Cohen Family

 The Cohen Family

Myer (1895-1963) and Bessie Levine (1896-1988) Cohen

 

Bessie Cohen with her children - Edgar, Israel and Jennie

Myer Cohen



Myer Cohen worked as a junk dealer and broker. He was among the first Jews to purchase a home on Summer Street and his daughter was the last Jewish person to move from the street. He was active in the city and arranged to have trees planted along the street. He was very active in political affairs for the Progressive Conservative Party and was a director of Congregation Shaarei Zedek. He was well known in the real estate business.  Myer Cohen also organized the immigration of other family members from Minsk, Russia after he settled in the city.

 




Bessie Levine Cohen


Bessie Levine Cohen was the daughter of Louis and Elizabeth Levine and had four brothers - Abe, Isaac, Simon and Nathan, all of whom went into the grocery business - and two sisters - Nelly Haslett and Lillian Kashetsky.  In the community, she was a member of the Hadassah WIZO organization and Sisterhood.

 

The Cohens had three children: Jennie, Israel and Edgar.

 




Jennie Cohen (1915-2016) lived in the family home at 82 Summer Street for almost her entire life. She lived a quiet life at home as a daughter and then a homemaker. She married Benjamin Cohen in 1949 and they had one daughter – Lorie.

 

Jennie and Benjamin Cohen

Her husband, Benjamin Cohen (1913-1999) was born in Bath, NB to Aaron and Lena Cohen and had four sisters - Sarah Jacobson, Jennie Pinkus, Leibe Katz, and Minna Rothberg. He moved to 80 Summer Street when he married Jennie Cohen in 1949. Ben served for many years on the board of Congregation Shaarei Zedek and was the first treasurer of the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum from 1983 to 1999. He took an active part in leading the weekly Sabbath services as Gabbai Shanei. He started his career managing his father’s dry goods store but spent most of his working life as a bookkeeper for several businesses in the city.

 

Israel H. Cohen (1920-1993) was married first to Lillian Budovitch and they had two sons, Morton and Warren. He then married Teresa McCluskey. He worked as a clerk at the Dominion Food Shop, then was part-owner of Harry’s Men's’ and Boy’s Shop on Union Street before opening the Hillside Grocery on Somerset Street and then in Sussex. He had two sons, Warren and Morton. 

 

Edgar Cohen


Edgar Cohen (1924-2006) married Erminie Bernstein in 1948 and they lived for a short time in Sydney, Nova Scotia before returning to Saint John. For more than 50 years, he was the owner of Hoffman’s on Main Street in the north end of the city, selling ladies’ fashions, with his wife. They had two daughters – Cathy and Shelley - and a son, Lee. He was involved in a number of local organizations; including the PC Association of Canada.






Erminie Cohen

Erminie Bernstein Cohen (1926-2019) graduated from Saint John High School and Mount Allison University. She married her childhood sweetheart, Edgar (Eddie) Cohen in January 1948 and worked alongside her husband in Hoffman’s, a ladies clothing store on Main Street. She was very active as a member of the Sisterhood for the congregation and in Hadassah-WIZO, locally, regionally and was a national vice-president of the organization. In 1991, she was elected as the first female president of Congregation Shaarei Zedek. Erminie was also very active politically and was one of the first women appointed to the Committee for the Status of Women by the Premier of New Brunswick. In 1993, she was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. As Senator, she made outstanding contributions to the understanding of those in poverty, through hearings held across Canada and a written report entitled Sounding the Alarm. After retiring from the Senate, Erminie was the chair of the newly formed New Brunswick Adoption Foundation and under her leadership the foundation helped more than 1,000 children find families.

 


References: 

  • Louis I. Michelson Archives and Research and Exhibition Files, Saint John Jewish Historical Museum 
  • Marcia Koven, Weaving the Past Into the Present (Saint John: 1989 and 2008) 
  • The Evening Times Globe / The Telegraph Journal (Saint John newspapers)

 

See also: Bernstein Family


To comment on this story please send an email to sjjhm@nbnet.nb.ca 

 

 

This project is made possible with funding from the Archaeology and Heritage Branch, Province of New Brunswick through their Exhibit Renewal Digital Component program and the unwavering support of the Jewish families who made Saint John their home.

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Freedman Family, Part 1

Image
  The Freedman Family -  Part 1 Abraham (1872-1944) and Mary (1875-1948) Freedman   Abraham and Mary (Guss) Freedman Abraham Freedman Abraham Freedman was one of the first immigrants from Dorbian, Lithuania, arriving in Saint John in 1899. He arrived without language, luggage or money. When his ship docked at Long Wharf, he noticed that a friend from his home village of Dorbian was working on the dock as a longshoreman. The friend convinced Abraham Freedman to stay in Saint John. Five years later, he brought his wife, Mary, and son, Jacob (J.J.) and his father, Marcus to join him.   The women in the village told Mary that her husband would never send for her because many men, after arriving in the "New World", did not send for their wives and children. However, true to his word, he did send for his wife and child and the family grew and prospered. Abraham and Mary had four more children in Saint John: Ben, Rube, Ida and Anne. Members of the extended family als...
Read more

Calp Family, Part 1

Image
The Calp Family - Part 1   Abraham (1905-2001) and Fena (1907-1989) Calp   Abraham Calp Abraham Calp was born in Odessa, Russia in 1905. He came to Saint John in 1926 with his wife Fena, mother Sarah, brother Jack, and sister Celia. They were escaping from Russia after the family’s specialty men’s clothing shop was confiscated by the Bolsheviks. They left Odessa on December 6, 1924 and crossed the border illegally into Romania with the help of relatives. From there they obtained an American visa, but when American borders were closed to Jewish immigration, they were able to get a visa to enter Canada. They were assisted by a relative in Saint John and the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society. The Calp family arrived in Saint John on December 2, 1926. Abe Calp worked briefly for Harry Davis in construction, but soon turned to peddling, selling clothing he was able to get from the People’s Clothing Store, run by Joseph Stekolsky on Main Street.   He remembered that his cu...
Read more

Home

Image
The Freedman Family Saint John Jewish Family Tree - Introduction The Saint John Jewish community was made up of between 200 and 300 families who came to the city from England and Eastern Europe between 1858 and the late 1940s. Some families arrived together and those who arrived alone encouraged other family members to follow – spouses, children, siblings and parents. Marriage within the community further consolidated family connections. Attempts to trace one family inevitably lead to links to other families in the community and new ways of connecting the community together as a whole. If one had a large enough space, it is quite possible that nearly every Jewish resident of Saint John and their descendants could be linked through a family tree. Exploring those connections and delving into family stories is the focus of this project. Information for the family stories will be gathered from documents (family trees, synagogue and organization records, newspaper clippings, etc.), oral int...
Read more