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Once again the story of the children of Henry and Elizabeth Cohen is well covered in the works of Philip Cohen and Barbara Falk. So here it is sufficient to simply sketch some elements. The marriages of two daughters, Nancy to James Simmons, and Sophia to Abraham Cohen, has already been mentioned. In this society the daughters tended to be defined by their families, and the supportive role they played in relation to their men, not the least being the crucial one of integrating them into the emerging social establishment.
In his death Henry had left considerable wealth to his children, mostly, as was the custom, to his sons in the form of life interests in the income from various estates. For his son Samuel it was from “Eight cottages at Newtown near Sydney”, for Edward from “one house in Crown Street Sydney known as number 188 and one house at the back of the said premises in Woods Lane”, for Lewis from “two houses in Hunter Street Sydney known as numbers 15 and 17, for Joseph from “two houses in Hunter Street Sydney known as numbers 19 and 21”, and for son William the income from “two houses in Hamilton Street Sydney known as numbers 3 and 4.” The boys were thus well set up with private means to achieve success in their future careers.
Five of the six Cohen boys, from left to right, standing:
Philip, Lewis and Joseph; sitting: Samuel and Edward
(photograph possibly taken at a reunion in Sydney following William's death in 1871)
Samuel Henry Cohen, Henry’s first son, was born in London in about 1821. He married Eliza Hyams on 8 April 1840. Samuel and his wife Eliza initially remained in Port Macquarie but around 1886 moved to Melbourne where he became a "prominent Melbourne businessmen" who also owned large acreage's. He died in Melbourne in 1899.
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Samuel Henry Cohen (1821-1899) and his wife Eliza (ne Hyams)
Edward Aaron Cohen, Henry's second son , was notable for his success not only in business but in politics. Born at London in 1822, from 1833 he found himself in Port Macquarie with the family. Edward married Rebecca, eldest daughter of Moses Benjamin and sister to Sir Benjamin Benjamin. Replicating a typical pattern of intermarriage amongst the members of the relatively compact Jewish community, Benjamin Benjamin, in 1857, married Edward’s niece, Fanny. From this financial and social base he achieved considerable success.
Edward and his nephew Henry Emanuel Cohen are the only two Cohens listed in Heaton’s Dictionary of Dates and Men of The Times, 1542–1879 (published by George Robertson, 1879). Edward’s entry reads as follows:
COHEN, Hon. Edward, was born in London, in 1822. He came out with his parents in 1833, and was in business with his father as a grocer in Sydney. In 1842 he went to Melbourne and joined Mr B. Francis as an auctioneer. In 1853 he returned to Sydney, but the climate not suiting his family, went back to Melbourne, and became a general merchant and then auctioneer until 1863. He was Mayor of Melbourne 1862–63. He was elected for East Melbourne in 1861, and was Commissioner of Customs in 1869-70, and again from 1972 to 1873. He died April 13, 1874 [sic].†
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Hon. Edward Aaron Cohen (1822-1877)
Other quotes from publications of the time, researched by Philip Cohen, indicate Edward's stature both within the Jewish community and beyond in the greater community of the developing city of Melbourne:
“This election of October 1864 saw the return of two other Jewish members. One was Edward Cohen, who had arrived in Melbourne in 1842 at the age of 20. He prospered also as an auctioneer, and from the Melbourne City Council, where he was Mayor in 1862–63, he entered the House, representing East Melbourne from 1864 to 1877. Cohen was a silent, solid, urban Conservative, a Minister for Trade and Customs in 1869–70 and 1872–74, and regarded as the leader of the Jewish community.”†
“Levi’s election paved the way for the entry of a number of Victorian Jews into parliament in the decades before Federation. The second Jew to take his seat was London-born Edward Cohen who arrived in Melbourne from New South Wales as a young man in 1842 and set up as an auctioneer and later as a tea merchant. He was the son of prosperous emancipist Henry Cohen of Port Macquarie. Elected to the city corporation in 1860, Cohen became mayor of Melbourne in 1862. He contested the seat of Melbourne in 1857 (thus being the first Jewish parliamentary candidate in Victoria) and West Melbourne the following year and was MLA for East Melbourne from 1861 to 1865 and again from 1868 until his death in 1877. In 1869 and from 1872 to 1874 he was commissioner for trade and customs. He was well known in Melbourne’s philanthropic and commercial life—like many Jewish citizens he was interested in hospital welfare, and was honorary treasurer of the Melbourne Hospital, and he was governor of the Colonial Bank of Victoria, as well as director of the Australasian Insurance Company. His funeral was said to be one of the largest ever seen in Melbourne.”†
And footnoted: “Sutherland Victoria and its Metropolis, vol 2, p.468. Cohen was described as ‘the public Jew of Victoria, par excellence . . . [He] is the central figure around which our community revolves . . .’, Australian Israelite 29 December 1871. . . .”†
Edward died, aged 54 years, at East Melbourne on 13 April 1877. He was survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters, to whom he left an estate valued at £29,000 a considerable sum for those days.
