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biography
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Copley, Josiah, was the fourth child of Samuel and Jane (Sibbet) Copley,
and was born in Shippensburg, Pa., Sept. 20, 1803. His grandfather was a woolen-manufacturer in Leeds, England, and a man of broad views, sympathizing with the
colonies in their struggle against the mother-country. His four sons settled in this country while young, the elder two, John and Samuel, arriving in 1792.
Samuel did business for a short time in Massachusetts, and went from there to Pittsburgh, Pa., purchasing property which is now in the heart of the city. Desiring
to return to England, he sold out, but, changing his mind, he entered into the manufacture of textile fabrics with his brother John, in Shippensburg, Pa., where he was
married, his wife being a North of Ireland Presbyterian, and a woman of strong character, to whose teachings and example Josiah attributed much of his own religious nature.
Shortly after the birth of Josiah his father engaged in the woolen-manufacture in Blairsville, in which he was unsuccessful. This fact preyed upon his mind, and he died in 1818, in poverty.
Josiah, in 1818, was bound out to John McCahan, of Indiana, Pa., who printed and published a small weekly journal called the American. The boy was at this time in his fifteenth yrear,
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 Mr. Copley.
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.
During this period, in 1826, he was married to Mrs. Margaret Chadwick Haas, daughter of his uncle.
Mr. Sibbet, and widow of a young physician of Philadelphia. 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, Mr. 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 November, 1884, after a life of more than fourscore years, it was seen that the end was near. As his body failed his spirit seemed to grow stronger and his intelligence to shine brighter.
He died in the evening of March 2, 1885, his only fear being that he was too anxious for his release and for his entrance into that better world he habitually contemplated as his final home.
In 1883 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.
History of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania Chicago : A. Warner & Co., 1889. p. 218-219.
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