Different
opinions have been given in regard to this date. George W.
Tope, of Gallia county, 0., thought some time ago that they came to
Ohio in about 1790. From accounts given us at one time by John
Moreland, of Palermo, Carroll county, 0., we figured that it must have
been 1789. At another time after ward, however, statements by Mr.
Moreland indicated it was 1806, but he was not positive. As good luck
has it, 'Squire Brice E. Betts, of Bowerston, who lived for a long time
near Salem, tells us that he has heard Joe Tope (one of John's sons)
say many a time that his father and uncle George came into Ohio just
two years before it was a State. And this last declaration settles the
question, so far as the writer is concerned. Ohio was generally
understood to have been admitted in the fall of 1802, (though it was
not, really, until Feb.19, 1803), and hence the Topes came into this
State in 1800.
It is said that at one
time in
Pennsylvania they were driven back off of their land and the Indians
took their cattle.
When they emigrated to
this state they
came by way of Steubenville. That town consisted of only a few log
houses and cabins at that time, having been laid out as a town but two
years before. There was no town then at Salem, nor any road from
Steubenville to Salem. The Topes drove through in wagons and were
obliged to cut brush and make the road before them as they went. What a
contrast to that of the present day!
Having thus lived in the
state of
Pennsylvania and being of German descent, they have been sometimes
called "Pennsylvania Dutch." This is inappropriate, however, as a
German is not a Dutchman! The people of Holland are commonly called
"Dutch"---those of Germany are only German!
Whether John Tope (the
first) died in
Maryland or Pennsylvania, I have not been able to ascertain. But it is
most probable that it was in Pennsylvania. After his death, his wife
married a Mr. Core, from which marriage there were born three children:
Jacob Core, John Core and Elizabeth Core.
Of the history of the
Cores very little
is known. I only wish we had more definite information of many of the
points of this chapter. Any and all positive facts in reference to any
of the persons herein named will be gladly received by the writer, and,
presumably, by others, to be added to this history in the future.
Anyone not mentioned will understand that it is not intentionally so,
and we would like them to kindly report their whereabouts and
biographies.
Seeing several names of
Core in the
catalogue of Ada College and thinking they might be of this people, in
the spring of 1894 I wrote to the president of the college, H.S. Lehr,
for the address of Miss Rachel Core. He replied, May 24, that she was
in school at that time and that her home address was Roxabell, Ross
county, 0. I then wrote to her, explaining my object and asking for
such information as she could give. She replied, May 30, 1894, that she
could not give anything definite, but she would refer the matter to her
father, who would answer me; adding that she knew her
great-grand-parents were from Maryland or Pennsylvania. Yet,
notwithstanding that I wrote subsequently to her and her father, I have
received no further account of where they belong.
This much, however, is
related of them.
The old lady and the two children, Jacob and Elizabeth Core, (perhaps
they were married then), came over from Pennsylvania with her other
sons, the Tope brothers. But no mention is made of Mr. Core.
Consequently, the grand old mother of all must have outlived her second
man and died on Yellow Creek, presumably at the home of her son George,
only a few miles from Salem, and a short distance from Richmond, in
about 1810, at nearly, if not quite a hundred years old.
p. 16
.