He talked for hours—in fact, until I closed in disgust. He must have been a wonderful speaker, for not a single customer entered my shop while that other attraction was running across the way.

The veteran money-lender became curious when he was led into a discourse on the ethics of the business. He said that he knew that the popular picture of the man in the establishment that advertised itself with the three golden balls was that of a merciless gouger. That there were some of that type he did not doubt.

“But I know there are others. Since you are asking me about my experience, I will tell you that the time with the automobile was not the only time I have been stung. I took that machine at a value that I knew was higher than its true one because the fellow needed a certain amount of money to meet his note. And the bank wasn’t going to wait for its money.

“The fellow promised, of course, to redeem the automobile, but I never said more than once, and, altho after each time I made up my mind to be more cautious, I’d make the same mistake, because I couldn’t resist the appeal some smooth tongued rascals could make. And, mind you, I don‘t pose as being unique in my business. I take great pride in the small success I have been able to make because I have always tried to get the conﬁdence of my customers, and I am sure that is the reason for my success.”

Mr. Cohen is large, broad-shouldered and for all his sixty-seven years, presents a ruddy, healthy, well-preserved picture of a man who might well be taken for a prosperous insurance broker, the business of one of his sons. He has a cheerful appearance and a bluff, hearty manner.

He has never moved out of the neighborhood in which he grew up. He lives in a little house next door to his place of business. Despite his laughing good nature, he contest that he has had his share of sorrows. Of the eighteen children born to him and his wife only seven are living, four sons and three daughters.

There are two things of which he boasts. One is that his son, Simon L. Bloch Cohen, was a member of the First Division, and gassed, shell-shocked, and twice wounded, and was decorated with the Croix do Guerra by Marshal Foch. The other is that his lifelong friend, Warden Robert McKenty, of the Eastern Penitentiary, named one of his sons Reuben Cohen McKenty.

Reuben died five years later, and thanks to Pennsylvania’s release of more recent death certificates, I now have access to his death certificate:

Reuben Cohen, Sr. death certificate 1926

In Reuben’s memory and in memory of his son Simon of whom he was so proud, I will end this small chapter of my family history with a photograph of Simon’s Croix de Guerre and with the famous symbol of the pawnbroker, the three gold balls.

Croix-de-Guerre awarded to Simon L B Cohen 1918

Pennsylvania, I love you!

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Amy

OK, perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but yesterday morning I woke up to read online that the Pennsylvania death certificates up through 1944 were now available on ancestry.com. (Previously, only those up through 1924 were available.) As soon as I’d had my breakfast, I started searching for all my previously researched Cohen relatives who died between 1925 and 1944 to find their death certificates. Within a half an hour I had found eleven of them. Although they did not contain any amazing revelations, I was able to learn when and why several of my relatives had died.

I have updated the relevant blog posts for Hannah Cohen, Lewis Weil, Rachel Cohen, Martin A. Wolf and his wife Marie Morgan, Laura Wolf, Harry Frechie, and Samuel Rosenblatt, Jr. I also have certificates for Reuben Cohen, Sr., Emanuel Cohen, and Abraham Cohen which will be discussed in later posts. The only one of these that I was particularly interested in was that of Samuel Rosenblatt, Jr., who had died when he was only twenty and was his parents’ only child; he died of leukemia. Laura and Martin A. Wolf, siblings and the children of Hannah and Martin Wolf, also died at relatively young ages—in their 40s, Laura of diabetes and Martin A. of ulcerative colitis.

If you are interested in seeing the certificates, I have posted them at the relevant blog posts as linked to above.

It was good to put some closure on some of those lives, although sad to be reminded again of how many of my ancestors died so young. Thank you to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for opening up your records so that family histories can be told.

Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen 1890-1955: Family Lore and The Tricks of Memory

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Amy

Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen, Sr.

When I first started researching my Cohen relatives about a year and a half ago, I was very fortunate to find one branch on that tree already recorded on ancestry.com by one of the direct descendants of Reuben Cohen, my great-granduncle. The tree was created by the grandchild of Reuben and Sallie’s son Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen. I contacted the tree’s owner, and we exchanged a series of emails that established our family connection and that provided me with some wonderful background on Arthur Lewis Wilde’s children and grandchildren as well as some photographs. This newly found third cousin of mine, Jim, was very helpful when it came to his father’s generation, but said he knew very little about the lives of his grandfather Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen, Sr.,or his great-grandfather Reuben.

I filed away all the information and the photos my new cousin Jim shared with me, and then began to focus on my Brotman relatives, putting the Cohen research to the side for many months. When I returned to the Cohens this spring, I dug up the information I’d gotten from Jim. In researching more deeply into the life of Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen and his family, I experienced what all family researchers experience—that although family stories can almost always be very helpful in providing clues and richness to family history, you have to take into account that details often get blurry as stories are passed down from one generation to the next and that some facts are lost along the way. It took me some doing to untangle the family stories and find the facts, but with more research and more email conversations with Jim, I think I can now piece together the life of Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen and his family.

Number eleven out of seventeen, Arthur Lewis Wilde was born on February 26, 1890. In 1910, he was a clerk in a “brokerage.” At first I thought this referred to the pawnbroker business, but since his two brothers Reuben, Jr. and Lewis II, were listed as clerks in a loan office, not a brokerage, I was not sure. Apparently he was an insurance broker, as I found out from his draft registrations.

In December 1915, when he was 25, Arthur became engaged to Gertrude Fanny Bowman of Richmond, Virginia, and they were married on March 27, 1916, in Richmond.

