Mr. E. Cohen

Name: E. Cohen, d.2/21/1941

Family: Wife, Jennie, children, Fannie, Harry, Julius and Lena

Isaac Israel Cohen preferred to be called E. He was also called Judge Cohen, an honorary title. He was charter member of the Durham Hebrew Congregation in 1902 and led the Chevra Kadisha for many years. E. Cohen is also listed among those who broke away from the congregation in 1913 to create the Chevra B'nai Jacob, a short-lived alternative gathering.

In the 1920s, Cohen performed the kaparot, scapegoat rite, swinging a rooster over his head as expiation of sin -- a Yom Kippur ritual he performed each year, according to Jewish historian Leonard Rogoff.

He lived in Durham until the 1930s when he moved to southern Virginia to be near his sister, said Allen Dew. His tombstone bears a Masonic emblem. He died in 1941 while living with his daughter, Fannie, in Scranton, Pa.