Notes told in 1989 to Barbara Cohn Younger by Bobey (Lilian Bernson Cohn –recorded by Sallyann Cohn Levitan and edited by Barbara.
Abraham Louis (Al) Cohn’s father was Jacob Cohen, aka Miller. (I’ll get to that later). Jacob had six brothers: Joe, Philip, Harry, 2 others and a sister Pearl.
Al’s mother was Rebecca Aptaker (Aptaker means pharmacist), which someone in her family was, in Zaslav, Russia, where Rebecca (1872-1940) and Jacob (1869-1943) were married.
They had two daughters there: Dora, who married Sam Sax, an attorney. They lived in Brookline and had 2 daughters: Natalie died of anorexia in the 1940s, and
Ruth married and divorced Judah Rubin.
Jacob came to the U.S. before his wife and daughters and settled there in Portsmouth, where his brother Joseph had settled. Joseph was a farmer. His property was where the Portsmouth N.H. Traffic Circle on route 95 is now. Based on his meager wealth, he does not seem to have taken advantage of the location of his property. (Someday, someone should check with Portsmouth property files at City Hall to see exactly where his farm was—I was there as a child, so know there was a farm, but don’t know its exact location).
Jacob was a peddler and eventually made his way to Melrose, MA and opened a shoe store there. Rebecca and the daughters arrived from Russia and they had their first born son Abraham (Al) in 1898. Closely followed by Lena (Lee), David (1905), Jennie (Jean), Betty (1913), Ben and Melvin.
The Cohen-Miller cemetery plot where Jacob and Rebecca and some family members are buried is on route 99 in Melrose. It is called the Temple Hadrath Israel Cemetery. There are plans of the burial plots at the cemetery and perhaps on-line. Betty and Ben Miller and Diane, their daughter, who died as an infant are buried there. Betty Miller Freedman, who died of cancer at age 40 is buried there with her husband Hy. Esther Miller Rosenblatt is buried there as is her husband Sam Rosenblatt and their son Robert and perhaps Lee and Jean are buried there.
I don’t know how Jacob and Rebecca ended up in a big house in Jamaica Plain. When I was a child I remember visiting them at 47 Borroughs Street, right near Jamaica Pond and near the original sight of the Boston Children’s Museum. A visit to the grandparents always meant a visit to the Children’s Museum.
I have been in touch with Chuck Miller, the grandson of Ben and Betty Miller. Ben and Betty Miller’ son Robert, was the father of Chuck and his siblings, Alan, Brenda and John. Robert’s sister, (Ben and Betty’s daughter) is Elaine, owner of the Golden Past Antiques in Tuftonborough N.H. – that shop is now closed.
Chuck’s father, Robert and Paula Bragg had 4 children (Chuck and his sibs). Robert is deceased as of 2018. Chuck has a son, Kris, born in 1986. Chuck can be found on-line as Chuck the Writer. He also has a blog. He has written a number of books about music and art collectibles and photography.
He has won photography awards which you can find on his website. One of his books is a Warman’s book called Warman’s American Records 1950-2000. His grandmother, Betty Miller was a huge antiques fan and must have interested her daughter Elaine who owned the Golden Past Antiques in N.H. Chuck’s sister, Brenda or Bren, is also a writer and can be found on-line as BL Miller. She writes Lesbian Romance. Their brother Alan is deceased and their brother, John lives with Bren. They all live in or near Albany N.Y.
Now back to the Cohns. Al was the first American born child, but he was also a University of N.H. graduate. Other children too, graduated from college. Dora was a teacher. Melvin and David were lawyers. In fact, David was an assistant D.A. during Mayor Curley’s infamous days in office. All except Al changed their name to Miller. Aunt Lee told me it was because Jacob had been a miller in Russia. How she knew that is a puzzle, and whether he was is not known.
It is generally thought that they just wanted to Americanize their name. Al decided not to change his completely, because he was already known in business as Al Cohen. He did discreetly drop the “e”. He said his Army (W.W. I) discharge papers spelled the name “Cohn” so he went with it. And, Lilian, his wife (Bobey) was known from time to time to pronounce “Cohn” as if it rhymed with “John”. In the context of the time, immigrant families did not want to retain any foreign sounding name, let alone one that would identify them as Jewish. It wasn’t until the eighties that names like Jacob and Joshua and Samuel and Shoshanna carried pride.
Al’s mother, Rebecca Aptaker Cohen had 3 brothers, Louis, Abe and Nathan. At least one, Abe Aptaker, settled in Portsmouth and then in Haverhill.
Lilian Bernson was second to the youngest of her family, born in 1904. The first born was stillborn, then in 1896 Hyman was born. Then Louis, then Shirley, then Lilian and then Maurice (Mickey). Their mother was Ida Viticlefsky in Lithuania, and became Winer when the family moved to Salem MA. Ida was the oldest of nine. Gerald, Louis, Meyer, Harry, Barney, Etta, Sara and one other.
Ida met Gus Bernson (spelled Bernsohn in Brest-Lattovsk, Poland) in Salem. They were the first Jewish couple recorded as married in Salem. They are identified in the town records as “Hebrew” .
