Miriam Gratz Moses was born October 25, 1808, one of nine children born to Solomon Moses and Rachel Gratz. She was raised by her aunt, Rebecca Gratz, a philanthropist of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Miriam Gratz Moses married Solomon Cohen in Philadelphia on November 30, 1836. The couple had three children, one of whom was killed in action fighting in the Civil War. She died on December 5, 1891. Her papers and the papers of the Gratz family are collected at the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.