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Fifty-two-year-old Mary Miller Cohen (b. 1851)
was born Merke Millenthaler and adopted the
name Mary Miller when she came to America. She and
her husband, Jacob J. Cohen (1855–1928), married in
Russia in 1873 and immigrated to the United States
in 1876, first settling in Pennsylvania and moving
to Chicago around 1886. In 1903 they lived at 222
Ogden Avenue in Chicago. Her body was taken to
Gavin's funeral home and was identified by her
oldest son, twenty-four-year-old Herman Cohen (1878–
). Mary gave birth to ten children, of which eight
survived as of 1900. Her youngest child was eight
years old when Mary died. Jacob worked as a window
glazer.
In 1900 a twenty-three-year-old Goldir Witkowsky
(1876– ) lived with the Cohen family, identified as
a cousin. She was two years younger than Mary and a
seamstress who emigrated from Russia in 1885. One of
Jacob and Mary's daughters was also named Goldir.
One of Mary's brothers also lived with the Cohen
family in 1900: Louis Miller (Millenthaler).
Thirty-three-year-old Yetta Millenthaler Witkowsky
(b. 1870) lived at 336 W. 12th Street. She was taken
to Rolston's Funeral Home, where her body was
identified by her husband, Morris Witkowsky
(1872–1918).
Yetta had emigrated from Poland in 1894 and Morris
in 1892. They married in 1896 and had three
daughters who were aged three, five, and eight when
Yetta died.
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Morris worked as a junk
dealer and operated a second-hand shop in the
Maxwell Street area, home in 1903 to many immigrant
peddlers and junk operators. The city collected
roughly $50 each from 137 licensed junk dealers in
1900, many of whom were described as Jewish and from
eastern Europe. Witkowsky was prosperous enough by
1910 to purchase his home. Morris Witkowsky married
again in March 1905 to Tillie Switt, with whom he
had three children.
Mary and Yetta were the daughters of Shmuel Ezekiel
Millenthaler and Sara Dwora Bat Wolf. Many thanks to
Amy Chesshire for helping to verify that Yetta and
Mary were sisters.
In the years after the fire
In November 1904, the families filed suit against
the theater owners for $10,000 each for the deaths
of Mary and Yetta. John D. Casey was the administrator.
A mystery
In May 1905, a Salt
Lake City newspaper reported that Jacob had come to
the city to post $150 bail for his son, William, who
had been charged with forging a check to a local
merchant. The story reported that the Cohen family
had had more than its share of troubles in recent
times. It cited the deaths of Mary and her sister
and stated that he had also lost two daughters. None
of Jacob and Mary's children died at the Iroquois,
however, nor did any of Yetta's, nor were there
other victims with similar last names.
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Discrepancies and addendum
Sometimes Mary's last name was spelled Cohn.
Her maiden name, Millenthaler, was Americanized as Miller.
Yetta's last name was spelled as Witowsky,
Witkovsky, Witkofsky and Witkovilsky
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