Philip Cohen, Henry’s third son, was born in London around 1824 and once more accompanied the family to Port Macquarie. On 5 February 1851, at 26 years of age, at Melbourne, Philip married in 1851 Jessie Solomon , 19-year-old third daughter of Henry L. Solomon, Merchant, Soft Goods, of Hobart Town. Moved between Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmania before settling in Sydney in 1878.
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Philip Cohen (c. 1824-98) and wife Jessie (ne Solomon c. 1833-1916)
The Dunbar was wrecked on the South Head of Port Jackson on 20 August 1857 with the loss of all but one of the 120 passengers and crew. Amongst those who gave evidence at the Inquest, which commenced on 23 August at the Morgue, Circular Quay, was Mr P. Cohen of the Manly Beach [sic] Hotel, who reported that he saw two bodies floating and tried to recover them. He was unable to do so on account of the number of sharks.
Philip had an interest in anthropology and ichthyology. Among his published works are The Marine Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales, Past and Present, in their Commercial Aspect, 1892 (authorised by the New South Wales Commissioners for the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893); and Early Day Aborigines (Mitchell Library 572.9901/164AI).
Philip was the first licensee of the Pier Hotel, Manly, and held the licence from 1856 to 1860. Twenty years later, after the family had returned from a lengthy spell in Launceston and Melbourne, he was the licensee of the Steyne Hotel, Manly.
Mrs. Kilminster came to live in Manly in September 1857 when the Corso was a swamp. She became the hostess of the Pier Hotel, which after completion in 1856 was kept by a Mr. Cohen. . . . [About 1926] the hotel was demolished and . . . re-erected as the Hotel Manly. . . The Steyne Hotel was built about 1859 and afterwards added to. The Corso was only a sand track and exceptionally high tides reached almost to the buildings. . . . It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt with P. Cohen, 1880/4, as licensee.[3]†
There is a Cohen Street in Manly. Of this street name, in a Paper read by L. C. Wellings (Town Clerk, Manly) at a meeting of the Society of Australian Genealogists on 25 June 1947 on “Streets of Manly and the Origin of their Names,” Wellings could only say “Whether Mr. Cohen who kept the ‘Pier Hotel’ in 1857 had anything to do with the naming, I cannot say.”†
Philip and Jessie had 13 children: 7 boys and 6 girls, including at least one set of twins. Philip died on 6 February 1898, aged 73 years, in North Sydney.
Joseph Cohen, MHA, Henry’s fourth son, was born in London in 1826. On 2 October 1850, at the Sydney Synagogue, he married Mary Hart , fifth daughter of Mr Asher Hart of Sydney. They settled initially at Armidale, NSW, and Joseph purchased town land lots at Tamworth, NSW in 1851. From there they moved to Launceston where Joseph was appointed a Justice of the Peace (in 1857) and elected to the Council, and finally to Murrurundi.
Joseph Cohen (c.1826–93)
The life of an Alderman on a town Council does not always run smoothly: the following letter appeared in the Launceston Examiner on 10 June 1858:
Launceston, 9th June, 1858.
Gentlemen,—I am in receipt of a requisition from a certain number of ratepayers and other inhabitants of the town of Launceston, wherein they state that I have lost the confidence of the community, and calling upon me to resign my seat in the Municipal Council . Having carefully examined and analised [sic] the said requisition, I find only the signatures of a very small minority of those electors who did me the honour of placing me in the position of Alderman of the town. I therefore most respectfully and emphatically deny the assertion that I have lost the confidence of the community. Under these circumstances I must, with all due respect, decline to comply with the request of the requisitionists.
I have the honor to be,
Gentlemen,
Yours very faithfully,
Joseph Cohen. †
Joseph was elected to the House of Assembly, for Launceston, in May 1860 and represented the electorate until the following year. In March 1859 he is listed as occupier of a house and store in York Street. An address by the electors of Launceston to Joseph Cohen asking him to nominate for the seat vacated by Alexander Clerke into the House of Assembly and a reply by Cohen appeared in the Launceston Examiner on 15 May 1860:
TO JOSEPH COHEN, Esquire, Launceston.—Dear Sir,—We the undersigned, Electors of Launceston, request that you will allow yourself to be nominated to fill the seat in the House of Assembly vacated by Alex Clerke, Esq., and in the event of your acceding pledge ourselves to do the utmost in our power to ensure your return. And remain, dear Sir, your’s faithfully,
[List of 123 undersigned names.]
