Dates: 1893-1971.

Biography:

Cohn Family

M. Heiman Cohn emigrated from France to Rodney, Claiborne County, Mississippi, in the late 1860s. Cohn worked for a merchant in Rodney until he and his brother, L. Joseph Cohn, received financing to establish a general merchandise store in 1874. They opened for business in Clifton, Jefferson County, in 1875. Another brother, R. Lehmann Cohn, soon joined them in business. M. Heiman Cohn returned to France around 1882 in order to marry, leaving the operation of the store to his brothers until he returned to the United States in 1890. The Cohn brothers built a new store in Lorman, Jefferson County, in 1890, which they continued to operate until their respective deaths. Dan, Henry, and Sylvan Cohn operated the store after the death of their father, M. Heiman Cohn. They also owned a cotton gin, which was located across the road from the store. The cotton gin was in operation from at least 1901 until it burned in the mid-1950s.

The Cohn family ran the store exclusively until July of 1956, when longtime employee Ernest T. Breithaupt and Heiman Cohn, a grandson of founder M. Heiman Cohn, bought the remaining interest of the other Cohn family members. Breithaupt bought the interest of Heiman Cohn in January of 1964, and he renamed the business the Old Country Store. Breithaupt and his wife, Ruth, operated the store for over thirty years. Ruth Breithaupt and her children decided to sell the store and its contents after the death of Ernest T. Breithaupt in November of 1995. Larry A. McCool auctioned the contents of the store in March of 1996. The building was refurbished, and it reopened as a restaurant in 1997.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of three ledgers, three cotton books, and miscellaneous papers associated with the general merchandise store of the Cohn Brothers (Old Country Store) in Lorman, Jefferson County, Mississippi.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Ledgers. 1897-1901. 3 volumes.
The three ledgers record individual sales on a monthly basis from 1897 to 1901. The entries include the customer’s name, the items sold, and the prices paid. Examples of items sold include ammunition, clothing, meat, medicine, sewing items, and tobacco products. The Breithaupts apparently used the back portion of the 1897 ledger as a guest register for the Old Country Store. It records the names and addresses of visitors to the store from 1969 to 1971.

Box 2 
Box 3

 

Series 2: Account Books. 1893-1913. 5 folders.
The cottonseed account book (1893-1897) contains entries under two separate headings: "Port Gibson Oil Works" and "Seed." The entries under both headings include the customer’s name; the number of sacks, weight, and price of cottonseed; and the date. The cotton account book (1901-1903) is divided into two sections, and it includes an index. The first section concerns square-bale cotton, and it contains the customer’s name, the number and weight of bales produced, and the date. The second section concerns round-bale cotton, and the entries are divided into two columns for receipts and shipments. The entries record the number of cotton bales received or shipped, their weight, and the date. The cotton account book (1912-1913) documents the purchase and resale of cotton and the profits or losses from these transactions.

Box 1, folders 2-6

 

Series 3: Papers (Miscellaneous). 1919; n.d. 1 folder.
Among the miscellaneous papers are a letter and a photograph. The letter was written by Leroy Wells to his sister, Annie, on March 18, 1919, while he was stationed with the American Expeditionary Forces in Marseilles, France, during World War I. Wells wrote of his desire to return home, and he inquired about family members and friends. The undated photograph is of an unidentified man. Printed on the verso is "John Rippel, Photographer, Broadway, Milton, Pa."

Box 1, folder 1

 

Box List:

Box 1, folders 1-6: account books, 1893-1913. 
Box 2: ledgers, 1900-1901. 
Box 3: ledger, 1897.