Biography:

Gilbert Cope (1840-1928) was born in East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Joseph and Eliza Gilbert and descended from Oliver Cope, who settled in New Castle County, Delaware, in 1683. Cope attended the Friend's School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and later the Westtown Friends' Boarding School. By the time of his death at the age of 88, Cope was a well-known genealogist and local historian with a particular interest in the Quakers religious sect.
 
Cope was nearly of college age when he first began researching his own family history. He even set up a printing press at the family home in order to publish some of his own writings. He also began collecting works on genealogy and history.
 
After his father's death in 1872, Cope moved to West Chester, where he married Anna Garret (1848-1918) eight years later. He and Anna raised their two sons and one daughter there in the house Cope built at 532 North Church Street. In this house Cope displayed and continued to collect works on genealogy. He had a fireproof vault built into the house in order to safeguard his most valuable collections. Cope also worked diligently to preserve old records, especially those of the Quakers. He spent many years copying, repairing, and mounting papers of Quaker meetings in Chester County. During the early 1900s, he and Anna spent a series of months in London, England, copying volumes of early Quaker registers of England and Wales. His son Joseph collaborated with him on his genealogical research.
 
Through his work, Gilbert Cope became associated with many historical and genealogical societies, including the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Chester County Historical Society, the Delaware Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Several of these organizations continue to care for collections of his papers and publications.