(“Will Hold Reception December 26,” Date: Sunday, December 19, 1915 Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 173 Issue: 172 Section: News Page: 5)

According to his 1917 World War I draft registration, Arthur was self-employed as an insurance broker, and he and his wife Gertrude were living in Philadelphia at 2250 North 20^th Street.

Arthur LW Cohen, Sr. World War I draft registration

Arthur enlisted in the Navy in April, 1918, and was honorably discharged in December, 1920. By 1920, however, Gertrude was back in Richmond, living with her sister and identifying as single and working as a stenographer.

Gertrude Fanny Bowman 1920 census

I cannot find Arthur on the 1920 census as he was serving in the military and perhaps overseas, but presumably the marriage with Gertrude was over. Gertrude apparently never remarried and died in 1963 in Richmond.

Emilie WIley Cohen

By 1930 Arthur had married a woman named Emilie Wiley, who had also been previously married. Emilie had married Frank G. Brown in 1905 and had had two daughters with him, Dorothy, born in 1906, and Jean or Jenette, born in 1908. Emilie also was divorced or separated by 1920, and sometime after the 1920 census she married Arthur LW Cohen. They had two children, Arthur, Jr., and Emilie, who were 8 and almost 5, respectively, at the time of the 1930 census.

Living with Arthur and Emilie in 1930 in Philadelphia, in addition to their two own children Arthur, Jr. and Emilie, were Emilie’s mother, aged 81, Emilie’s daughter Jean Harral, and Jean’s son Richard Harral, Jr. Emilie’s older daughter, Dorothy (or Dot, according to my cousin) had married Leroy Lewis in 1928 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and was living out that way in 1930. She and Leroy had one daughter, and Dot lived in Norristown until her death in 1992.

Jean had also married sometime before 1927 when Richard Harral, Jr. was born. Although she still listed her status as married in 1930, she was apparently no longer living with Richard Harral, Sr., who eventually remarried and lived in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania for the rest of his life with his second wife and their two children.

Sometime after 1930, Arthur and Emilie moved permanently to Cape May, New Jersey, where they lived in the house at 208 Ocean Street that had been in Arthur’s family for many years as the summer home of Reuben and Sallie and their children when Arthur was growing up. Although I cannot find Arthur on the 1940 census, according to his World War II draft registration, he was still living at 208 Ocean Street in 1942 and was self-employed, working at the Land Title Building in Philadelphia.

Arthur Sr’s grandson Jim believed that his grandfather had been a jeweler, but I cannot find any evidence of that in the records as it appears that at least up until 1942, Arthur Sr. was still working in the insurance business in Philadelphia. What Jim did share with me was that his grandfather was well-respected and loved by many people. He was a very humble and generous man who never wanted recognition for his generosity.

Arthur, Sr, was also someone who fought off death several times. According to Jim, “He was erroneously pronounced dead four separate times (shades of Simon), all as a result of heart attacks. According to stories told by my father and aunt, on one of the occasions he woke as an orderly was wheeling him to the morgue. When he did, the orderly fainted. The fifth and final pronouncement was also from heart attack he suffered in the family home on Ocean St. This time, it was permanent.”

He died in 1955 at age 65 and was buried at Presbyterian Cemetery in Cold Spring, New Jersey, less than four miles from the family home at 208 Ocean Street.

His widow Emilie applied for a military headstone for Arthur and requested a Christian, not a Hebrew, symbol to be placed on that headstone. Although his mother Sallie may not have been Jewish, as noted earlier, Arthur had been confirmed in Mickve Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia when he was fifteen years old. Then again, his father Reuben had made a donation to the Episcopal Church in Cape May. I asked Jim about the family’s religious affiliation, and he told me that he was not sure whether his grandmother Emilie was born Jewish, but that both of his grandparents practiced Christianity after they were married. Despite this, Jim said that his father, Arthur LW Cohen, Jr., was Jewish and Jim himself is Jewish. As Jim described his parents’ approach, I was amazed by how inclusive his parents were in their approach, letting each of their children find a path that worked for them, each parent maintaining their own chosen path but also sharing in and respecting the other’s chosen path. Apparently his grandparents had done the same.

Arthur L W Cohen, Sr.
Military Headstone application

Jim was able to tell me a great deal about Arthur and Emilie’s children, Arthur, Jr., and his sister Emilie. With his permission, I am quoting directly from his messages to me about his parents:

My father, Arthur, Jr. (“Bud”), was also a jeweler. After he came home from World War II, he opened a repair and retail jewelry store on the first floor of the family home at 208 Ocean St. in Cape May, NJ. It remained open for the next 48 years until his death in 1991.

Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen, Jr.

He was very active in the Cape May community and loved the city dearly. He was president of the Mall Merchant’s Association for over 20 years, was instrumental in having the entire city declared a National Historic Landmark (it’s one of the few full towns registered as such) for its standing Victorian-era homes and history; and if there was any event – from silly pet parades to building dedications, Memorial Day ceremonies, Easter, Halloween, Christmas parades, and so on, you name it – he was always the Master of Ceremonies. He had a fatal heart attack in the early-morning hours of February 18, 1991.

My mother, Martha, was a music teacher and opera Soprano who attended the Juilliard School of Music. She retired from her opera career almost as soon as it started so that she could marry my father. She became a music teacher and sang at many events and functions. The Goodyear family always contacted her to sing at their family events – mainly weddings and funerals (which always amused me). She died in 2005 following a series of strokes.

