Henry’s fourth son, Joseph (c.1826–93), was born in London. At the Sydney Synagogue, on 2 October 1850, he married[1] Mary Hart (1835–1918) fifth daughter of Mr A[sher] Hart[2] of Sydney. The witnesses to the marriage were: Geo. Moss Sect., E[lias] Moses, A[braham] Cohen, Joseph Simmons Senr, S[olomon] Marks. The officiating clergyman was Jacob Isaacs. The Marriage Certificate states that Joseph’s address at the time was “Armidale, New England” and Mary’s address was “Sydney.” They settled initially at Armidale, NSW, then Launceston and finally at Murrurundi.
1850: Joseph “of Armidale” (marriage certificate)
1851: Joseph Cohen purchased town land lots at Tamworth, NSW. [///ref.]
Joseph Cohen was appointed a Justice of the Peace at Launceston in December 1857.[3]
The life of an Alderman on a town Council does not run smoothly: the following letter appeared in the Launceston Examiner on 10 June 1858:
Launceston,
9th June, 1858.
Gentlemen,—I am in receipt of a requisition from a certain number of
ratepayers and other inhabitants of the town of Launceston, wherein they state
that I have lost the confidence of the community, and calling upon me to resign
my seat in the Municipal Council .
Having
carefully examined and analised [sic]
the said requisition, I find only the signatures of a very small minority of
those electors who did me the honour of placing me in the position of Alderman
of the town. I therefore most respectfully and emphatically deny the assertion
that I have lost the confidence of the community. Under these circumstances I
must, with all due respect, decline to comply with the request of the
requisitionists.
I
have the honor to be,
Gentlemen,
Yours
very faithfully,
Joseph
Cohen.
Joseph was elected to the House of Assembly, for Launceston, in May 1860 and represented the electorate until the following year. The assessment roll for Launceston in March 1859 lists Joseph Cohen as occupier of a house and store in York Street, owned by Arthur J.[sic] Nathan[4], but he was not on the 1860 roll at that address. An address by the electors of Launceston to Joseph Cohen asking him to nominate for the seat vacated by Alexander Clerke into the House of Assembly and a reply by Cohen appeared in the Launceston Examiner 15 May 1860, p.3, c.5:
TO
JOSEPH COHEN, Esquire, Launceston.—Dear
Sir,—We the undersigned, Electors of Launceston, request that you
will allow yourself to be nominated to fill the seat in the House of Assembly
vacated by Alex Clerke, Esq., and in the event of your acceding pledge
ourselves to do the utmost in our power to ensure your return. And remain, dear
Sir, your’s faithfully,
[List of
123 undersigned names.[5]]
Launceston,
May 11 [1860]
Gentlemen,—In
accordance with the
above requisition, asking me to allow myself to be placed in nomination to
represent your interests in the House of Assembly, I at once hasten to comply
with your request, and if elected it will be my earnest desire to support such
measures as will tend towards the advancement of the colony generally. My
political principles are known to most of you; I therefore need not enumerate
them. I have nothing to gain by procuring a seat as your representative; I
shall therefore eschew all faction, and pursue an independent course of action,
voting on all questions which may come before the Parliament with only one
object, that of benefiting this my adopted country.
I remain,
gentlemen,
Your
faithful servant,
Joseph Cohen
The Biographical Register of the Tasmanian Parliament 1851–1960, prepared by Scott and Barbara Bennett, lists Joseph Cohen as follows:
Auctioneer.
born 1826 London?; son of Henry, merchant, convict, and Elizabeth née
Simmons; married 2 Oct 1850 Sydney, Mary Hart; at least 5 sons, 2 daughters;
brother E. Cohen MLA (Vic.). Died 1893? Jewish.
Arrived
Australia 1833?; lived Armidale, NSW?; possibly member of Cohen Bros,
auctioneers, Launceston; to Melbourne in
1860s? Executive committee Launceston Bank of Savings. Launceston City Council;
JP 1857; possibly JP (Vic.); Launceston Artillery Corps (Lieut.); president
Launceston Synagogue; possibly president East Melbourne Congregation; possibly
secretary Matzah Association (East Melbourne).
MHA
Launceston May 1860 – May 1861.
A photographic likeness of Joseph appears in the “1856–1895 Record of Members” (#55) on display in the Parliament of Tasmania building. This likeness is taken from the group photograph of the five surviving Cohen brothers taken probably in 1871 on the occasion of the death of the brother William.
By the time Henry made his Will in October 1866, Joseph had removed to Murrurundi, NSW. A Codicil (of the same date) states: “Whereas I have lately become surety for my son Joseph Cohen for the amount of One thousand Pounds . . .” I wonder what Joseph did with this £1000? Probably it was for re-establishing himself at Murrurundi.
The Murrurundi and District Historical Society advise:[6]
As
far as can be determined Joseph Cohen kept a store in Murrurundi that was
situated in Mayne Street at the junction of Boyd Street.
This was
very near what is now known as Cohen’s Gully and from what I can gather
from older residents it and Cohen Street would have been named after Joseph
Cohen.
The name of
Cohen again appears in the town’s history when in 1894 David Cohen &
Co. of Newcastle took over and operated what is now Dooleys Store with Joseph
Dooley being the resident manager.
J. Dooley
and Co. was formed in 1901. The Board of Directors at that time included Mr
George Cohen and Mr Samuel Cohen, Mr Septimus R. Levy as well as Mr Joseph
Dooley.[7]
On Henry’s death, Joseph’s share of the estate was a life interest in the income from “two houses in Hunter Street Sydney known as numbers 19 and 21.” On the death of Joseph and his wife, the legacy passed to their sons Henry and James.
Joseph and Mary had seven[?] children:
Nathan (1852–1853). On 3 November 1852, Mrs. Joseph Cohen bore a son at Armidale, New England.[8] Nathan died at Hunter Street, Sydney, 25 January 1853, aged 14 months.[9]
Henry (1853–____), born[10] at Sydney, __________ 1853.
James Lewis (1854–____), born[11] at Launceston, Tasmania, 14 October 1854.
Edward Meyer (1857–____), born[12] at Launceston, 21 November 1857.
Florence (1859–____), born[13] at Launceston, 9 August 1859.
Adolphus John (1863–____) born at ?Launceston. Adolphus John died at Wynyard Square, Sydney, 2 April 1865, aged 15 months.[14]
Frank S. (1868–____), born[15] at Sydney, __________ 1868.
Joseph died at Woollahra in 1893.[16] No record found of Mary’s death between 1889–1918.
