Gershon Cohen

In August 1779, Charleston merchant Gershon (also spelled Gershom) Cohen (1748–1802) married Rebecca Sarzedas (1761–1840) before serving under Captain Richard Lushington (1751–1790) and fighting in the Siege of Savannah the following month. When the rebels failed to retake the city, Gershon was sent back to Charleston where Rebecca was likely managing their store in his absence. Indeed, according to historian Rabbi Barnett A. Elzas (1867–1936), The Royal Gazette and The Royal South-Carolina Gazette featured advertisements for the Cohens’ store while Gershon served in the military.

Back in South Carolina, Gershon fought in the Siege of Charleston in May 1780 and was taken as a prisoner of war for twelve months. He was released prior to the British evacuation in December 1782 and likely returned to the family shop at 69 Queen Street. In 1783, he moved the business to 90 Church Street, where the Cohens sold dry goods, alcohol, iron, window glass, and an assortment of other goods.

In 1786, a fire broke out in Gadsden’s Alley between Broad and Elliott streets, destroying the Cohens’ livelihood nearby. Nonetheless, Gershon and Rebecca rebuilt their lives, and in the 1790 census, the family, and the six people they enslaved, were listed at 22 Church Street. Two years later, the Cohens oversaw and advanced significant contributions to the construction of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim’s first synagogue, which was destroyed in an 1838 fire. In 1795, Gershon announced the development of a brokerage line where he dealt in the sale of enslaved people, land, and produce. Upon his death in 1802, Gershon Cohen was buried in Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim’s Coming Street Cemetery.

After her husband’s death, Rebecca was listed in Negrin’s Directory as a shop keeper at 240 King Street in 1802 and 1806. After years spent operating a store and raising her children in Charleston, Rebecca died in 1840 while living with her son Philip (1781–1866) in New York City.