My Genealogy Hound

LEIDY L. COPE, M. D. Among the many professions in which men engage, none requires more skill and ability than does the medical profession, of which Dr. Leidy L. Cope, of Hatfield, Hatfield township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is a representative. He was born on the old homestead in Hilltown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1859.

Yost Cope, the founder of the American branch of the family, who settled in Hilltown township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1727, was an enterprising, hard-working man, and during his lifetime accumulated considerable land. He married Dorothea , and several children were born to them.

John A. Cope (great-grandfather), a son of Yost and Dorothea Cope, was born in Hilltown township, Bucks county. He earned a comfortable livelihood by the tilling of the soil, and in the community was regarded as a man of excellent character and probity. He married and reared a family of children to lead useful and active lives.

John A. Cope, Jr. (grandfather) was born on the old homestead in Hilltown township, Bucks county. His education was acquired in the common schools, and his active business career was devoted to the quiet but useful calling of agriculture, which proved remunerative and to his liking. He took an active interest in all enterprises that had for their object the welfare of his township and county. By his marriage to Suzanna Savocool, of Hilltown township, he became the father of one child, John F. Cope.

John F. Cope (father) was born in 1808, on the home farm in Hilltown township, Bucks county. He gained a thorough knowledge of the rudimentary branches of education in the common schools of the neighborhood, after which he turned his attention to farming, which he followed until his advanced years compelled him to retire from active pursuits. He was a strong Democrat in politics, was recognized as a local leader, and took an active part in political campaigns. He married Marie Leidy, deceased, a representative of an old Bucks county family, who bore him two sons: Milton L. and Leidy L. Cope. John F. Cope (father) died in 1892, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.

The educational advantages enjoyed by Leidy L. Cope were obtained in the common schools of Hilltown and the Sellersville high school. In 1880 he took up the study of medicine under Drs. Fritz and Ritter, at Perkasie, Pennsylvania, and in April of the same year entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated with honors in 1883. He practiced his profession at Hilltown until 1887, a period of four years, and then came to his present home in Hatfield, Hatfield township, where he is in receipt of a large practice. He is skillful and accurate in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, and not only has he gained the good will of his numerous patients, but that of his professional brethren as well. He is a member of the board of health, and for several years was the incumbent of the office of school director. He is a member of the Lutheran church of Souderton, and since 1885 has served as organist of the same, being endowed with rare musical genius and ability. He is a stanch Democrat, and, like his father, an earnest and active party worker.

In 1886 Dr. Cope was married to Miss Sadie E. Zeigler, a daughter of Eli and Sarah (Rothrock) Zeigler. Eli Zeigler was formerly a merchant of Hatfield. Their family consists of five children, all of whom are unmarried and reside at home: Roscoe, who is reading medicine under the preceptorship of his father; Webster, Zeigler, Emma, and Sarah Cope.