Bro. Cohn was born at Dobizyn on the German-Russian frontier, April 19, 1841. He was not favored with a college education, and never attended any but common schools of his native town. At the age of eighteen years he left his parental roof and crossing the Atlantic ocean arrived in New York, April 15, 1859, where he found employment as a clerk in a mercantile establishment. Not being familiar with the English language he had contend with many obstacles, but being full of courage he started by the way of the Isthmus of Panama for the Golden Shore of the Pacific, and landed in San Francisco, Cal., April 20, 1861.

Bro. Cohn remained in San Francisco for a short time during which he made acquaintance of some wholesale business houses who furnished him with a sufficient stock of goods to start a small general store in Poker Flat, a small but at that time prosperous mining town in Sierra County, Cal., which has since been made famous by Brete Hart’s Story, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat.” The next year he opened another store in Howland Flat and a third one in St. Louis, same county, doing a thriving business in each one. But as the diggings ceased to weald the golden kernels, and the three towns “played out,” he was forced to look for “greener fields and pastures new.”

Bro. Cohn having all the characteristics of a frontier hustler in him and being of a quick and resolute nature it took him but a few days to perfect plans for his future course. The Mormon Zion being then considered a good business point, even as it is today, and having fixed his eyes upon it he hitched up a team of horses, which he drove by way of Virginia City and Austin, Nev., and through the great Utah Desert, shipping his stock of goods by a mule train.

Arriving in Great Salt Lake City, in October, 1865, where without much fuss he opened a store in a two-story adobe building, immediately north of where the Desert National Bank Building stands now.

In those days it was uphill work for an outsider to carry on business in Zion, but Bro Cohn was always fearless and he was one of a few who remained, where, now some thirty years ago the “power that be” attempted to drive every merchant not of their faith out of the City and Territory. He was harassed but they could not down him. But that was not all a merchant had to contend with in “these valleys of the mountains” in the earlier days. To replenish his stock on goods necessitated a stage trip at least once a year to the Missouri river, and from there by railroad to the Atlantic sea coast. What a stage trip of over 1000 miles, through an unsettled country with bad water and food, and the Indians in ambush was at that time, only those can tell who made them. It required nerve and endurance to face the danger that was continually by the side and ahead of the traveler.

Bro. Cohn, however, never tired. He made these trips year after year, until the Union Pacific Railroad ran its Pullman cars from Omaha to Ogden. And so he labored with body and brain ever since coming here and having applied himself assiduously to his business, never wavering even not in the hours of reverses which he always met manfully, he is rewarded by standing today in the forefront as a merchant in our City and State.

Bro. Cohn was naturalized an American citizen in California previous to the second election of President Abraham Lincoln, for whom he cast his first vote, and he has been a staunch and uncompromising Lincoln Republican ever since. He never was an orator, but when his Republican spirit is aroused he can hold his own with the best of them in expounding the principles of his party. In the early days national politics were unknown in Utah; but when later the American citizens formed the liberal party, he aligned himself with it, and soon was one of its most prominent guides. In November, 1889, the liberal party recognizing his zealous work and his practical business qualifications elected him a City Councilman, which office he held for two years. In November, 1893, the voters having divided on political party lines, he was again elected a Councilman, holding the office two years. In 1897 he was appointed a member of the Fire and Police Commission, holding the office one year. In each office he has done his duty without fear of favor, leaving behind him an enviable record. Since then, he has retired from actual politics, devoting all his time and attention to his business and family; but he never misses a primary, and his straight Republican vote can always be counted on at any election.

The happiest day of Brother Cohn was April 23, 1876, when he and Miss Carrie Lipman joined hands “for better or for worse” at the home of the bride’s parents in New York City. Their union has been blessed with two cultured and accomplished daughters, who are the just pride of their parents. Wherever they are, there is music and sunshine, and with their true and ever charitable mother, make the home of Bro. Cohn on East South Temple street, a happy one indeed.

Bro. Cohn has well deserved the honor he has received as a Mason. He was initiated in St. Louis Lodge No. 86, at St. Louis, California June 7th, passed June 14th and raised June 21st in the year 1865. A few weeks after his arrival in Salt Lake City, he noticed an advertisement in “The Vedette” calling upon all Masons to attend a meeting in the Odd Fellows Hall for the purpose of organizing a Lodge. He being yet a very young Mason and desirous to improve in the science of the Craft, hailed the opportunity with great joy and was one of the first eight Brethren who petitioned the Grand Master of Nevada for a dispensation to open and hold a Lodge of Masons in the Capital of the Mormon Kingdom. The Lodge was instituted February 5, 1866, and was named Mt. Moriah Lodge. Bro. Cohn being its first Senior Deacon. The Grand Lodge of Nevada after refusing twice to grant the Lodge a charter discontinued the Dispensation and gave each Member a dimit. Thus they were without an organization, but that did not discourage them. They applied to Grand Master S. A. Adams of Kansas who granted a Dispensation to Mt. Moriah Lodge, which received a charter from the Grand Lodge of Kansas, October 21, 1868.

Of that Lodge Bro. Cohn was Senior Deacon until 1871 when he was elected Senior Warden and in 1872 he was elevated to the East. He was a strict ritualist, an excellent and firm presiding officer and at all times and under all circumstances a devoted Mason. He served the Lodge with fervency and zeal and it prospered under his administration.

When in January, 1872, the Masters and Wardens of the three Salt Lake City Lodges met to consider the establishment of a Grand Lodge in the Territory of Utah, Bro. Cohn lost no time to offer a resolution by which the organization was perfected. At the election of Grand Officers he was chosen as Deputy Grand Master, which office he held till November 12, 1873, when he was elected Grand Master. He presided over the destinies of the Grand Lodge till November 10, 1874. He having made Masonry a study and being well versed in parliamentary law, just in all his acts and never hasty in his decisions, it goes without saying that he made an ideal Grand Master.

The address he delivered at the third Annual Communication will stand for many years to come a Monument to his skill as a Mason, his warm heart as a man and his ability as a writer. He was a member of the Jurisprudence Committee from June 1875 to 1880, and for the following ten years its chairman. During these many years he was a leading factor of the Grand Lodge, never failing to do his whole duty. January 13, 1885 Grand Master P. L. Williams, appointed him Grand Treasurer to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Grand Treasurer Samuel Kahn.

Bro. Cohn’s only love in Free Masonry is the Blue Lodge. He never had any desire to take any so-called higher Degrees, not even for a gift. He lived a Master Mason and when his clock strikes low twelve Master Masons will stand around his grave and deposit their sprig of Acacia on the coffin in which he sleeps the final sleep.

His Lodge is number 1, Grand Lodge No. 2. He is a member of the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast since 1874.

The Masonic Public Library could always count on the support of Bro. Cohn. While a member of the Salt Lake City Council he seized every opportunity to assist the Pioneer Library with funds from the City Treasury. His own experience had taught him the value of books, and he used his best efforts to place books in the Home of every Citizen.

Brother Cohn died on July 2, 1918 in Oakland, California