Launceston, May 11 [1860]
Gentlemen,—In accordance with the above requisition, asking me to allow myself to be placed in nomination to represent your interests in the House of Assembly, I at once hasten to comply with your request, and if elected it will be my earnest desire to support such measures as will tend towards the advancement of the colony generally. My political principles are known to most of you; I therefore need not enumerate them. I have nothing to gain by procuring a seat as your representative; I shall therefore eschew all faction, and pursue an independent course of action, voting on all questions which may come before the Parliament with only one object, that of benefiting this my adopted country.
I remain, gentlemen,
Your faithful servant,
Joseph Cohen†
The Biographical Register of the Tasmanian Parliament 1851–1960, prepared by Scott and Barbara Bennett, lists Joseph Cohen as follows:
Auctioneer. born 1826 London?; son of Henry, merchant, convict, and Elizabeth née Simmons; married 2 Oct 1850 Sydney, Mary Hart; at least 5 sons, 2 daughters; brother E. Cohen MLA (Vic.). Died 1893? Jewish. Arrived Australia 1833?; lived Armidale, NSW?; possibly member of Cohen Bros, auctioneers, Launceston; to Melbourne in 1860s? Executive committee Launceston Bank of Savings. Launceston City Council; JP 1857; possibly JP (Vic.); Launceston Artillery Corps (Lieut.); president Launceston Synagogue; possibly president East Melbourne Congregation; possibly secretary Matzah Association (East Melbourne). MHA Launceston May 1860 – May 1861.†
By the time Henry made his Will in October 1866, Joseph had moved to Murrurundi, NSW. A Codicil (of the same date) states: “Whereas I have lately become surety for my son Joseph Cohen for the amount of One thousand Pounds . . .”
And as for his role in Murrundi, according to the Murrurundi and District Historical Society:
As far as can be determined Joseph Cohen kept a store in Murrurundi that was situated in Mayne Street at the junction of Boyd Street. This was very near what is now known as Cohen’s Gully and from what I can gather from older residents it and Cohen Street would have been named after Joseph Cohen. The name of Cohen again appears in the town’s history when in 1894 David Cohen & Co. of Newcastle took over and operated what is now Dooleys Store with Joseph Dooley being the resident manager. J. Dooley and Co. was formed in 1901. The Board of Directors at that time included Mr George Cohen and Mr Samuel Cohen, Mr Septimus R. Levy as well as Mr Joseph Dooley.†
Joseph and Mary had seven children: Joseph died at Woollahra in 1893.
Lewis Cohen, Henry’s fifth son, was born in London on 11 July 1831 and after coming out to Australia at the age of 2 with the family stayed at Port Macquarie until 1852. On 22 March 1854 he married Mary Frankel , eldest daughter of Jacob Frankel. Three years later, now in Launceston, he was granted an auctioneer's licence.
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Lewis Cohen (1831-1903) and wife Mary (ne Frankel, 1836–1887)
In 1860 Lewis Cohen is shown as an occupier of a house, auction mart and store in York Street, Launceston. An advertisement for fortnightly sales at his new rooms in York Street appeared in the Launceston Examiner on 22 May 1860 and his name appeared in the 1867 Directory as “Lewis Cohen & Co., auctioneers, York Street, Launceston”.
In 1875 he moved to Sydney where he died in 1903. Lewis and Mary had 12 children:
William Cohen, Henry’s sixth son, was born in London in 1832, came out to Australia with his family at the age of 1, and twenty-one years later married Sarah Solomon on 7 September 1853.
“One day in August 1851, so the story goes, a squatter named Nathan Burrows of Hanging Rock station some 60 kilometers southeast of Tamworth near the headwaters of the Peel, was riding around his property when he came across one of his stockmen washing for gold in Swamp Creek with his pint pot. He showed Burrows the small but nonetheless impressive quantity of gold he had already won, which he claimed he had first discovered when he noticed a few yellow specks of metal in the bottom of his pannikin while washing it after a meal. Burrows immediately hastened to Tamworth, where he told William Cohen of the Commercial Store of the discovery. Two days later Cohen set out for Hanging Rock with two men named Charles Parsons, and William Blackburn. Together with Burrows they made a close inspection of the area and according to the legend, found a few specks of gold under a carpet snake which they had killed, then quickly obtained several ounces of the precious metal and at once returned to Tamworth and made their discovery known.”†
In 1852 William Cohen purchased town land lots at Tamworth, NSW. There were two stores at Tamworth: Mr L. W. Levy on the eastern side of the river and Mr William Cohen on the western, also two public houses on the west Tamworth: Gannons and Barnes. The post office was at William Cohen’s store. Nathan Cohen, son of his brother in law Abraham Cohen, was at that time an employee of William at his store. William Cohen also had a store at Nemingha.