He also told me this about his Aunt Emilie:

Aunt Emily Marion Cohen-Brown (who went by “Marion” or, as a nickname I’ve never understood, “Mitchell”), was a first-class florist and lived here in Cape May until her death from cancer in 2003. She had one son, Gary, who lived in Oregon and made unbelievable fudge. I know he had a wife and kids, but we’ve lost contact. He predeceased her, also from cancer. I never met her husband, Harry, who died before I was born. She made the absolute best Navy bean soup you could ever taste, and I wish I had the recipe.

Although not a genetic relative of the Cohens, the story of Arthur Sr.’s stepdaughter Jean Harral and her son Richard is part of the family lore of Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen and his descendants, so I will share it here. Richard was mentally disabled, and at some point he and his mother Jean moved to New York City together. Richard was working as a messenger for a company in New York, and his favorite pastime was sailing a model sailboat on the pond in Central Park. In November, 1975, he was stabbed to death, apparently by a friend. I could find no record of a trial or further development in the case aside from these few news articles from the New York Times.

In December, 1975, just a month after Richard’s murder, his mother Jean died; accordingly to family lore, she starved herself to death out of grief over the death of her son.

I am deeply indebted to my cousin Jim for sharing his family’s stories with me as well as the photographs posted here. There is nothing more meaningful for me in doing this project than hearing about my long-lost relatives from those who knew them best.

The Surviving Children of Reuben and Sallie Cohen, Part I: Minnie, Rae, Reuben, Jr., Lewis and Violet Mae

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Amy

As I wrote last week, Reuben and Sallie Cohen had seventeen children, but ten of them predeceased their parents. Eight of the children died before they were four years old of various illnesses or, in the case of one child, as a result of a horrific accident. Two of the children survived to adulthood, but then succumbed to illnesses in the early years of their adult lives.

That meant that Reuben and Sallie had only seven of their seventeen children alive when they died. All but one of those children lived relatively full lives, living at least into their sixties if not beyond. I will try and capture those lives, going in birth order.

The fourth child born after Sallie R., Jacob, and Hart, all of whom had died before their parents, was Minnie. Minnie was born on September 25, 1882, and lived with her family in Philadelphia and Cape May. On August 5, 1900, the Philadelphia Inquirer made this comment about Minnie in an article about summer visitors to Cape May: “Miss Minnie Cohen is one of the prettiest girls at the resort. Her bathing costume is always the picture of neatness.” (“Cape May’s August Days,” Sunday, August 5, 1900, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 143 Issue: 36)

It was not until eighteen years later when she was almost 36 that Minnie married Harry Frechie in February, 1918. The Philadelphia Inquirer had this to say about her wedding:

(“Matrimony Notice,” Friday, February 15, 1918, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 178 Issue: 46 Page: 10) Mrs. S. Rosenblatt was her sister Rae, discussed below. Violet Mae was her youngest sister, also discussed below.

Minnie and Harry were married for many years, but did not have any children. Like his father-in-law and many other family members, Harry was a pawnbroker. They appear to have traveled quite a bit, including a Caribbean cruise in 1939. I have not yet been able to find a death record for Harry, but the 1950 Philadelphia city directory has a listing for Mrs. Harry Frechie alone, suggesting that Harry may have died sometime between the 1940 census and 1950. I also could not find a World War II draft registration for Harry, which could suggest he died before 1942.

UPDATE: With the release of the Pennsylvania death certificates through 1944, I am now able to update this post and the information regarding Harry Frechie. Harry did die before 1942; he died on September 27, 1940. No cause of death was given as there was a pending coroner’s inquest. I will have to see if I can learn more about that.

Harry Frechie death certificate 1940

At any rate, Minnie appears to have lived a life without much controversy as I cannot find any newspaper references to either Harry or Minnie aside from the wedding notice. Minnie died in Philadelphia in 1977 when she was 95 years old.

Minnie’s sister and matron of honor, Rae, was the next child who survived. She was born in 1886. Rae married Samuel Rosenblatt in 1910.[1] Sam was in the business of dress manufacturing according to the 1920 census, more specifically children’s dresses according to both the 1930 and 1940 census reports. They had one son, Samuel Rosenblatt, Jr., born in 1913, who died in July, 1933. I have not found anything yet to explain why Samuel, Jr., died at such a young age. The Philadelphia death certificates through 1944 are supposed to be online soon, so I am hoping to find out eventually what happened to Rae and Samuel’s only child. Rae died in 1959 at age 73. Her husband Samuel died in 1973.

UPDATE: As noted above, I now have access to the Pennsylvania death certificates through 1944, including that of Samuel Rosenblatt, Jr. Sadly, Samuel died from leukemia.

Samuel Rosenblatt, Jr. death certificate 1933

The next child of Sallie and Reuben Cohen to survive his parents was Reuben Cohen, Jr., born November 5, 1888. Although at age 21 he was working as a clerk in a loan office according to the 1910 census, he appears not to have stayed in the pawnbroker business for his entire career. In 1914, he married Leona Mayer, and according to the 1915 Philadelphia directory, he was a notary public by occupation at that time. I don’t know how that would be a full time occupation, so perhaps he was still working in the “loan office” at that time as well. In fact, on his World War I draft registration he listed his employer as his father, Reuben Cohen, Sr., so he must have still been working the pawnshop at that time. In 1920, his occupation on the census is described as manager of a brokerage house, presumably a pawn brokerage, not a stock brokerage. But in 1930 Reuben’s occupation was listed as a textile designer, and then in 1940 he is described as a salesman in textile manufacturing. On his 1942 World War II draft registration, he listed his employment as “own business.” Thus, it appears that Reuben, Jr., went out on his own and left the Cohen family pawnbroker business.

