Levi Tope Rediscovered
The George D. Tope Family
18.
George D.4 Tope (Levi3,
George2, John1) was bom
28 January 1843 in Richland Township, Putnam County,
Ohio, and died on 5 September 1899 in 
Paulding County, Ohio. On 2 July
1870, he married Mary A. Baxter, daughter of Robert Baxter and Alma
Johnson on.1 She was bom 15 November 18442
and died 24
September 1871 in Van Wert County, Ohio.3
Mary was an
older sister of Davis Johnson Baxter, who married
George's sister, Martha Alice Tope (see Chapter 5).
Mary is buried in the Pring/Pence Cemetery in Van
Wert County, Ohio.4 Their unnamed
daughter is buried
next to Mary, leading to the assumption that Mary may
have died in childbirth.
After Mary's death, George married
Lavina L. Pence, daughter of Jackson Pence and Mary
Margaret Kear, on 1 May 1876 in Van Wert County, Ohio.5
Mary Margaret
was a sister to Robert Thomas Kear, who married Mary Catherine
Tope,
(see Chapter 7).
Lavina was bom 5 January 1852 in
Champaign County, Ohio,6 and died on
4 January 19157 at the home of her
daughter, Mary M. Zent, in Huntington, Huntington County,
Indiana. She is
buried along side of George in St. Paul's Cemetery, Paulding
County, Ohio.8
Paulding County records often refer
to Lavina as Lovina. Her granddaughters, however, say her name was
Lavina.9
At the age of five years Lavina
moved to Van Wert County, Ohio, with her
parents. Around 1911 she
moved to
Huntington Indiana, to live with her daughter, Mary M. Zent.10
Shortly after his marriage to
Lavina, George purchased 40 acres of land in Willshire
Township, Van Wert
County, Ohio for $750.00 on 6 August 1878 from the estate of
Phillip Keiper.11
The acreage was in Willshire Township, in the South half
(½) of the South half
(½) of the Northeast quarter of
Section Five (5), Township number Three,
south of Range number one (1) East. About five months later
on 12
December 1878, and possibly in anticipation of
Notes:
1 Record of Marriages, Probate Court,
Van Wert County, Ohio, bk. 3, 51. Mary's name was given as Polly.
2 Cemetery Inscriptions, Van Wert
County, Ohio, (Van Wert Co., Genealogical Society: 1992), vol. V, 132. Birth date is calculated from
age 26y 10m 9d and death date on tombstone.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Marriage Records, Probate Court,
Van Wert County, Ohio, Bk. 4, p. 422, No. 834.
6Historical Atlas of Paulding County,,
Ohio, compiled by 0. Morrow and F.W. Bashore, (The Western Publishing Company, Madison, Wis.,
1892).
7 City Health Office, Huntington,
Huntington County, Indiana, bk. CH-6, p. 3.
8 Deeds, Probate Office, Paulding
County, Ohio, 15199, Vol. 88, 14-15, lot number Eighteen (18) in the new Plat (1st addition) of St.
Paul's union Cemetery, July 25" 1900 and Cemetery Inscriptions, Paulding County, Ohio, (Paulding County, Ohio
Genealogical Society), vol. 1, p. 571.
9Personal conversation between Donna
Leventoff, Ada Redding and Donald L. Kear.
10Obituary, Paulding Progress,
Paulding County library, card file.
11 Deed, Recorder's office. Van Wert
County, Ohio, bk. 3, p. 28.
Updated Thursday, 13-Sep-07 13:45:02 PDT
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