Dedicated to the memory of my late wife Sara Glasgow Cogan whose three bibliographical works on the history of California Jewish Immigrants from on, published by the Magnes Museum and the Western Jewish History Center, Berkeley, sparked my curiosity about the history of Bath's immigrants decades ago. In the 's we boasted we were Litvaks or Russian Jews or Polish Jews; today in the 21st Century, we talk about ourselves as the diaspora from Bath, Maine.
My mother called me Nehemiah. I was named after my grandfather Nathan Franklin Petlock ? Upon arrival, his Hebrew name Nehemiah was transformed into Nathan, which was considered "Yankee" and more acceptable. So I am first generation born in America since my mother Dora came over on the boat with the rest of Nathan's family in In I moved West to Portland, Oregon; then after military service in Korea I moved on to Berkeley for graduate work in English and, later, in , back to Portland, Oregon where my late wife and I raised our three sons.
As a child of 19th Century European born parents, I grew up the proud son of Morris Cohen the cantor , an influential force in the creation of Beth Israel, the Bath synagogue, or shul. I retain strong impressions of my formative years and a happy sensenthough tinged with the knowledge that comes with maturityβof the Jewish community that once thrived in Bath, but was then getting old and dying.
My interest in Bath's history itself was sparked tangentially by the local Rotary Club's 8th grade essay contestβheld in βin which I wrote about the burning of the Old South Church in by a Know Nothing mob. That scene is embodied in two oil paintings, one housed in the Patten Free Library and the other in the Rotary Club itself. And since I grew up in a house built on the site of the church that had burned down, curiosity consumed me and I became increasingly interested in the events and the people who made up the history of Bath.
Over two years ago I discovered the synagogue's charter on the Internet, and I began to realize what a profound statement it made about the accomplishments and the desires of the immigrants in Bath, especially how blessed they felt being part of the Bath community and about being "American. Let me say at the outset that I have revised some of these notes as a talk. My remarks are meant to be suggestive and I would love to open up this discussion to your questions, comments, and participation.