Reuben, Jr., and Leona had one child, Elinor Cohen, born in April, 1915, who married Melvin Beard. I am now trying to contact their descendants. Reuben Cohen, Jr. died January 28, 1958, when he was 69 years old. His wife Leona died in 1970 at age 78. Their daughter Elinor died thirteen years ago in 2001.

Reuben Jr.’s younger brother Arthur was the next sibling to survive their parents, but I am going to defer telling his story until I get a little more information from one of his descendants.

Of the seven surviving children, the one I have had the hardest time tracking is Lewis Cohen, who was born in September, 1892, the thirteenth child of Reuben and Sallie. According to his World War I draft registration in 1917, he suffered from “nervous trouble.”

Lewis Cohen World War I draft registration

He was working as a real estate broker, and I was able to find a number of his real estate broker’s advertisements in the Philadelphia Inquirer as well as a news story about a large real estate transaction he brokered for a client in 1922. On the 1920 census he was still living at his parents’ home at age 28, and as far as I can tell, he never married or had children.

It’s very odd, but I cannot find Lewis on either the 1930 census or the 1940 census, and at first I thought that perhaps he had died. Then I found his 1942 World War II registration, in which he described himself as self-employed. He was then living at the Roosevelt Hotel in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, and his emergency contact person was a woman named Hilda Eskin, also at that location.

Lewis Cohen World War II draft registration

Where was he between 1920 and 1942? I just cannot seem to find him. Is there any significance to the scar on his left wrist? To the fact that he was cross-eyed? And who was Hilda Eskin? The only Hilda Eskin I could find in 1940 in Philadelphia was a divorced 45 year old woman, living with her parents; she owned a millinery shop. She and her parents were living in 1940 at 329 South 63^rd Street, about four miles west and across the Schuylkill River from the Roosevelt Hotel. Since Hilda was not an employee of the hotel in 1940 and owned her own business, my hunch is that she was Lewis’ girlfriend in 1942, living with him at the Roosevelt Hotel. I could not find Lewis living at that address in 1940. I did find one Lewis Cohen as a prisoner at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia whose age, birth place, and parents’ birth places all fit my Lewis Cohen, but then there were many Lewis Cohens living in Philadelphia who could have been the one in prison. Maybe I can find something more about the person in prison?

The only other records I found for Lewis related to his death in November, 1964. He is buried at Beverly National Cemetery in Burlington, NJ, as a veteran who served in the US Navy during World War I. So despite whatever the reference to “nervous trouble” meant on his draft registration for that war, he did serve in the Navy and was buried as a veteran of that war. I will continue to look to see if I can fill the gaps in Lewis’ life and military service.

The youngest daughter of Sallie and Reuben Cohen was Violet Mae. She was born May 7, 1895, and was living at home until 1921 when she married Abram E. Stern, who was born and lived in Washinton, DC. Violet and Abram lived in Washington, DC, where Abram worked in the store fixture manufacturing business. They had two children in the years after they first married. By 1940, they had divorced, and Abram was remarried. Violet Mae died in December, 1974, in Silver Spring, MD, at the age of 79. I am hoping I can track down her descendants and learn more about her.

Simon, the youngest child of Sallie and Reuben Cohen, did not live as long a life as the other six siblings who survived their parents. His story is another I will tell in a subsequent post once I get more information from one of Reuben’s descendants.

These five children of Reuben and Sallie Cohen all lived relatively long lives for those times and, in the case of Minnie, a very long life. They all also lived lives that were, at least as far as I can tell, relatively trauma and drama free. Yes, Violet was divorced, Rae lost her son when he was only 20, and certainly Lewis, Reuben, Jr., and Minnie must have also had some difficult times in their lives. But given the family tragedies their parents endured, losing so many children, it is somewhat remarkable that these five led fairly quiet and, at least outwardly, regular lives. But who knows what happened beneath the cold hard facts of census reports and city directories? Certainly losing ten siblings must have had some impact on these people. Did Minnie not have children for fear of losing them as her parents had? Is that also why Rae and Reuben, Jr., each had just one child? Did Lewis suffer from “nervous trouble” as a result of experiencing so many deaths? I don’t know, but I have to believe that growing up as they did, seeing death occur over and over again, had to have affected all of them.

[1] There was also an entry on the Philadelphia marriage index for a Rae W. Cohen who married Isador Landau in 1913, but since I cannot find any other evidence of Mr. Landau and since Rae and Samuel Rosenblatt were together on the 1920, 1930, and 1940 census reports, I have to assume this was an error in indexing.

A Little More on Reuben and Sallie Cohen

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Amy

Reuben Cohen

Since ancestry.com was still not fully functional and I thus could not get access to many of the documents I need to complete the story of the children of Reuben and Sallie Cohen, I spent time looking for news articles about the family on genealogybank.com, a site that has remained untouched by the attack on ancestry. Here are a few interesting additional little peeks into their lives.

First, I was excited to find the picture above of Reuben Cohen published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 1, 1917, in honor of his birthday. (Sunday, April 1, 1917, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 176 Issue: 91 Section: News Page: 2) It’s always good to be able to visualize what someone looked like, and since I have not been able to locate many photographs of any of these relatives, this was an exciting find.