Gus had six brothers and sisters. Sam, Oscar, Louis, Bertha, Toby and Bessie. The only story Bobey could remember about the extended family of her father was that Sam adopted a daughter, Bertha, who lived with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Hymie. Bertha was anorexic, although it was not called that then. She ate only crackers and mustard. She went to Chicago and eventually died of malnutrition. She was cremated in Chicago and buried at the Salem Jewish Cemetery, which is actually in Danvers on route 114. That is also where Gus and Ida are buried.
In addition to their family, Ida and Gus raised Esther Gordon, a cousin whose family was deceased. I am named for Esther’s mother. Aunt Sally and I loved Esther. She was a working woman who never married, and seemed so glamorous to us. Bobey loved her too. Esther was raised as Bobey’s sister and Esther lived with Ida, her adopted mother until Ida died. Then she lived alone in an apartment on Lovett St. in Beverly and visited with us often. She worked in Edward’s Shoe Store in Salem. She was a heavy smoker and diedof cancer in the 1970s.
Bobey’s biological sister, Shirley, lived in New York. Her husband was Irving Oliphant. He was a “shady” character, always bringing expensive gifts to us when he came to visit. For example everyone always talked about the fur coat he brought to Sally when she was only about ten. You will see her wearing it in early photos of when we lived at 93 Elliot Street in Beverly. There are a few early photos of Shirley at Dane Street beach with our family. Bobey remained in touch with Shirley. We used to go to visit her in Brooklyn, N.Y. and she would come with her daughter Gail to visit in Beverly. Shirley and Irving divorced. Gail married Lawrence Abend (Dad and I went to the wedding) . Shirley died in the early 1960s, and although Bobey tried to stay in touch with Gail, contact waned. In 2000 I reached Gail and her children, Carl and Susan, who were single at the time and lived in N.Y. (Susan on Staten Island and Carl in Queens). The parents had divorced and they grew up mostly with their father, Larry Abend. On December 14, 2002 Jeff and Lori and Dad and I met all three for lunch at Lundy’s in NYC.
Contact with Gail has been unsuccessful since then. We have met with her daughter Susan in N.Y., in MA and Susan came for a weekend one summer, perhaps 2018. Contact continues.
Lilian (Bobey) was named Leah when she was born on April 27, 1904. Her parents called her Lillie. She didn’t like the date she was born on so she chose May first as her birthday and celebrated that day as her birthday all her life. In fact, her own children never knew the fact of her birthday until her birth certificate fell into our hands when she was 89 and she admitted that she had changed the date of her birthday on a whim and never told anyone. Bobey’s brother Maurice (Mickey) was wounded in W.W.II. He became a paraplegic, wheelchair bound. He always reminded us how difficult it is for people who need handicapped access such as parking spaces when others who don’t need the space take them. Even trying to take a wheelchair up one step is impossible without several strong arms to lift the entire chair. I remember his wife Helen having to call ahead to each place they were invited to to determine whether or not they could attend. From time to time they would come to our home in Hamilton because they could enter through the garage and stay in the downstairs playroom where we played bridge. Their children are Tom (deceased) and Ann, who lives in Hawaii. Aunt Sally and Uncle Leon were friendly with Ann because they went to Hawaii for several weeks at a time. I am sporadically in touch with Ann. Great lady!
Bobey’s brothers and her husband Al were in business together. The Bargain Syndicate in Beverly was the store. Various family members would tell differing stories but they did not get along and Al pulled out to start his own store, “Alcon’s” at 149 Cabot Street in Beverly, only a few stores away from the Bargain Syndicate. I think that was in 1945. It was principally a shoe store, but he catered also to men’s work/casual clothing and underwear. He started a true family business in a way that could not happen today. He lined the walls with empty boxes, stocked some open shelves with work pants and khakis, and put out plates of candy to make customers feel welcome. Once in the store he would take off one shoe to check the size needed and conveniently leave it under a chair a little away from the customer. With a variety of styles in various sizes, he hoped the customer would find a shoe to his liking, if not in his size and then Al would special order it for the next day. The following morning he would drive into Boston and buy that pair from the wholesaler and bring it back to Alcon’s. Eventually he was able to buy more stock and developed a good credit rating so he could buy larger amounts on credit. Alcon’s remained in Beverly, with Uncle “Brud” (that’s Arlen—when he and Sally were young they were called Brother, or Brud and Sister, or Sis. The name stuck for Arlen.) running the store with Ed Goren, Bob Torrey, Marilyn (last name?) and a wide array of Beverly High School students who always loved to have a part time Job at Alcon’s. Al died in 1966. Arlen closed the store 20 years later.
People continued to remember Alcon’s for years after it closed. They talk about memories of old fashioned credit given people who could not buy clothes and shoes without it. That credit was arranged in a little notebook in which a payment of $1 per week was entered and each item purchased would be recorded until the columns evened out. No finance charge. No time limit. The book might last a life-time. A creative kind of Tzedakah.
In addition to owning the store, Al was a political animal and ran for office locally in Beverly, becoming a ward Alderman, then an Alderman at large and a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1965.
(See Man of the Year tribute and obituary information.)