Welcome
to
Long
Island
Genealogy
|
|
Please Consider a Donation
- Asking for donations is never easy, sadly it's a fact our presence
doesn't come without cost. Because of that we are asking you to become
a contributing member of "Long Island Genealogy" by making a donation
to support it's work. Without your support we can't continue.
Donations
can be made by clicking on the Donate Button to the left or sending a
check. For directions on sending a check please follow this link.
|
The Topping
family of Long Island
Capt. Thomas Topping
Capt.
Thomas Topping, first of the name in Southampton, was born in
Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, England. He was son of John and Selena
Blacket Crossman Topping and was baptized
March 19, 1608.Capt. Topping was made a freeman of Southampton in
1650 after residence in Wethersfield, Conn. (1636) and Milford,
Conn.
(1640) and Hempstead, L.I. (1644), leaving his mark as a man of
strong
character and action upon each community. He lived in Southampton
from
1649 to 1673, and was one of the most active developers of the town, a
magistrate, a Captain of militia, served many terms as
representative of Southampton at Hartford when the eastern Long Island
towns were under Connecticut Colony; was one of New York Governor
Nicolls' Council in 1664, a member of
the Hempstead Convention, and one of the Commissioners of
Admiralty
in 1665, High Sheriff in 1666. He made the Topping Purchase of
land
west of Canoe Place, which was turned over to Southampton town
after
some years' controversy and now forms its western half. He eventually
returned to Milford, then settled in Branford, serving also from
there, as
representative to the legislature in Hartford; and died there in
1687.
Capt. Topping's home lot was on South Main Street, Southampton His
house
still stands; today it is a part of the Episcopal Rectory. His
sons'
James, John, and Elnathan were among the founders of the hamlet of
Sagaponack,
between Southampton and East Hampton villages and so near
Wainscott
(in E.H. Town) that its families have always been intimately
associated
with East Hampton. Toppings have always lived close to the Town
Line
on both sides.
Additional
related
information on the Topping family and East hampton can be found
on this site at History of
East Hampton,
New York
Eugene Sayre Topping
15 May 1844 East
Moriches (Now known as Moriches), Suffolk Co., LI, NY - 17 Jan 1917
Vitoria, Vancover Island, British Columbia, Canada
A great deal of this research was done by Carolee Diamnd
sixof@erols.com She did most of the research while working on a
book about Eugene Sayre Topping with an author from Wyoming. The
book was published in 2008 "From Sail to Trail" Chronicling
Yellowstone's E. S. Topping by Robert V. Goss. He is quite well known throughout a good portion of
Canada. There are currently two books
about him and he takes up a good portion of a third.
Yellowstone's Pioneers - Brief Biographies Topping, Eugene
S.
E.S. Topping He was born in Long Island May 15, 1844, went to sea at
age 12 in the ocean merchant service. and headed west in 1868
working as prospector, miner, and stock trader. By 1871 he was
working the Clark Fork mines and the following year guided Mr. &
Mrs. H.H. Stone through the park. Mrs. Stone was reported to be
the 1st known woman to visit the geyser basins. Topping and
Dwight Woodruff spotted steam from the top of Bunsen Peak in 1872, and
upon investigating its source, discovered the Norris Geyser Basin, and
in the process, a shorter route to the Lower Geyser Basin. 1873
found him with Nelson Yarnell prospecting on the Stinking Water
River. Topping and Frank Williams were permitted to operate
boats on Yellowstone Lake in 1874. They built a small boat and
named
it the ‘Sallie’, after the 1st two female passengers they carried on
the
Lake – Sarah Tracy and Sarah Graham. A Bozeman newspaper of Aug.
7,
1874 noted that Topping ". . . has his little craft successfully
launched
upon the Yellowstone Lake, and intends to accord the privilege of
naming
it to the first lady passenger." In 1875 Topping built a cabin
and
boat dock at Topping Point, west of the Lake Outlet and built a boat
called
the ‘Topping’. He operated on the lake for about two years.
He
spent much of his time between 1876 and 1880 in the Black Hills mining
and
sheep trading. He moved to Mandan and for 2 years had a wood
contract with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Back in Yellowstone
in 1882, Eugene Topping was in charge of a road crew that was charged
by Supt. Conger with building a new road from McCartney's Hotel to Swan
Lake Flats. They continued work on to Firehole and built a bridge
over the Gardiner River enroute.
