Solomon Cohen Jr. (August 15, 1802 – August 14, 1875) was a lawyer, prominent in Savannah, Georgia, where he was also postmaster, the state's first Jewish senator, a district attorney, a real-estate developer and banker. He established the first Jewish Sunday School in Georgia.

Solomon Cohen
Cohen and his family, around 1854. His children are Gratz (left), Miriam (center) and Belle (right)
Born
August 15, 1802

DiedAugust 14, 1875(1875-08-14) (aged 72)
Resting placeLaurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupationlawyer
SpouseMiriam Gratz Moses (1836–1875; his death)
ChildrenGratz Cohen
Parent(s)Solomon Cohen Sr.
Bella Moses

He is mentioned in the memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman as being a "rich lawyer".[1]

Life and career

edit

Cohen was born in 1802 in Georgetown, South Carolina, to Solomon Cohen Sr. and Bella Moses.[2] One of his siblings, brother Octavus, was a cotton merchant.[1] His brother-in-law was Isaac Minis, husband of his sister Dinah.

In 1836,[3] he married Miriam Gratz Moses, niece of Rebecca Gratz, a philanthropist from Philadelphia.[1] They had three known children, two of whom died relatively young (including Gratz, who was killed in the Battle of Bentonville, aged 20).[1] Daughter Miriam Gratz lived until the age of 80. She was married to James Troup Dent Sr., a Confederate Army veteran.

Cohen was the de facto publisher and distributor of the works of Grace Aguilar, the English novelist who was of interest to his wife and her aunt.[1][4]

 
17 West Bay Street in Savannah is known as the Solomon Cohen Building. It was built for Cohen in 1869

In 1839, Cohen and his brother-in-law Mordecai Myers (husband of his sister Sarah Henrietta) helped established the Georgia Historical Society. Cohen was its treasurer between 1841 and 1844, and its vice-president between 1864 and 1868.[5]

He served as the president of the Congregation Mickve Israel for several years.[1]

Shortly before his death, Cohen had built the home at today's 116–120 West Liberty Street,[1] an addition to the 1851-built number 124.

Cohen was a slave-owner. At one point, he owned eight slaves and hired out an additional fifteen.[1]

Properties

edit

In addition to his home at 116–120 West Liberty Street, Cohen also built properties at 124 West Liberty Street (1851) and 17 West Bay Street (1869).

Death

edit

Cohen died in 1875, aged 72. He is interred in Savannah's Laurel Grove Cemetery, alongside his wife, who survived him by sixteen years.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Solomon Cohen: Searching for Him in Savannah". Moment Magazine. 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  2. ^ Corey, Sharon Freeman (2016). Georgetown County's Historic Cemeteries. Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. 47. ISBN 9781439658062.
  3. ^ First American Jewish Families - The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
  4. ^ Rabinovich, Irina (2021). "Across the Atlantic: Grace Aguilar's Correspondence with Miriam and Solomon Cohen" (PDF). Brno Studies in English. 47.
  5. ^ Greenberg, Mark I. (1998). Becoming Southern: The Jews of Savannah, Georgia, 1830–70. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 70.