Views of Maitland

People

COHEN Samuel

Gender:	male
Date of Birth:	14 July 1812
Place of Birth:	Lambeth, London Country: England
Father:	COHEN Barnett
Mother:	LEVY Sierlah
Date of Arrival:	1834
Ship:	Resource
Naturalisation:	n/a
Marital status:	married
Spouse:	NATHAN Rachel (1813 - 1893)
Date Married:	1837, 23 August
Place Married:	Sydney
Children:	Sarah MANDELSON (1839-1894), George Judah (1842-1937), Charlotte MOSES (1844-1929), Louis Samuel (1846-1922 ), Hannah (1848-1849), Norman/Nathan Samuel (1850-1917), Bernard/Beresford Samuel (1855-1905)
Occupations:	storekeeper, merchant
Places of Residence:	London, Sydney, Maitland
Date of Death:	16 November 1861
Place of Death:	O’Connell St, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Buried at:	bur Devonshire Cemetery, reinterred Rookwood Jewish Cemetery , Lot No. Section OG1, Plot 3
Profile:
Samuel Cohen, Maitland businessman, politician and Jewish communal figure, was the second eldest of the ten siblings associated with Maitland-based David Cohen and Company, and the second of the siblings to migrate to Australia. His life and work moved between Sydney and Maitland. He arrived in Sydney on the ‘Resource’ on 21 April 1834. Family tradition maintains that he was sent to Australia to take his older brother, Lewis, back to England but that Samuel decided to stay, allegedly because he found the long trip out unpleasant. By 1837, the same year in which he married, he was in Maitland where, probably with his brother Lewis, he opened Lambeth House, a store named after his birthplace. In 1840, he was the first of his family to join Maitland Lodge of Unity No 4. He began to acquire property in the town. His home is also credited with being the venue for gatherings and services of Maitland’s early Jewish community. In April 1842, the Cohens were back Sydney where their second child, George Judah Cohen, was born. Samuel Cohen continued to enhance his property portfolio. His insolvency file in the NSW State Archives indicates that he overextended himself and, like so many, was unable to weather the economic depression which affected the colony in the 1840s. He was declared insolvent. Cohen’s insolvency file indicates that his younger brother David (who arrived in 1840/41) had taken over Samuel Cohen’s Maitland shop and business. It is possibly the shop that evolved into David Cohen and Company. Released from insolvency in August 1844, Samuel and Rachel moved back to Maitland where all but the youngest of their remaining children were born. The family lived in Maitland for about a decade. Sadly, their baby daughter Hannah died in 1849 at the age of 16 months and was buried in Maitland Jewish Cemetery. In Maitland, Samuel Cohen was a partner and manager of David Cohen and Company, a property owner and a director of the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company. The family became quite wealthy. The family relocated to Sydney in 1855 where Samuel Cohen managed the Sydney base of the expanding David Cohen and Company. He was also an active member of the board of the York Street Synagogue (1855-1859) and a founder and first President of the breakaway Macquarie Street Synagogue. He served as the Member for Morpeth in the NSW Legislative Assembly for about three months in 1860. He died suddenly in November 1861. Following his death, his son George Judah Cohen eventually took over the management of David Cohen and Company. Samuel Cohen’s widow, Rachel, moved back to London where she died, aged 80, in October 1893. *Note: Samuel’s son, George Judah, is sometimes confused with his uncle, Samuel’s brother, George Judah Cohen who is buried in Maitland Jewish Cemetery.

Related Records

Documents:
B & S Cohen to son (Lewis Cohen), 17 June 1840	Cohen, Barnett and Sierlah
Barnett and Sarah Cohen to my dear daughter, 25 July 1849	Cohen, Barnett and Sierlah
Deed of co-partnership as merchants between Messrs David Cohen, Samuel
Insolvency file of Samuel Cohen, general dealer, West Maitland, 1843-1844
Maitland Lodge of Unity No. 4: list of foundation members and	Crethary, J
Profiles of members of Maitland’s early Jewish community, 2011	Rudkin, Val
Samuel Cohen to President, Australian Jewish Historical Society, 12 August 1940	Cohen, Samuel
Two Cohens, a Levy and one Hart, April 2009	Harvey, Dinah
Local Government Areas:
Maitland City
Monuments:
Cohen, Hannah	grave marker	Maitland Jewish Cemetery - Grave No
People:
COHEN Barnett	1780 to 1854	Germany; Lambeth, London
COHEN George	1842 to 1937	Maitland, London, Sydney
COHEN Rachel	1813 to 1893	Maitland, Sydney, London
COHEN Sierlah	1788 to 1854	London
Sites:
David Cohen & Co, Maitland	Maitland	Maitland City
Themes:
Commerce
Ethnic influences - Jews
Towns:
Maitland	Maitland City
Publications, Reports, Theses:
‘Australian Jewry in 1845’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 1/5 1941, pp.150-152 Benjamin, David, ‘Australia and the Voice of Jacob’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal,3/5 1953, pp.350-371 Benjamin, David, ‘The Macquarie Street synagogue, 1859-1877’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 3/9 1953, pp.379-431 Bergman, George F.J., ‘The Jews of Maitland’, Australian Jewish Times, 3 July 1975, pp.10 Bergman, George, ‘Samuel Cohen (1812-1861): an early settler and a parliamentarian with a conscience’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 6/6, 1969, pp.334-344 Boyle, Harry, ‘Jewish families big in our history’, Maitland Mercury, 6 February 2004 Cohen, Philip Charles, Henry Cohen (1790-1867), 127 page manuscript 2006 Falk, Jim, Cassirer and Cohen histories, relatives and descendants (website) Forbes, Morris, ‘A short history of the Jews of Maitland’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 8/7 1979, pp.413-436 Fredman, Lionel, ‘David Cohen & Co - the family and the firm’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 9/8 1985, pp.594-608 Free settler or felon? Glass, Sydney and Porush, I., ‘The reasons for the Macquarie Street secession’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 3/1 1949, pp.6-14 Hunter, Cynthia, Horseshoe Bend Maitland: HIstorical Study, Prepared for Maitland City Council 2000 Levi, J.S. and Bergman, G.F.J., Australian Genesis: Jewish Convicts and Settlers, 1788-1850, Rigby, Adelaide 1974 Levi, John S., These Are the Names: Jewish Lives in Australia, Carlton Victoria, Miegunyah 2006 Marks, Ernest S, ‘Jewish voters in Sydney’s first election’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal,1/8 1942, pp.272- Marks, Ernest S., ‘An early census’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, II/II 1944, pp.79-87 Marks, Percy, ‘The Jewish pioneers’, Maitland Mercury, 7 January 1933 Mr Samuel Cohen (1812-1861), Former Members, Parliament of NSW Nathan, Lawrence, ‘Thirty-eight presidents’, Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 9/7 1984, pp.487-502 Rubinstein, Hilary L., The Jews in Australia: A Thematic History, Volume One 1788-1945, William Heinemann, Melbourne 1991 Wilton, Janis, ‘David Cohen and his siblings’, Maitland: Our Place, Our Stories, Maitland and District Historical Society 2026

Views of Maitland Record No.: P9
Created: 03/05/2008
By: Janis Wilton
Modified: 14/09/2026
By: Janis Wilton