Frederick E. Cohen was born in England around 1818 and immigrated to Canada before 1837 and from there crossed into Detroit in 1837. There he found employment as a decorative artist, painting panels for Great Lakes passenger vessels. He remained in Detroit until 1853, a successful and well-known artist. While in Detroit, Cohen painted numerous portraits as well as landscapes, most from the images of his own mind. After his marriage in the mid-1940s, Cohen seems to have worked primarily around the Mount Vernon area and spent the remainder of his career there. His works are parts of the collections of The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, Detroit Institute of Arts, and The Detroit Historical Society. Cohen died of a stroke, December 7, 1858 in Ankenytown; he was buried in Mound View Cemetery, Mount Vernon.