"William Cohen was a prominent man in Tamworth in 1852. A great sportsman getting up races on the old course, also as secretary, clerk and judge. Many’s the fine race meeting came of every year while he was at the head of the race club. Those times a horse ran on its merits to try and win. No such thing as pulling a horse like they do now or letting them run for a bookmaker as there was no such person those times. All the betting was done at the stand appointing a stakeholder. When the bets were paid over under the supervision of Mr Cohen there was very little disputes.”†
Tamworth’s first newspaper the Examiner was launched on 3 April 1859, “and the Tamworth shopkeepers and merchants . . . lent the fledgling paper strong support through advertising. . . . Prominent among those anxious to publicise their goods and services in the first issue was William Cohen, of the Commercial Store, who ‘begged to inform his numerous friends and patrons’ that he had just received ‘a very large supply’ of sundry wares ‘which he is prepared to sell at a small advance on Maitland prices.’ They featured an extensive range of liquor, a somewhat scantier array of groceries, ‘Colonial Soap,’ Wetherspoon’s confectionery and jams, ‘Miners’ Tools of all descriptions,’ and ‘a large and well-assorted stock of Drapery, Hosiery, Ironmongery, Saddlery, Boots and Shoes, &c.’ Not to be outdone, Cohen and Levy’s Tamworth Stores ‘Established 1846—successors to L. W. Levy,’ also announced an imposing list of liquors ‘selected under the immediate superintendence of our own agent in Sydney,’ plus drapery and ‘clothing at the lowest remunerative prices.’”†
“Of central importance to the economy that produced this impressive mercantile superstructure were Tamworth’s three flour mills with their “superior wheat grinding machinery,” described by the Illustrated Sydney News as ‘the primary source of that general prosperity which has within the last 15 or 16 years pervaded the town and district.’ Their somewhat complicated history was indeed a reflection of the area’s development in the twenty years since free selection. The first mill—following Charles Armstrong’s short-lived or perhaps even still-born venture of 1859—was a three-storeyed structure bounded by Peel and Bligh streets and backing onto the river, built by Donald Munro in February 1864 and leased or bought later that year by William Cohen. With its resultant success, the unconnected firm of Cohen and Levy saw the possibilities offering and in 1867 built a second mill in Fitzroy Street, bringing in George Fielder from Branxton as their first miller. On William Cohen’s death in 1871, Cohen and Levy shrewdly leased his mill and immediately closed it down to prevent competition with their own expanding and more modern plant.”[9] “This was the same mill that was better known later as Fielder Maxwell’s. The building still stands today [c.1980], opposite Maguire’s (Tattersall’s) Hotel, Peel Street. One can still see on it very faintly ‘Fielder and Maxwell, Rolling Flour Mills’ and also the name ‘William Cohen.’”†
William Cohen died, aged 40, at Tamworth, a successful and prominent citizen, on 2 October 1871. His wife Sarah died, aged 83, on 10 July 1918.
It is typical of the time that there is less record of the lives and achievements of daughters. Nevertheless it can be determined that Henry’s third daughter, Hannah (1818–1904) was born in London on 28 December 1818 and married Solomon Marks, a schoolmaster, in Sydney in on 3 August 1836. Henry’s fourth daughter, Caroline (c.1827–81), was born in London and married Arthur Isaac Nathan. He had emigrated from London to Australia and settled in Launceston. He was a member of the committee set up to build the Launceston Synagogue in 1842. At some stage the family moved to London and later, most of their sons emigrated to New Zealand, with Walter Isaac Nathan settling in Wellington, and others in Auckland. Arthur and Caroline had nine children. Caroline died in England in 1881
Henry’s fifth daughter, Frances (Fanny) (1834–84), was born at Port Macquarie on 17 March 1834. On 17 August 1853 she married Henry Solomon at the Sydney Synagogue. Frances died aged 48 on 23 October 1884. And Henry’s sixth daughter, Jane, was born at Port Macquarie on 19 April 1837. On 7 November 1855 she married David Lawrence Levy, Solicitor, of Sydney. No children of this marriage are known.
As was customary, the daughters received much less of Henry Cohen's estate, it being assumed that their husbands would take primary responsibility for their financial well-being. The two widowed daughters, Caroline and Hannah, received larger cash amounts than the other children. Caroline’s share was £500 cash. Fanny’s share was£200 cash plus a life interest in the income from “two houses in Gloucester Street known as numbers 59 and 61 and one house in Cumberland Street known as number 218.” Jane’s share was £100 cash plus a life interest in the income from “two houses in Clarence Street Sydney known as numbers 167 and 169.”
With so many children it is not surprising that there followed a multitude of grandchildren to Henry, and several generations have followed since. The living will be left to tell their own stories, and too many even of the previous generations exist to provide a story for each of them. So here there is simply an account of a few of these descendants of Henry Cohen who by dint of public office of other claims to fame, provide an excuse for briefly describing some of their achievements. For this remaining part of this story click here.
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