Simon Koshland


Simon Koshland was an American businessman, wool merchant, and patriarch of the Koshland family of San Francisco.

Biography

Simon Koshland was born in Ichenhausen, Bavaria in 1825. In 1850, he immigrated to Sacramento via Panama with his older brother where they opened a general merchandise store. In 1862, he moved to San Francisco after his store was burned down in a flood where he and his brother opened a wool house named Koshland Brothers. The company eventually morphed into Koshland & Sons and became the leading wool house in America. Koshland retired in the 1890s; his sons and sons-in-law continued the family business.

Personal life

Koshland was married Rosina Franenthal of Philadelphia; they had 8 children: Isidore Koshland; Joseph Koshland ; Marcus Simon Koshland ; Henrietta Koshland Sinsheimer ; Caroline Koshland Greenebaum ; Frances Koshland Haas ; Montefiore T. Koshland ; Abraham Koshland ; and Jesse Koshland. He was a member of Ohabai Shalome Congregation; and later Temple Emanu-El. He died in 1896. His daughter Frances married Abraham Haas and his son Marcus married Eleanor Haas, the daughter of Abraham Haas.