Mary Ann Magnin (1850–1943) was a Dutch-American businesswoman. She was the co-founder of

I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, ...

, an upscale "specialty store" in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Early life

Mary Ann Cohen was born in 1850 in

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

.Kahn, Ava F.. "Mary Ann Cohen Magnin." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on December 7, 2014) .Harriet Rochlin, Fred Rochlin, ''Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000 , pp. 176-17

/ref>Jeanne E. Abrams, ''Jewish Women Pioneering the Frontier Trail: A History in the American West'', New York City: New York University Press, 2006, pp. 123-12

/ref> Her father was a rabbi. She immigrated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with her parents, settling in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where she grew up.

Career

In the wake of the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

, she decided to immigrate to the West coast of the United States with her husband and children.Anne Evers, ''Emporium Department Store'', Arcadia Publishing, 2014, p.

/ref> They arrived in San Francisco in 1875, traveling via

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

. She established a clothing store in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, where she sold baby clothes, lingerie, and bridal trousseaux.Robert P. Swierenga, ''The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora'', Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1994, pp. 309-31

/ref>James David Hart, ''A Companion to California: Newly Revised and Expanded with Illustrations'', Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1987, p. 29

/ref> Two years later, in 1877, she moved the business to a larger store in San Francisco, and it became known as

.Virginia G. Drachman, ''Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business'', Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press Books, 2002, p. 7

/ref> Even though she retired in 1900, she kept visiting her store daily until her death.

Personal life

She married

Isaac Magnin Isaac Magnin (1842–1907) was a Dutch-born American businessperson, Carving, carver and Gilding, gilder. He was the co-founder of I. Magnin, an upscale women's clothing store in San Francisco, California. Early life Isaac Magnin (or Moeijen) was ...

on October 8, 1865, at the

Great Synagogue of London The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. Built north of Aldgate in the 17th century, it was destroyed during World War II, in the Blitz. History The earliest Ashkenazi synagog ...

. She was only fifteen years old. They had eight children: Samuel, Henrietta, Joseph, Emanuel John, Victor, Lucille, Flora, and Grover. They resided at the

Saint Francis Hotel The Westin St. Francis, formerly known as St. Francis Hotel, is a hotel located on Powell and Geary Streets on Union Square, San Francisco, California. The two 12-story south wings of the hotel were built in 1904, and the double-width north wing ...

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

. San Francisco artist May Slessinger painted miniature portraits of Mary Ann Magnin and her son Grover.

Death

She died on December 15, 1943, in San Francisco, California. She was ninety-four years old. She is buried at

Hills of Eternity Memorial Park Hills of Eternity Memorial Park, also known as Giboth Olam, is a Jewish cemetery founded in 1889, and is located at 1301 El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real, in Colma, California. This cemetery is owned by Congregation Sherith Israel (San ...

in Colma, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnin, Mary Ann 1850 births 1943 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from San Francisco American fashion businesspeople American people of Dutch-Jewish descent Dutch Jews Magnin family Burials at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park