Jacob I. Cohen

Jacob I. Cohen was a U.S. merchant and banker. He came to America in 1773 from Oberdorf, Germany, and in 1780 settled in Richmond. In Richmond he became a successful banker and merchant, and was much honored by the citizens of his city. He was active in Masonic and Jewish affairs, and was a founder of the first Richmond synagogue, Beth Shalom. For the last 17 years of his life he lived in Philadelphia where he was the pillar of the city’s Mikveh Israel Congregation and served as its president during 1810–11. Cohen was a slave-owner, but in his will he ordered his black slaves were to be freed and each one given $25.00.