Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
I. E. COHN, M. D., 
 
was born at Brandenburg, Germany, in 1852, while his parents were there on a 
visit. His father, Rev. Elkin Cohn, D. D., is a native of Germany, and a 
graduate of the Berlin University. He has officiated as the Rabbi of the Jewish 
Temple Immanuel, at San Francisco, for nearly thirty years. His mother, nee 
Caroline Levaillaut, was a native of Switzerland, and was born at Yverdun, 
Canton de Vaux. She was a niece of the celebrated Parisian chemist of the same 
name. She died at San Francisco in 1880, at the age of fifty-five years. Rev. 
Elkin Cohn and his wife were both of Hebrew ancestors. With the exception of 
time spent in Europe, the Doctor was reared in San Francisco. When fourteen 
years of age he was sent to Berlin, Prussia, to complete his education, and 
while there he began the study of medicine. In 1871, returning to America, he 
entered the Medical College of the Pacific at San Francisco, from which he 
graduated as M. D. in 1881. In that year he received the appointment of 
superintending surgeon of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and in 
connection with the same was also appointed to a like position by the Oregon 
Railway and Navigation Company. In 1884 he located in the Central Hospital of 
the Northern Pacific Railway Company at Missoula, Montana, and directed the 
company's medical affairs from that point until the latter part of 1885, when, 
resigning on account of poor health, he came to Los Angeles and established 
himself in medical practice. Dr. Cohn was married in 1879, at Oakland, 
California, to Miss Effie C. Case, daughter of the late Captain Elijah Case, one 
of the oldest pioneers of California. She was born at San Francisco, where she 
was reared and educated. The Doctor is not only a good English scholar, but also 
speaks the German and French languages fluently. He is now engaged in 
translating into English Hyrtle's "Topographical Anatomy." He is the author of 
several medical works, viz: "Epitome of the History of Anatomy," " The Influence 
of Essential Oil Bearing Plants on Malaria," " Railroad Surgery as a Specialty," 
"Concussion of the Brain and Spinal Cord in Railroad Accidents," etc. He is the 
inventor of the emergency cot, now so extensively used in railroad accidents. 
Dr. Cohn is a prominent Freemason, having attained to the thirty-second degree 
of that order.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 724
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler