John Peter Lesley

Joseph Peter Lesley (September 17, 1819 – June 1, 1903) was an American geologist. Biography Peter Lesley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1819. It is recorded by Sir Archibald Geikie that he was christened Peter after his father and grandfather, and at first wrote his name Peter Lesley, Jr., but disliking the Christian appellation that had been given to him, he eventually transformed his signature by putting the J. of Junior at the beginning. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838, where he was trained for the ministry. Subsequently, he spent three years assisting Henry D. Rogers in the first geological survey of Pennsylvania. On the termination of the survey in 1841, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary while also assisting Professor Rogers in preparing the final report and map of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the seminary in 1844, and in April of that year he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Philadelphia. A month later he left for Europe where he studied at the University of Halle, returning to the United States in 1845. He then worked for two years for the American Tract Society, and at the close of 1847 he joined Professor Rogers again in preparing geological maps and sections at Boston. He then accepted the pastorate of the Congregational church at Milton, Massachusetts. He remained there until 1851, when, his views having become unitarian, he abandoned the ministry, returned to Philadelphia, and entered into practice as a consulting geologist. He made extensive and important researches in the coal, oil, and iron fields of the United States and Canada and became State geologist of Pennsylvania in 1874. From 1872 to 1878 he served as professor of geology at the University of Pennsylvania; after 1886 he was emeritus professor. The year 1863 he spent in Europe, examining the Bessemer ironworks in Sheffield for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and in 1867 he was one of ten commissioners sent by the United States Senate to the World's Fair in Paris.