Reuben and Sallie were also at least twice the victims of crimes. In 1885 Reuben was the victim of an assault and battery while trying to stop a thief. He was commended by the judge for his conduct. The accused was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for stealing a $7 roll of cloth. It’s not clear whether he stole it from Reuben’s store or whether Reuben was just trying to aid in his arrest. I also found it disturbing that the defendant’s race was mentioned for no possible relevant reason other than the blatant racism of those times. (” Civil and Criminal. Suits and Prosecutions from the Court Reports,” Wednesday, November 11, 1885 Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: CXIII Page: 3 )

Then in 1903 Reuben and Sallie were themselves the victims of theft when a household employee of theirs stole a diamond ring in a “grip” belonging to Sallie when she asked him to carry it for her when she returned to Philadelphia from Cape May. The accused admitted the theft and also admitted that he had been stealing from the Cohens for some time. (“Says He Stole Jewelry,” Sunday, August 30, 1903, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 149 Issue: 61 Section: First Page: 6)

Finally, I was puzzled by this news item, describing a donation by Reuben to the Episcopal Church in Cape May of a silver plate to be used for communion.

Why was Reuben making a gift to the church? Although Sallie may not have been Jewish, it does seem that they raised their children as Jews for here is an article announcing the confirmation of their son Arthur at Mickve Israel synagogue. (“A Minute’s Chat,” Wednesday, February 25, 1903, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 148 Issue: 56 Page: 8 )

In addition, Reuben, Sallie, and all of the ten children who predeceased them are all buried in Mickve Israel cemetery. Was this just a generous gift to an important institution in Cape May? Or were the Cohens also church members? Perhaps I can do some research of the church records to find out more.

There were also other articles about anniversary parties, trips to Cape May, and other family events and celebrations. This series of news stories reveals a little more of Reuben’s character and of his social and financial standing in the Philadelphia and Cape May communities. It also reveals that despite all the heartbreak his family endured, they also continued to prosper socially and economically and apparently to enjoy life.

An Important Clue Buried in A Wedding Announcement

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Amy

As I was finishing up my research on Sallie R. Cohen and her life, I found this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about her wedding:

Sallie R. Cohen and Ellis Abrams wedding story

(“Matrimony Notice,” Tuesday, May 22, 1900,Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 142 Issue: 142 Page: 2)

Not only does this provide further evidence of the social and economic success of Reuben and Sallie Cohen, it also provides a very important clue to one of my biggest questions about the Cohen clan. Remember the two Hart Cohens that had me confused a few weeks ago—one in Philadelphia and one in Washington, DC? After much searching and thinking I had developed a strong hunch that they were first cousins and that Jacob Cohen of Philadelphia and Moses Cohen, Sr., of Washington were brothers, both sons of my great-great-great grandparents Hart Levy Cohen and Rachel Jacobs. I am in touch with Moses Cohen’s descendant Scott, and we are awaiting DNA test results to see whether he and my brother share enough DNA to conclude that we are all in fact descended from Hart Levy Cohen.

But now I have another fairly persuasive bit of evidence linking the Moses Cohen family in DC to my Philadelphia Cohens. If you can read the announcement, you will see that one of the bridesmaids is Grace Cohen of Washington, DC. Grace Cohen was the daughter of Moses Cohen, Jr., and his wife Henrietta. She was born in 1877, two years before Sallie R. Cohen, daughter of Reuben Cohen, and was thus her second cousin, assuming that Jacob and Moses were brothers and thus their respective sons, Reuben and Moses, Jr., were first cousins.

This is the kind of almost accidental discovery that just makes my day. It’s the kind of thing that I could easily have missed or read and not thought about carefully. Although the DNA test results may provide more scientific evidence that DC Moses and my great-great grandfather Jacob were brothers, this little tidbit in a wedding announcement is certainly fairly persuasive evidence on its own.

Reuben Cohen 1854-1926: You Really Do Not Want to Read This

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Amy

As I wrote in an earlier post, I skipped over Reuben Cohen, my great-great-grandparents’ sixth child and fifth son, in order to wait for some information from one of Reuben’s direct descendants. I have to admit that I had other reasons as well. My initial research indicated that Reuben and his wife Sallie Livingston had twelve children. The thought of researching another huge family was a bit overwhelming. In addition, my preliminary research had uncovered a number of very sad stories about those children, and I just did not have the heart to research, write, or even think about them after researching the story of Reuben’s older brother Hart. Little did I know that his sisters, whose lives I’d not previously researched very far, also had more than their fair share of heartbreak as well.

Once I returned to the story of Reuben and did more research, I learned that his story was worse than I had even originally thought. His life started out well. He was born in April, 1854, and grew up at 136 South Street with his parents and siblings. By the time he was sixteen he was working as a clerk in a store, presumably his father’s pawnshop. In 1878 when he was 24, he married Sallie Livingston, and in 1880 they were living at 1725 Bainbridge Street and already had two children, Sallie R., who was a year old, and Jacob, who was a month old. Reuben was working as a pawnbroker at 635 South 17^th Street in 1881.

Reuben Cohen 1880 census

Originally I thought that the 1880s must have been fairly happy years for Reuben and Sallie, as Reuben continued to work as a pawnbroker and their family continued to grow. In addition to Sallie R. and Jacob, I originally found that five more children were born between 1881 and 1890: Minnie (1882), Hortense (1887), Rae (1887), Reuben, Jr. (1888), and Arthur (1890). The family continued to live at 1725 Bainbridge Street.

Then in 1891, tragedy struck. Little Hortense, only three years old, was run over and killed by a cable car owned by the Philadelphia Traction Company.

