Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania – comprising a historical sketch of the county, by Samuel T. Wiley, together with more than five hundred biographical sketches of the prominent men and leading citizens of the county.
Five years after the great family bi-centennial reunion held on 25 August 1882 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Gilbert Cope published his massive volume on the 200 years of Sharpless family ancestry in America, called “Genealogy of the Sharpless family : descended from John and Jane Sharples, settlers near Chester, Pennsylvania, 1682 : together with some account of the English ancestry of the family, including the results of researches by Henry Fishwick, F.H.S., and the late Joseph Lemuel Chester, LL.D. : and a full report of the bi-centennial reunion of 1882.”. This monumental, well-researched tome sought to answer the genealogical and historical questions and answers brought to light from that 1882 reunion. This book is free to search, read, and/or download.