Naomi Cohen

Naomi's original Yiddish name was spelled Nachoma, Nekhoma, Nechonia, or Nichonia on various documents. According to her husband Sol Cohen's naturalization papers, she was born in Poland on April 5, 1886. Their two older children, Fannie and Isaac, were born in Brest (Brisk in Yiddish) then in Poland and now in Belarus. Their two younger children, Philip and Samuel, were born in Bialystok, Poland. Poland was part of the Russian Empire at this time.

"Nachoma" and the four children crossed over from Liverpool to New York in 1929 on the SS "Samaria" under their last name Sawryn. They joined her husband Szloma Sawryn (Sol Cohen), who had immigrated to Baltimore via Glasgow and Quebec in 1921. The New York arrival passenger manifest indicated that her birthplace was Brzesc (Brest), Poland. Her nearest relative back home was her brother Lejbal Markiel, so this might have been her maiden name.