Hortense Cohen death certificate

The company had only been in business since 1883. I found this gruesome description of the accident in the June 14, 1891 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

[According to a witness who saw the accident], the child, who was with two other children, started across the street to reach the house of her grandmother, Mrs. Livingstone, at 607 South Ninth Street, with whom she had been living. When she had crossed the tracks she saw a carriage coming, and she made an attempt to run back. The child got bewildered, and as she reached the middle of the track the car struck her. The front wheel jammed the head against the track. It required the united efforts of [three police officers] to lift the car off the child’s head.

(“Killed by a Cable Car Little Hortense Cohen Becomes Bewildered and is Run Down,” Sunday, June 14, 1891, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA), Volume: 124 Issue: 165 Page: 5) The conductor and gripman were arrested. Little Hortense was taken to the hospital where she died.

This story raises so many hard questions. What was a three year old child doing alone without an adult? Who were the other two children, and how old were they? Were they her siblings? What a terrible impact this must have had on them as well as the rest of the family. And why was Hortense living with her grandmother? Were any of the other children living with Mrs. Livingston? I don’t have any answers to these questions.

Obviously, times were different. There were no helicopter parents, and children were much more likely to be left to their own devices than children are allowed to be today. Also, cable cars were a recent addition to the city streets, and perhaps parents and children were not yet aware of the dangers they presented, nor were these companies likely regulated to any degree to prevent such accidents from occurring. But one thing must have been true even in those days: the absolute horror the family must have endured after losing a child in such a terrible way.

Somehow the family went on. My original research found that two more children were born in the next few years: Lewis in 1892 and Penrose in 1894. The family moved from their Bainbridge Street home sometime after Hortense’s death. In 1893 Reuben’s store was at 625 South 17^th Street, and he and his family were residing at 623 South 17^th Street. They remained in that residence for many years. In 1895 Violet was born, and in 1896 Irene was born, bringing the number of children living in the family to eleven.

Then another tragedy occurred in 1896. Two year old Penrose died from some form of capillary bronchitis. Perhaps someone can help me decipher and interpret the rest of the description of his cause of death. As if the family had not suffered enough, a year and a half later baby Irene, only a year old, died also from capillary bronchitis. The family had lost three young children between 1891 and 1897. The last child, Simon, was born in 1898, bringing the number of children to nine out of the twelve that I first thought had been born to Reuben and Sallie.

Penrose Cohen death certificate

Irene Cohen death certificate

I wish I could say that that was the end of Reuben and Sallie’s heartbreak, but I cannot. There was a period of relative calm. In 1900 the family was living in Cape May, New Jersey, at the time of the census.

Reuben Cohen and family at 208 Ocean Street 1900 US census

They were living back in Philadelphia by 1902, so I do not know whether the time in Cape May was a long stay or perhaps just a shorter stay for the summer. I do know from one of Reuben’s descendants that Reuben owned a home in Cape May built in 1864 at 208 Ocean Street that eventually became the home of his son Arthur and his descendants. It seems that during Reuben’s life this was not the year-round home, but perhaps just a summer home. Reuben must have been quite successful to have two residences. I found the house currently listed for sale on Trulia.com,with a description of the house and many exterior and interior pictures, such as this one.

208 Ocean Street, Cape May, NJ

1900 also was a good year for the family in other ways. Their daughter Sallie R. was married that year to Ellis Samuel Abrams in what appears to have been quite a society event. There had been a large engagement party the year before at Reuben and Sallie’s home where an orchestra played throughout the evening “behind a bower of palm trees.” The guest list was very long and included many of the aunts, uncles, and cousins I have written about on the blog: the Wolfs, the Sluizers, the Hambergs, and, of course, many Cohens.(“Melange of Events,” Sunday, December 31, 1899, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 141 Issue: 184 Page: 14) Before the wedding took place on May 21, 1900, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a drawing of Sallie R., announcing the upcoming nuptials. Clearly the Cohen family was part of the elite of Philadelphia Jewish society.

Sallie Cohen

But all the business success in the world was not worth the personal losses that the family suffered. In 1907, Sallie R.’s young husband Ellis died from acute appendicitis. He was 30 years old, and they had only been married for seven years. They had had two children, Dorothy, born around 1905, and Simon, born around 1907.

Ellis Abrams death certificate

Then, two years later, in 1909, Reuben and Sallie’s son Jacob died of cardiac failure secondary to tabes dorsalis, or late stage syphilis. He was only 29 years old when he died. From his death certificate it appears that he had been sick and under a doctor’s care for five months before he died in December, 1909.

Jacob Livingston Cohen death certificate

And then, just four years later in 1913, Jacob’s older sister Sallie R., Ellis’ widow, Reuben and Sallie Livingston’s oldest child, died at age 34 from nephritis, kidney disease. That left Sallie R. and Ellis’ two children, Dorothy and Simon, orphaned at ages eight and six, respectively.

Sallie J. Cohen death certificate

On the 1920 census, both children were living with their grandparents, Reuben and Sallie. So far, I have had no luck finding out what happened to them next.

Reuben Cohen and family 1920 census

But what I did find was even more disturbing. In doing some last minute checks for additional documents on Sallie J. and Jacob, I found their headstones on FindAGrave. And to the left behind Jacob’s headstone, I spotted a headstone with eight names on it. Some were familiar: Hortense, Penrose, Irene. But five were new to me: Maria, Fanny, Joseph, Hart, and Edith. Who were they? When I saw it, I sighed so loudly that my husband wondered what was wrong. I took a deep breath and then started looking for these other five children.

