History of West Chester, (Chester County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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Biographies:

Josiah Hoopes, horticulturist and botanist, was born in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 9, 1832; son of Pierce and Sarah (Andrews) Hoopes; and grandson of Abner and Hannah (Pierce) Hoopes and of James and Martha (Bunting) Andrews. His first ancestor in America, Joshua Hoopes, emigrated from Cleveland, Yorkshire, England, in 1683, and settled in Bucks county, Pa. Josiah was educated in the schools of Philadelphia and established a nursery at West Chester in 1853 which became noted for its production of rare trees, shrubs and fruits. Mr. Hoopes made frequent visits to the old world in search of new species and introduced many of the popular specimens of useful and ornamental trees. He helped to found in 1859 the Horticultural association of Pennsylvania, and was its president, 1869-75. He was elected a member of the Ornithologists' union and of various scientific societies; and was a trustee of the West Chester state normal school from its commencement in 1871, serving about fifteen years. He published: Book of Evergreens (1868) and was a regular correspondent on horticultural subjects for the New York Tribune, Philadelphia Press, and leading magazines.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Thomas S. Butler, representative, was born in Uwchland, Pa., Nov. 4, 1855. He was educated at the Normal school, West Chester, Pa., studied law, and on being admitted to the bar engaged in practice at West Chester, Pa. He was elected a representative in the 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th and 58th congresses, 1897-1805.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Benjamin Matlack Everhart, botanist, was born in West Chester, Pa., April 24, 1818; son of William and Hannah (Matlack) Everhart. His father was a representative from West Chester in the 33d congress, 1853-55. His grandfather, James Everhart, was a soldier in the American Revolution. Benjamin was given a good business education and engaged in commercial pursuits in his native town and in Charleston, S.C. He retired from active business in 1867, and thereafter devoted himself to the study of botany, which science had engrossed much of his time at school and in his leisure hours. He made a specialty of cryptogamic botany, discovering many new fungi, and was honored by his fellow botanists by their naming several such plants for him. In collaboration with J. B. Ellis he edited and issued: The Century of North American Fungi in fifty volumes with 5000 species, and with W. A. Kellerman the Journal of Mycology.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charlton Thomas Lewis, reformer, was born in West Chester, Pa., Feb. 25, 1834; son of Joseph I. and Mary S. (Miner) Lewis, and grandson of Enoch and Alice (Jackson) Lewis and of Charles and Letitia (Wright) Miner. He was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1853, A.M., 1859, and was professor of mathematics at the State Normal university, Illinois, 1856-57, and of mathematics and Greek at Troy university, 1858-61. He was U.S. deputy commissioner of internal revenue at Washington, D.C., 1863-64. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1864 and practised law in New York city. He was managing editor of the New York Evening Post, 1870-71, and secretary of the Chamber of Life Insurance, 1871-74. In 1881 he was made chairman of the executive committee of the Prison association of New York; in 1890 president of that association; in 1895 president of the State Charities Aid association of New Jersey, and in 1897 vice-president of the National Prison association. He was also elected chairman of the commission to revise the penal laws of New Jersey in 1895. He was a delegate from the United States to the Paris congress of prisons in 1895, and was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1896. He lectured at Harvard and at Columbia colleges on life insurance in 1899, and at Cornell university on the principles of insurance in 1898. He received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of New York in 1877, and LL.D. from Harvard in 1903. He translated with Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament (1860), and is the author of: A History of the German People (1870); Harper's Latin Dictionary, with Professor Charles Short (1881); A School Latin Dictionary (1888); Elementary Latin Dictionary (1890); and numerous essays and addresses.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor