Husband Josiah Copley 1 2 3
Born: 20 Sep 1803 - Shippensburg, Cumberland Co, PA 1
Christened:
Died: 2 Mar 1885 - ? Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 4
Buried:
Father: Samuel Copley ( -1813) 1 5
Mother: Jane Sibbet ( - ) 1 6 7
Marriage: 1826 - Philadelphia, PA 1
• Additional Image: Josiah Copley.
• Biographical Sketch: from Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914).
To read a brief biographical sketch of his life and career, click here.
Wife Margaret Chadwick Sibbet 1
Born:
Christened:
Died: Abt 1887
Buried:
Father: John Sibbet ( - ) 5 8
Mother:
Other Spouse: Dr. Haas ( -Abt 1824) 1
Children
1 F Margaret Copley 9
Born: 1826 - Philadelphia, PA 9
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Washington Ross (1817-1911) 9
Marr: Jun 1844 9
2 F Mary Sibbet Copley 2
Born:
Christened: 1843 - Appleby Manor Church, Ford City, Armstrong Co, PA
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: William Thaw (1818-1889) 10 11 12 13
Marr: 1867 2
3 M John Sibbet Copley 1 14
Born:
Christened:
Died: 14 Sep 1862 - South Mountain, MD 1 14
Buried:
4 M Albert Copley 1
Born:
Christened:
Died: Abt 1861-1865
Buried:
5 M Josiah Copley, Jr. 14
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
6 M Henry Weldon Copley 14
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Josiah Copley
In 1818, he was bound out to John McCahan, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, who printed and published a small weekly journal called the American. The boy was at this time in his fifteenth year, and was bound to serve until he was twenty-one. For the first three years he was engaged to spend one-half his time in carrying the mail on horseback, his employer being a mail-contractor as well as a printer. This work was sometimes dangerous, often disagreeable, owing to the furious storms, high water and similar characteristics of a wild country. The experience, however, was valuable to the young man, as it induced much of the meditative habit of thought and power of close observation which were marked characteristics of his personality. In 1825 the young printer entered into business in Kittanning in partnership with John Croll, publishing the Kittanning Gazette. This he continued for eight years, the last four alone. The Kittanning paper was a success from the start, and determined Mr. Copley's career, and for the remainder of his life he was always connected with newspapers, both secular and religious. He gained most prominence from his connection with the Pittsburgh Gazette, which began in 1838 and lasted two years, when his health failed and he removed to Appleby Manor. Here he superintended a farm and a manufacturing establishment, but continued to write for various newspapers, and also issued a number of pamphlets. At this time he made a collection of his religious writings, under the title of "Thoughts of Favored Hours." From 1850 to 1852 he was again on the staff of the Pittsburgh Gazette, but ill health again compelled him to retire. In 1860 he again removed to Pittsburgh.
The rebellion now broke out, and Mr. Copley had four sons in the Union army. One, John Sibbet, fell at the battle of South Mountain, MD, in September, 1862; another son, Albert, was wounded at the battle of Stone river, Tennessee, taken prisoner, and died from exposure and privation during captivity, and now lies in an unknown grave; yet another son was taken prisoner at Chickamauga in 1863, and went through the untold horrors of Libby prison and Castle Thunder, Danville and Andersonville, as well as prisons in North and South Carolina.
Meanwhile Mr. Copley had again begun work upon the Pittsburgh Gazette staff, winning a wide reputation as a clear and strong writer. He remained in this position until advancing years compelled his retirement, but even afterward he continued his contributions to the Gazette, as the spirit moved him. He became better known, however, as a contributor to the religious press, writing much for the Presbyterian Banner, United Presbyterian and other papers. He possessed a wonderful command of language, and though slow of speech could write rapidly and without needing correction, always employing the purest English. In politics, Mr. Copley was a conservative abolitionist before the war, and afterward a republican; he also took a strong interest in the temperance cause. In religious belief he was a Presbyterian, uniting with that church in early life. He was not bigoted, however, but recognized the several evangelical denominations as only other divisions of one grand army.
So late as Christmas, 1884, Mt. Copley published in the United Presbyterian a paper entitled "A Crippled Translation," in which he set forth his belief that the 71st and 73d Psalms were revelations of both the resurrection of the body and the consciousness of the everlasting existence of the soul. In 1878 he published a volume entitled "Gatherings in Beulah." Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" seems to have been, next to the Bible, the book that Mr. Copley most loved and read.
In 1886 a collection from Mr. Copley's writings was made, with an introduction by Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D. D., and published by A. D. F. Randolph, under the title "Gathered Sheaves." There are sixty-nine different articles in this work, most of them being of a religious character. Among those of a secular character is one entitled "Recollections of Boyhood," in which Mr. Copley sets forth many of his peculiar experiences, going back as far as 1810. Other papers in the volume are somewhat singular for speculations and investigations into primeval and ancient history. An article on "Scriptural Revision," giving a history of the English Bible and of the work of translation in different hands, is important as setting forth his judgment concerning the great value of the revised interpretation of the Bible. Mr. Copley's mind was broad enough to entertain ideas upon a great variety of different subjects, and his intelligence shrewd enough to make his views on the subjects he chose of importance to the reading community. Taking him all in all, not many general writers for the press have gained so high a reputation for dignified, conscientious and noble work as Josiah Copley. [HAC 1889 II, 218]
General Notes: Wife - Margaret Chadwick Sibbet
She was the step-daughter of her second husband's uncle, John Sibbet, at whose home in Philadelphia Mr. Copley met her, while in that city to buy materials for printing the Gazette, which he had just started. The marriage took place in Philadelphia, and the young people journeyed thence in a private conveyance to Huntingdon, and from there by stage to Kittanning. The wedded life of Mr. and Mrs. Copley extended over a period of almost fifty-nine years, Mrs. Copley surviving her husband.