Since none of these names had appeared on either the 1880 census or the 1900 census (and since the 1890 census was destroyed by fire), I assumed that they were born after the 1880 census and died before 1900 census. Eventually I found all five of these children, all of whom died before they were four years old.

As I mentioned above, I had originally thought that the 1880s were a happy decade for Reuben and his family, but this additional research revealed the opposite. After Sallie R. and Jacob were born, the third child, Hart, was born in 1881. He died February 27, 1883, when he was seventeen months old from uremia. In between Minnie was born in 1882.

Hart Cohen death certificate

The next child, Maria, was born in September, 1883, meaning Sallie was pregnant with Maria when Hart died. Maria died in Cape May, New Jersey on August 2, 1886, just shy of three years old, from paralysis caused by diphtheria (also evidence that the family had been spending summers in Cape May for quite some time before 1900).

Maria Cohen death certificate

But in between Minnie and Maria, Reuben and Sallie had had two other children, both of whom died before they were a year old. In January, 1884, Fanny was born, and six months later in July, 1884, she died from enterocolitis. On April 17, 1885, Joseph was born, and he died on August 9, 1885, not yet four months old. Thus, in each year from 1883 through 1886, Reuben and Sallie buried one of their children. Perhaps that is why some of the children were living with Sallie’s mother?

Fanny Cohen death certificate

Then came the tragic accident involving three year old Hortense in June, 1891. What I had not known before I found the additional names on the headstone is that in July, 1891, the very next month, Sallie had given birth to Edith. Perhaps that was some relief, but only for a very brief time because Edith died less than a year later on April 24, 1892, from “Diptheritic Laryngitis.” I am not sure what that means, but it seems like it must be some complication from diphtheria. And then, as described above, Penrose died in 1896 and Irene in 1897.

Finally, there were the untimely deaths of Jacob L. and Sallie R. as adults. So between 1883 and 1913, Reuben and Sallie had lost ten of their seventeen children and also had two young grandchildren who were left without either a mother or a father. Aside from Hortense, who died from an accident, all the other young children died from an illness that today would likely have been either prevented by a vaccine (diphtheria) or treated with antibiotics or somehow otherwise controlled by medicine. Reading about all these babies’ deaths made me aware once again of how grateful we all should be for the developments of 20^th century medicine.

How did Reuben and Sallie go on? It is unfathomable. But they did. Did they find strength in the seven children who survived? Or did these deaths leave them bitter, angry, depressed? How does a marriage survive all that stress? Did they find strength in religion? In their large extended family? I do not know; I only know that in the last few days as I researched this family’s saga, I also was spending time with my newborn grandson and my four year old grandson, both of whom are so precious to me, not to mention their parents and other grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandparents. Seeing either grandson cry over even the smallest pain or disappointment breaks my heart. I found myself so disturbed by reading about Reuben and Sallie’s children that I was not sure that I could bear to write this story down. But then I had to do it, if only so that those little children could be perhaps more than just names on a headstone. Someone should know that they lived and were loved.

Reuben and Sallie had seventeen children (at least—perhaps others lived who have not been recorded somewhere). They were married for many years. Somehow there was enough love to keep them together so that they could continue to raise the children who survived, including their two grandchildren from Sallie R.

Reuben died on December 31, 1926; he was 72 years old. His wife Sallie died four years later in 1930 when she also was 72. There were seven children left who survived them, and almost all of them lived long lives, but I will leave their stories for a later post.

Elizabeth Cohen 1859-1923: Twists and Turns in Life and in Genealogy

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Amy

In my post about Hannah Cohen, I wrote about how difficult it can be to research a woman’s life once her name was changed at marriage. Some women, like some of the Rosenzweig women, I have not yet found at all. Sometimes, as when marriage records are searchable by a bride’s name, it is relatively easy. And sometimes it just takes a little luck and some good hunches to find her married name. In the case of Elizabeth Cohen, the ninth child and youngest daughter of my great-great-grandparents, it took both some good hunches and a lot of luck. It also involved some misdirection and some confusion.

Elizabeth was born on December 25, 1859, in Philadelphia. When I did a search for records for her on ancestry.com, she appeared with her parents on the census reports of 1860, 1870, and 1880. But then I could not find anything for an Elizabeth Cohen after those reports until I happened upon her death certificate. It’s odd to find the death certificate first, to see how a life ended before knowing the earlier years, but her death certificate appeared because it had her father’s name on it. Ancestry.com had the certificate listed under both her birth name (Elizabeth Cohen) and her married name, “Shirzer.” At least, that’s how it was spelled on the ancestry index. I was certain that this was the right person based on her father’s name, his birthplace, her birthplace, and her age. I also thus knew that she had been related, perhaps married, to someone named Bernard Shirzer, the informant on the certificate.

Elizabeth Cohen death certificate 1923

I then started searching for her as Elizabeth Shirzer and also searching for Bernard Shirzer. I found nothing under either name, but wild card searches led me to the 1900 census where they were indexed as Sluizer and the 1920 where they were indexed as Shezer. I stared and studied the handwriting on the death certificate and these two census reports, but still wasn’t sure which, if any, of these were their actual names. I was able, however, to learn the names of their children. In 1900 they were living with three children: Florence (15), Herbert (10), and Mervyn (3). In 1920 Bernard and Elizabeth were empty nesters, living alone. I could not and still have not find them in 1910.

