Gilbert Cope (1840 - 1928)

Born 17 Aug 1840 in East Bradford, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Died 17 Dec 1928 at age 88 in Medina, Pennsylvania

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Biography

Biographical/Historical note from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania:^[1]

Gilbert Cope (1840-1928) was a well-known Quaker genealogist and local historian who compiled comprehensive genealogical records of Pennsylvania families. He was born in East Bradford Township of Chester County, Pennsylvania on August 17, 1840. Gilbert Cope was a descendant of Oliver Cope (circa 1647-1697) – one of William Penn’s first purchasers of England who settled in New Castle County, Delaware – and John Cope (1691-1773), who re-located the family to Chester County and established roots in the Quaker faith as a member of the Bradford Meeting.

Gilbert Cope and his eight siblings were the children of Eliza Gilbert (1799-1862) and Joseph Cope, Junior (1794-1870), a well-educated man from John Comly’s Boarding School at Byberry, Philadelphia County, who remained active in his community’s religious and local affairs while tending to the family’s homestead. Gilbert Cope was educated at the West Chester Friends’ School and Westtown Friends’ Boarding School. As a youth, he was interested in botany and spent considerable time learning the printing of natural leaves and plants in color, using them as type. When he was 17, he focused his efforts on genealogical research, compiling his family’s data and publishing some of his early works. Gilbert Cope married Anna Garrett (1849-1918) in 1880 and constructed a house on North Church Street in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed his growing genealogical and historical collection. Anna and Gilbert had three children: Herman, Joseph, and Ellen.

Gilbert Cope preserved innumerable Quaker records and devoted much of his time to preserving and arranging the archives of Chester County, often with little or no financial compensation. His work included the meticulous copying of official records and the repairing and mounting of loose papers into volumes. In 1905 and 1907, Cope and his wife traveled to London on behalf of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania to copy volumes of early Quaker registers of England and Wales. Cope was one of the founders of the Chester County Historical Society and served it as secretary, director, and honorary director. He was a member of the Friends’ Historical Association and a corresponding member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 1912, he was elected an honorary member of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and became one of its honorary vice presidents in 1924. Additionally, he served as President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies from 1911 to 1912, overseeing 75 historical organizations in Pennsylvania.

Gilbert’s son Joseph Cope continued his father’s work, augmenting the Cope family’s genealogy and those of other prominent families. Gilbert Cope’s collections were acquired by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania beginning in the 1920s, when he moved from his West Chester residence. The printed books, maps, and newspapers were added to HSP’s printed materials holdings, while the original historical papers (many of which date from the time of William Penn), historical notes, photographs, and prints were placed in the Manuscripts Department. The copied genealogical materials, including Quaker meeting registers and minutes, other church records, graveyard inscriptions, tax lists, and the volumes of family data, were committed to the care of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, and transferred to HSP in 2006.

Sources

1. ↑ The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

• Cope, Gilbert A Record of the Cope Family (Philadelphia, 1861)
• Pennsylvanian Gilbert Cope made a name for himself pursuing which profession?