Alfred A. Cohen

Alfred Andrew Cohen (July 17, 1829 – November 16, 1887) served as president of the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad (SF&A). This was the second railroad system in Alameda County in 1863; under Cohen's direction it acquired the first railroad, the San Francisco and Oakland Railroad (SF&O). More significantly, he became the chief attorney for the Central Pacific Railroad, i.e., the attorney for "The Big Four", when the SF&A and SF&O were acquired by the Central Pacific.

In a related note, 19th century gifts were quite impressive ... below is a beautiful sterling silver speaking trumpet which A.A. Cohen gave as a gift "From A.A. Cohen, President of the S.F. & Oakland R.R. Co., TO W.E. Bushnell, Master of the Co's Steamer, El Capitan"

A.A. Cohen to W.E. Bushnell ¹

Family and Early Career

Alfred Andrew Cohen was born on July 17, 1829, in London, England, to Andrew Cohen and Hannah Oppenheim (Cohen), part of a wealthy merchant family. According to The Story of Fernside, when King William IV of England freed all slaves in his kingdom in 1833, this was bad news for the Cohen family since one of their major holdings was a coffee plantation in Jamaica. The family moved out of London to Exeter in Devonshire. ³ He completed his formal education at a school in Exeter, South West England when he was 14 years old, when his parents sent him to Canada, where he worked as an errand boy. In 1847, Cohen joined his older brother in Jamaica in the West Indies. After schooling, Alfred returned to London to work for a solicitor.

In 1849, during the California gold rush, Cohen sailed from New York to California, arriving in 1850. He engaged in a commission business in San Francisco. On July 17, 1854, he married Emilie Gibbons in San Francisco. Two years later, they moved to Alameda, which became his permanent home. He and Emilie had seven children, including photographer Edgar A. Cohen. ^4,5

By 1852, he'd come to San Francisco, and was quite successful. On July 17, 1854, he married Emma Grace Poole Gibbons (June 12, 1834 – October 6, 1924), the daughter of well-to-do San Francisco physician Henry Donaldson Gibbons and Martha Sharples Poole Gibbons. Alfred and Emma had 7 children, the best known of which was Alfred H. Cohen, the young Oakland attorney who married Emma Bray and lived in the Cohen-Bray House.

After a banking scandal in 1855 and some time in jail to study up on the law, Alfred passed the bar in 1857. By 1859, he'd moved his family to Alameda, purchasing a property that later became the Fernside neighborhood.

He was elected Justice of the Peace in Alameda County. In 1862, he retired from practicing law to construct a ferry and railroad system.

Fernside, by Bradley & Rulofson

In 1872, Cohen built a 250 acre family estate in Fernside, Alameda. The mansion was destroyed by fire on March 23, 1897, including an art gallery with paintings, furniture, and a library. The home was unoccupied at the time of the fire.

Railroad

In 1863 Cohen together with Charles Minturn, E. B. Mastick, and others, incorporated the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad to provide passenger and freight ferry-train service to Alameda, San Leandro, and Hayward. This was the first railroad system in Alameda County. Cohen became president of SF&A. ^9,10

In 1865, Cohen gained control of the overextended San Francisco and Oakland Railroad. In April 1868, Central Pacific Railroad's (CPRR) The Big Four: Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Collis Huntington, and Mark Hopkins, decided to make Oakland the western terminus of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. CPRR's subsidiary purchased the majority of stock of the struggling SF&O from Cohen in August 1868, while retaining Cohen on the CPRR payroll as a lawyer. In August 1869 the CPRR subsidiary also purchased most of the stock of SF&A, bankrupt by the 1868 Hayward earthquake. ¹⁰ In 1875, Cohen was instrumental in bringing a transfer of CPRR to the Southern Pacific Railroad.⁶

In 1876, Cohen advocated for the passage of a bill to regulate fares and freights. The CPRR began action against him, entitled, "The Central Pacific Railroad Co. vs. Alfred A. Cohen." This judgment was rendered in Cohen's favor. He then returned to private practice, continuing to provide legal services while maintaining his involvement with the CPRR as advisory counsel.

Novelist Jules Verne met Cohen in 1867 on board the SS Great Eastern and made him, with his wife, passengers and characters of the ship in his novel A Floating City.^11,12

Death and Burial

Cohen family marker
photo CC SA-BY from Our Oakland

Cohen died on November 16, 1887, in Sidney, Nebraska, from paralysis while traveling on a Central Pacific train returning to San Francisco from the East Coast. ^2,10 He had written his wife Emma that he was ill, and she met up with him in Chicago. Son William and his wife were also aboard the train when he died. ² His remains were returned to the Bay Area, and Alfred was buried in the family lot at Mountain View Cemetery. Son William Gibbons Cohen (May 29, 1855 – March 9, 1928) is buried there. Son Edgar Andrew Cohen (September 23, 1859 – April 7, 1939) who was a well-known photographer, and his son, Alfred Booth Cohen (August 13, 1887–November 2, 1953) and daughter Beatrice A. Booth (October 7, 189 1 – November 12, 1904) are also buried there.

Many of Cohen's biographical materials and railroad documents are housed in the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, and cover such topics as biographical outlines, legal documents related to the Central Pacific Railroad stock manipulation, and letters and telegrams.^14.15,16

Publications

Arguments of the Hon. Edward Stanly, of Counsel for the Receiver, and T.W. Park, Esq., of Counsel for Alvin Adams. With the Charge of the Court, at the Trial of Alfred A. Cohen on a Charge of Embezzlement, in the Case of Adams & Co., by H.M. Naglee, Receiver, Versus Alfred A. Cohen : in the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District of the State of California : Hon. John S. Hager, Presiding, March, 1856.