Elizabeth and Bernard Sluizer 1900 census

Elizabeth and Bernard Sluizer 1920 census

From the ages of the children, I assumed that Bernard and Elizabeth had to have married sometime before 1885. I could not locate a marriage record in the online index, but since the index available online starts in 1885, that did not trouble me.

I decided to search for the two sons to see if I could find something that would confirm which name was the actual name, and since Mervyn seemed relatively unusual, I focused on him, and using again various wildcard searching techniques, found several records, including his draft registration forWorld War II with the name spelled Sluizer that also included his father’s name, Bernard Sluizer. The birth year and place and the first name and Bernard’s name were sufficient clues to confirm that the name was Sluizer.

Mervyn Sluizer World War II draft registration

I then went back to look for Bernard Sluizer to be sure this was the right one and found some early records for him that also seemed to corroborate that this was the correct name and thus Elizabeth Cohen’s married name. But then I found a record on the marriage index showing that Bernard Sluizer had married Elizabeth Heyman in 1892. It seemed so unlikely that there were two Bernard Sluizers married to Elizabeths that I was truly confused. Could the name on the marriage index be wrong? Of course, it could. But how could the date also be wrong? Bernard had to have married Elizabeth before 1885 if Florence was born in 1885.

The other problem was that I could not find any record for either Florence Sluizer or Herbert Sluizer after 1900. Not being able to find Florence was not troubling; I assumed she married and had changed her name. But where was Herbert? I couldn’t find one trace—not a draft record, not a marriage record, not a death record. Nothing. I was mystified.

I figured it was worth a search on genealogybank.com for newspaper articles that might reveal more about the Sluizers. And that’s where luck helped me out. Searching for Bernard Sluizer, I found an article about a charity raising money for the Doylestown Farm School, and listed among the donations was a reference to a donation by Bernard Sluizer in memory of his son, Herbert Heyman. (“$50,000 Donated to Aid Progress of Farm School Donations for Doylestown Institution One Feature of Anniversary,” Monday, June 10, 1907, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 156 , Issue: 161, Page: 4, 1 ) Herbert Heyman? How could he have a son with a different surname? Sons don’t change their names.

When I searched for Herbert Heyman, knowing he had died before June 10, 1907 , the date of the newspaper article, I found his death certificate, which identified his mother as Elizabeth Cohen, but his father as Benjamin Heyman. Who was he??

Herbert Heyman death certificate

My search then for Benjamin Heyman uncovered a death certificate for someone of that name who had died of uremia on July 23, 1890, at age 30.

Benjamin Heyman death certificate

This must have been Elizabeth Cohen’s first husband. It explained both of the confusing records. Bernard Sluizer had married Elizabeth Heyman; that was her married name when she married him, but she was born Elizabeth Cohen. And Bernard Sluizer had been in many ways, even if not legally, the father of Herbert Heyman because he had married Elizabeth in 1892 when Herbert was only three years old. Herbert’s biologicial father Benjamin had died when he was only a year old.

Having finally found all the little pieces of the puzzle, I think I now have the story of Elizabeth’s life. She must have married Benjamin Heyman sometime before 1885 and had two children with him: Florence, born in 1885, and Herbert, born in 1889. Then her first husband died in 1890, leaving her with two very young children. She married Bernard Sluizer in 1892 and had a third child, Mervyn, with him the following year. The 1900 census indicates that Bernard was a salesman; the 1920 census is more specific—a salesman for a pawnbroker. Another relative in the family business.

Having lost her first husband so tragically young, Elizabeth then endured a second terrible loss when her son Herbert died from pneumonia in 1906 when he was sixteen. What a sad, short life he had lived, losing his father when he was not even two years old and dying before he was seventeen years old.

Elizabeth herself died on September 28, 1923, when she was only 63 years old from “cancer of the womb.” Her husband Bernard continued to work as a pawnbroker and was living with their son Mervyn and his wife and children in 1930. Bernard had remarried in 1928, but appears not to have been married as of the time of the 1930 census. He died on September 2, 1944, at age 84.

Elizabeth’s life story, like those of so many other women, would have disappeared, and I might never have been able to figure it out, if not for the fact that her husband Bernard Sluizer made a donation to a charity in memory of his stepson Herbert Heyman. If there had been no such donation, I might never have been able to figure out that Elizabeth had had a first husband who died at a very young age leaving her with two young children. I would never have been able to figure out that the Elizabeth Heyman who married Bernard Sluizer was born Elizabeth Cohen but for the fact that her son Herbert Heyman died and her birth name was on his death certificate. So in a very sad twist of fate, the fact that Herbert died so young enabled me to preserve the story of not only his life but that of his mother, my great-grandaunt Elizabeth Cohen.

Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Adventures in Genealogy

Category Archives: Philadelphia

Was the Census Taker Incompetent? Lewis Cohen 1862-1924

The Genealogy Village: An Update on Maria Cohen and William Levy

A Man of Character and Integrity: A Profile of Reuben Cohen, The Pawnbroker

Pennsylvania, I love you!

Arthur Lewis Wilde Cohen 1890-1955: Family Lore and The Tricks of Memory

The Surviving Children of Reuben and Sallie Cohen, Part I: Minnie, Rae, Reuben, Jr., Lewis and Violet Mae

A Little More on Reuben and Sallie Cohen

An Important Clue Buried in A Wedding Announcement

Reuben Cohen 1854-1926: You Really Do Not Want to Read This

Elizabeth Cohen 1859-1923: Twists and Turns in Life and in Genealogy

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