The fascinating story of the Cohen Family of Reserve Mines.

Subject: Lynn Cohen and the Cohen Family Interviewer: N/A Date: May 26, 2010 Interview Location: Ottawa, ON Length of Time: 54:56 -Lynn is introduced by Barry Carp. He discusses the family history in Cape Breton Nova Scotia and Ottawa. -Lynn begins her lecture. -The Cohen family came to Canada in the early 1900’s. They fled the tsar and restrictive government in Lithuania. -Yeheil (?) Cohen was Lynn’s great grandfather. His 3 eldest children came to Canada and New York in 1895 and he followed them with the remaining 3 children; including Moshe Cohen, Lynn’s grandfather. -Glace Bay Cape Breton had become a jewish community on the coast with 90 families living there; however this quickly dwindled as all of the children left for cities. -Yeheil Cohen passed away in 1913. -Yehil’s daughters Fanny and Rebecca both married and had children at a young age; Lynn discusses how this was common of the time. Fanny married Bernard Green and Rebecca married Hyman Brody. -Sophie Weinberg (?), Lynn’s grandmother, arrived in Canada in the early 1900’s. Rebecca and Hyman Brody thought she would be a good match for Moshe Cohen. The two were married in 1906. -In 1906 Sophie and Moshe Cohen were the only jewish family living in the Reserve Mines of Cape Breton. Sophie ran the general store and took care of the household while Moshe taught himself english and law. Sophie was prominent in Cohen family memory as she did everything for the family. -Lynn speaks of her own memories spending 3 weeks with her grandparents every summer. She recalls running around with her cousins, picking blueberries in the park, and collecting eggs from the chickens. Lynn spent every summer in Reserve Mines until she was 12 years old. -She continues on to talk about Hyman and Rebecca Brody. They lived and raised their children in Glace Bay. By 1941 all of their children had grown and left Nova Scotia, this left the elderly couple living alone. In this year the couple were murdered by one of their tenants. The murder shook the community and was immortilized in the movie The Bay Boy (1984). -Later in 1941 the Cohen family suffered another tragedy as in December the Mount Allison dormitory fire broke out while Goodman Cohen was living there. Goodman Cohen was Lynn’s father and Lynn tells the story of his heroism as he saved many of his friends from the fire but unfortunately suffered a broken back from his escape. -Lynn then discusses the Cohen family in Cuba. One of Sophie’s siblings whose name was lost had a daughter named Clara. Clara and her husband Jose immigrated to Cuba and opened a store and had 2 children. -Sophie and Clara kept in constant communication throughout their lives. -Lynn talks about the trauma Clara went through after she learnt about the holocaust following World War II. -One of Sophie's sons, Dave Cohen, travelled to Havana in 1953 with his Ottawa baseball team and became very close to Clara Cohen. -Lynn also mentions the family connection to Fidel Castro who studied with one of the Cohen cousins. -Lynn then returns to the Ottawa Cohen’s. Moshe and Sophie had 7 children; Rose, Sam, Ethel, Louis, Joe, David, and Goodman. -Lynn begins by talking about David. The family commonly calls him the most influential of his siblings as all except for Ethel followed him to Ottawa. -Dave enlisted in the army in 1939 and while he never saw battle in Europe he was injured while in Ottawa and spent a year in the hospital. -Dave married Queenie Levin in 1942 and then opened a shoe store on Bank Street. This shoe store eventually turned into 5 shoe stores in Ottawa and his children say his ideas about sales were ahead of his time. Lynn recalls his loyal employees and the relationship David had with them. -Lynn talks about how David took family very seriously and how he considered his nieces and nephews his children. -David was not very religious in his early life; however when Sophie passed away and after visiting Israel in 1967 he returned to religion. -David is remembered as a regular at Rideauview Golf Club as he golfed everyday he could into his 80’s. -Lynn then speaks about Rosie and Joe; while both never married they lived together in Ottawa for close to 30 years. Sophie, Rosie, and Joe moved to Ottawa together and lived at Gladstone and Metcalfe. Rosie took care of Joe’s health his whole life and the family recalls them bickering like an old married couple. Joe was a notorious bridge player and Rosie was known for her friendliness and chatty demeanor. -Rosie taught in the Reserve Mines schoolhouse before coming to Ottawa and was an avid penman; she wrote weekly letters to her sister Ethel in New York. Lynn has fond memories of Rosie and considered her a grandmother all her life. -Lynn then discusses Ethel Cohen. Ethel left Nova Scotia and moved to Brooklyn, New York where she married Eddie Goodman. END OF SIDE 1 Side two was recorded over by a meeting so the lecture cuts off abruptly and the second half is no longer on the tape (part of the meeting is in the recording, I thought they were maybe related. The lecture ends at 47:40, the minutes after that are the meeting)