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Preface During the Levi
Tope Family Reunion in July 2000, the people gathered there realized
that many descendants of Levi were not aware of the family history. A
suggestion was made to prepare and publish a history for them- selves and
future generations. This publication is the outgrowth of that sug- gestion. It should be
recognized that it is not possible to acquire a complete history in a mere three
years. It is desirable, however, to provide the family with a basis for
further research, and to benefit from the first-hand knowledge of the family members
who had some familiarity with our ancestors. The first known
history of the Tope Family was written by Melancthon Tope in 1896
and revised by A. Dale Maddux in 1980. In that history the fol- lowing comment
was made about Levi Tope: "Levi Tope was
a
school teacher and a farmer. He was married to Sarah Davis, sister
of George and William Davis, of went to known that they
had two children, Hiram and Martha, before moving to us they thought
they were living at or near acquaintance at that place, Clarence C. Price, to see if anybody by the name of Tope lived there, and he replied (July 8, 1895) that there were none. And we know nothing further !" Levi and Sarah,
however, did not die in They sold this
property (which in 1848 became part of 1861, and moved
to Van Wert County, Ohio, where they purchased property in 1869. Six
more children were added to the family after it moved from Car- roll County to To give a more
complete perspective of the Tope lineage, this history be- gins with the
progenitor, John Tope, and George Tope, father of Levi Tope. Information for
this background is from the 1896 History of the Tope Family2 The family
lines listed in this book normally stop with the sixth generation. There are a few
exceptions, however, when family members in the seventh xxi |