Sacramento County
Biographies
HON. PHILIP CHARLES COHN
HON. PHILIP CHARLES COHN.--A pioneer whose private life has been most influential for
good in the community in which he has lived and labored, and whose public
record for usefulness to his day and generation has been most exceptional, is
the Hon. Philip Charles Cohn, a native of the metropolis, New York, where he
was born on July 6, 1854, the son of a worthy, industrious couple, Charles and
Dora (Cosminski) Cohn. When a mere infant, he was
taken to Mobile, Alabama, by his parents, who already had relatives there, the
change to the southward being deemed expedient on account of the declining
health of Mrs. Cohn; but despite all that Nature and science could do, the good
woman, who had become the center of a circle of admiring and devoted friends,
not only did not get better, but she contracted yellow fever, the scourge of
that region, before the days of municipal sanitation, and passed to the
life beyond in 1858. The blow was severe to the father; and leaving the little
child with his folks, he took his daughter Fannie and returned to New York City, intending to return South for
our subject when it might be possible.
The call of California, however, soon appealed to him, and leaving his daughter
in Springfield, Mass., with other relations, he set out in 1860 for the Western
land of promise, and having crossed the Isthmus of Panama, at length arrived at San Francisco. Soon after setting foot on terra firma again, he made off
for Shasta County, and when the excitement about Fraser River began to stir the world anew, he tried his luck in the
Caribou mines. Having prospered somewhat there, he returned to merchandising in
Victoria, B. C., for a short time, but not finding conditions entirely to his
liking, or presenting enough assurance for the future, he returned to California and at Sacramento, in
1863, opened another store. His daughter, Fannie, whom he had left behind in
the Bay State, also came out to California, joining him in 1872, and in time she married Max Marcuse of Sacramento, with whom she lived happily until her untimely lamented
demise in 1883, while at San
Francisco. Charles
Cohn, the revered father, lived to see the year 1898, tenderly cared for by his
son, and in the same city in which his daughter had breathed her last, he died,
aged nearly seventy-five years.
Philip Charles Cohn had to struggle from
boyhood, for owing to the disturbed conditions of the Civil War, he enjoyed
only meager educational advantages. In 1869 he commenced an apprenticeship to
the mercantile business at West Point, Miss., an being and eye-witness of the
evils of the Carpet-Bag Government of that period in the South, he lost a great
deal of faith in mankind and more than ever espoused the principles of
Democracy. With only two years of schooling, he nevertheless mastered the
common school branches, and made himself fitted for almost any ordinary
business, and being quick to comprehend, and sure in holding fast in memory
what he once acquired, he lined up with the best, in the most exacting
competition. This progress was the more difficult, in the beginning, because of
the Civil War, which led to his father's disappearing from view for years; but
1873 became a red-letter year in his life when he learned, through an old
friend, a Mrs. Kaiser, once a resident of Mobile, but who had removed to
California, that his father and sister were alive and well at Sacramento, and
would be delighted to hear from him. He was encouraged to come on to the Coast;
and in May, 1874, he arrived in Sacramento, with just $1.15 as his capital. His energy and optimism,
however, enabled him to secure employment with the Sacramento branch of Ackerman, Block & Company, of San Francisco, with whom he remained for six
years. He worked hard, and extended his acquaintance in both business and social
circles, laying the foundation for lasting friendships and favorable
connections, serviceable in after years. Going to San Francisco, he was for a while a traveling salesman for a wholesale
crockery concern. In 1884, he came to Folsom, and bought an interest in the
business of Simon Cohn, his father-in-law, who was the means, the preceding
year, of his meeting his future wife. At Simon Cohn's death, in 1895, our
subject bought out the interest of the widow, and immediately entered upon a
mercantile career whose success has been marked.
On October 29, 1885, he took for his wife Miss Alice Martha Cohn, who was born
at Folsom, and educated at Perry's Seminary, in Sacramento. Seven children were born to them. Dora F. married Julius
Jacobs, who passed away in 1918, since which time the business in which he and
Mr. Cohn were interested has been sold; and they had two children, Alice and
Dorothy. The second-born was William M. of San Francisco; then came Mabel J., Selma, Charles P., Simon A., and Henrietta.
Having prospered greatly through his mercantile
and other interests, Mr. Cohn increased his investments in property, until
he came to have varied and important holdings. At one time, he purchased sixty
acres of land in the Orangevale district, where he proceeded to cultivate oranges, olives,
grapes and prunes. He also owned a farm of 240 acres in Eldorado County, and seven acres on the shore of
Lake Tahoe, which were destined to be improved with a modern hotel.
He had besides important San
Francisco real estate,
a whole business block in Sacramento, and residence and business property at Folsom,
and still other holdings in various localities. He was a leading director in
the Consumers' Ice and Cold Storage Company, and was one of the organizers of
the Capital Fire Insurance Company of Sacramento, of which he was also treasurer. He was a member of the
board of directors of the old Farmers and Mechanics Bank of Sacramento, and was also one of the directors of the Orangevale Water
Company. Today Mr. Cohn is interested particularly in citrus development in the
county.
Public-spirited to an exemplary degree,
Mr. Cohn was a life member of the Good Roads Association, and a member of the
commission that built the road from Folsom to Sacramento. He was appointed by the board of supervisors as one of
the five commissioners to attend the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, and
there represent Sacramento County, and he was treasurer of the commission. As has been
implied, he early gave his hearty support to the Democratic party.
He was a member of the Democratic state central committee for about ten years, and of the Democratic county central committee for a
still longer period. In 1904 he was present at the national Democratic
convention in St. Louis, as a delegate from the third congressional district in California, and assisted in the nomination of Alton B. Parker. Coming
home again to California, he was nominated by acclamation as state senator. He was
defeated by the large Republican majority of that year, although he himself ran
1,600 votes ahead of the ticket. In 1912 he was nominated at the primary
election for state senator on the Democratic ticket, and received a vote of
five times as many as that given to others, and he was again successful in his
campaign for state senator in April, 1914. He served the term following, and
was reelected by a handsome majority in 1916. His record was clear-cut, and
since his retirement from public life he has made his home at Folsom, away from
the prosy humdrum of every-day life.
Mr. Cohn had been a very welcome member of
various fraternities, including the B. P. O. Elks, the B'nai
B'rith, the Natoma Lodge,
No. 64, of Masonry, in which he is past master, and the Scottish Rite, and he attained to the thirty-second degree of Masonry.
He is also a member of Islam Temple, N. M. S. of San Francisco; and he was charter patron of the Natoma
chapter, No. 233, O. E. S., in which Mrs. Cohn was also a member. Mrs. Cohn was
the first president of Fern Parlor, Native Daughters of the Golden West.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento
County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Pages 293-294.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.