Dilah Kohn was in the last years of her life when she arrived in the United States from Bavaria in 1847. She was a widow, and the name of her husband has been lost. Accompanied by four of her children, she was on her way to Chicago, where three other sons—Abraham, Moses, and Julius—had settled a few years prior.

The Kohn brothers had left the Bavarian village of Monchsrothn in 1842, sailed for the United States, and took to the roads of New England as peddlers. Within two years, they had moved to Chicago and opened a retail and wholesale dry goods store. The brothers were among the founders of Chicago’s Jewish community and helped to establish the city’s first congregation, Kehilath Anshe Ma’ariv. In fact, according to lore, Dilah plays a part in that story.

As the story goes, she was strictly observant and refused to eat meat that was not slaughtered according to the laws of kashrut. Seeing his mother’s frail condition upon her arrival, Abraham was moved to found a congregation that would be able to maintain a rabbi and shochet.

Abraham would go on to play a role in civic life in Chicago and the state of Illinois. In 1860, he was elected city clerk. He was an enthusiastic Republican and supporter of Lincoln. In 1861, Abraham sent the new president a gift: an American flag on which was inscribed six verses from the Book of Joshua, including these lines: “I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage.”