Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameBarnett COHEN
Birthabt 1780, Bavaria1383
Death30 Mar 1854, 10 Cheltenham Place, Lambeth, Surrey, England1384
Burial31 Mar 1854, Brady Street Cemetery, London, Middlesex, England1385
*New [RELI]Jewish
*New [OCCU]1841, Lambeth, Surrey, England; Occupation: He was a clothier.1386
Spouses
Birth1788, Aldgate, London, England1381
Death5 Oct 1854, 1 Lower Marsh, Lambeth London, England1382
Burial6 Oct 1854, Brady Street Cemetery London England
*New [EDUC]17
*New [RELI]Jewish
Marriage1810, New Synagogue, London, Middlesex, England1387,1388
ChildrenLewis (1811-1894)
 Samuel (1812-1861)
 Henry (1814-1860)
 Jane (1816-1878)
 David (1818-1902)
 George Judah (1820-1889)
 Solomon (1823-)
 Abraham (1825-1901)
 Morris (1827-1878)
 Charles (~1834-)
Notes for Barnett COHEN
Pamela Brunel Cohen (PBC) collated much of the early research for this family with help from Norman Stuart Cohen, Faye Godfrey Gilbert and Bill Jessop. Bill was probably the originator of much of the the genealogical research. Many others have contributed to it and I have done some more research. Information was found in a variety of documents including the census of 1841 and 1851. The notes will sometimes appear to be repetitive, as items such as the marriage of Barnett and Sierlah, are placed with each individual, so that when printing a 'Person Sheet' the information is there.

Baruch or Barent or sometimes Barnett Levy Cohen c 1779 - 1854 married Sierlah (Sarah) 1788-1854, probably in 1810. Nine sons and one daughter were born to them. He and his family lived at 8 (or 3) Middle Cut, Lower Marsh, Lambeth. PBC shows him as the son of Judah of Hull, but there is no evidence for this except that Samuel Sydney Cohen, his great grandson, also thought the family came from Hull.

An American correspondent of Verna Rouvray, who can now be identified as Marcia Harrison, and who is able to read the Hebrew text of the New Synagogue, found the marriage of Baruch, son of Yehuda Cohen, son in law of Zessel M... to Tserel daughter of Eliezer Zessel in between July 11 and November 1810 at the New Synagogue. there are several opinions as to the meaning of these words. There is a suggestion that the father of Sierlah came from Metz. Following guidance from John Nathan I really think their family name should be Halevi.

The addresses we have for this couple from several sources are New Cut, Lower Marsh, Lambeth 1816-1850, and 10 Cheltenham Place, Lambeth 1851-54. Stuart Cohen (N.S.) advised me of his date of death. A copy of his certificate of death is now held. He did not leave a will, so his wife was obliged to apply for an administration of his estate which was not large.

The Census of 1851 (HO 107/1570 folio 506-9, no 20, shows Barnett as 'living at 10 Cheltenham Place, out of business, aged 72, born Bavaria of Jewish persuasion.' Also in the house was his wife Sierlah, a son Charles, unmarried aged 17, born Lambeth in Surrey, and one servant aged 18.

In 'the History of the Borough Synagogue', compiled by the Rev. M Rosenbaum to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Borough New Synagogue in Heygate Street, Walworth, SE, March 25, 1917, is the following information.

Page 7 - 'In 1831, when the Synagogue was rebuilt, in all likelihood only as regards its interior, at a cost of 230 pounds, towards which sum 163 pounds was received from subscriptions, the congregation was indebted to the treasurer to the amount of 78 pounds, of which 13 pounds was on account of ordinary Synagogue expenditure. This rebuilding was followed by a reconsecration, and a similar ceremony took place in 1841, when some alterations were effected.

Among the prominent seat holders at this early period was Mr Baruch Cohen, grandfather of Mr Neville D Cohen. All the members of Mr Cohen's family, and his kinsmen, the Levys, were associated with the Synagogue at that time. The descendants of both families have held responsible positions in the congregations of Liverpool and Sydney (New South Wales), as well as distinguished public offices in these cities, and it is a curious coincidence that the two present Ministers of the latter congregation were taken directly from the Borough Synagogue, the selection being in the hands of members of these two families.'

Note that in this publication he was referred to as Baruch.

Charles Tucker, (the archivist of the United Synagogue) wrote in a letter to me - 'All of your requested entries turned out to refer to people buried under the auspices of the United Synagogue and I enclose copies of the authorisations. The Brady Street Cemetery, which was the portion allotted to the New Synagogue. He gives a translation of the entry for Barnett as Baruch son of Yehuda ha Cohen and Friday 2 Nisan 5614. His residence was shown as Westminster Road and his grave number as 14-10.

In 1928, George Judah Cohen wrote a letter to his niece Ruth in which he said, ' My grandmother, Mrs Barnett Cohen, was married in the Borough Synagogue at Lambeth. The family all lived over there. They never lived any of them in the East End of London. When she married, her father presented the Synagogue with a 'gold' embroidered Curtain for the Ark. In 1876 Uncle David Cohen remembered it and had the embroidery placed on a new Curtain. They know all about it over here.' The letter came to me from the files of Joe Wolfman of Liverpool.

Regarding the family never having lived in the East End, he was probably not aware that in the census of 1851, Sierlah Cohen gave her place of birth as Aldgate. Perhaps the family only lived there for a very short time and in all likelihood GJC would not have known about events so long before his birth.

I am not sure that the Borough Synagogue existed in 1810, so I think that GJ Cohen knowing of the family connection with the synagogue presumed that the marriage took place there.
Last Modified NewCreated 21 Mar 2024 by Jim Falk