Later on he wrote a very interesting book entitled “The Chronicles of
the
Yellowstone – An Accurate, Comprehensive History.” The book
contains
a lot of early park history, along with information about mining and
Indian
conflicts in the greater Yellowstone region during the late
1800’s. See also my Boat History page. [97p] [113]
[1882 Supt's Report, p4-5] [Bozeman Avant-Courier, 8/7/1874] [56m;1171]
Source: http://www.geocities.com/geysrbob/Biography-T.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eugene worked for the UPRR in the 1860s and prospected in various
locations in Wyoming. He spent about two summers sailing on
Yellowstone lake in
1874-75, trapped, hunted and 'wolfed' during the winters, etc. He
was
in several Indian battles, including one under the command of Gen.
Crook, apparently as a volunteer or scout; and one near a trading fort
on the Yellowstone River in 1875. He prospected in the Black
Hills and northern Idaho before
going to southern BC to try his luck around 1889. He acquired a
share
in a gold prospect that ended up making him a lot of money. He
was
founder the town of Trail, BC with friend Frank Hanna. They split
up
their business relations and friendship in 1896 (Frank split up with
his
wife also, possibly because of Toppping), and 10 years later Topping
married
Frank's ex-wife Mary Jane (Palmer) Hanna in 1906. As far as I
know,
it was his only marriage. He was on the move most of his
life. After they married, they moved to Victoria, BC, where
Topping died in January of 1917. His wife had six daughters and
one son by Frank. Topping had no children of his own that I am
aware of. One of the daughters married Jim Worth, son of James
and Lydia, but he died around 1901 due to a mine accident. His
son, Eugene Frank Worth moved to Seattle to live and work. All of
the family eventually moved back to the United States, except for one
daughter.
Source: Email from Bob Goss (Geyser Bob)
http://geocities.com/geysrbob
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eugene S. Topping, The Chronicles of the Yellowstone; An Accurate
and Comprehensive History (St . Paul, Minn.: Pioneer Press,
1883). Reprint 1968 - The chronicles of the Yellowstone; an
accurate, comprehensive history of the country drained by the
Yellowstone River ... With new introd., notes & bibliography by
Robert A. Murray (Minneapolis:MN, Ross & Haines, 1968)
NEW YORK TIMES, March 17, 1900, Page 7 - A brother reunited to two
sisters after an absence of thirty-three years was one of the incidents
of Brooklyn life yesterday. The man is Col. E.S. Topping of Spokane,
Washington; his sisters
are Mrs. Agnes Stites and Mrs. Lydia Worth, the latter a widow, who
live
together on Hanson Place.
REUNITED AFTER MANY YEARS. Col. Topping of Spokane Meets His Sisters in
Brooklyn -- Tells of Gold Boom in Oregon. A brother reunited to two
sisters
after an absence of thirty-three years was one of the incidents of
Brooklyn
life yesterday. The man is Col. E.S. Topping of Spokane, Washington;
his
sisters are Mrs. Agnes Stites and Mrs. Lydia Worth, the latter a widow,
who
live together on Hanson Place. Col. Topping was comparatively poor when
he
left New York for the Far West In 1866. For some years he was a scout
with
Gen. Custer and Gen. Crook, and passed through many a hard Indian
campaign.
Then he went prospecting, and today is one of the rich men of the State
of
"Washington. He is temporarily stopping at the Murray Hill Hotel. " I
don't
feel much like talking," he said, last evening, " for my sisters have
about
hugged the life out of me. They did not expect me, and the meeting has
made
me a very happy man. I am glad to be in New York again, but how the
place
has changed! Why. I could not get my bearings in Wall Street this
morning until I saw the familiar spire of old Trinity Church."
----------------------------------------
Article from L.A. Times June 27, 1897 HOW UNCOUNTED MILLIONS
OF GOLD WERE MISSED
Born in Suffolk County, New York state, E.S. Topping was by turns
sailor, miner, hunter, prospector, Indian fighter and scout. Topping
saw western life
in all its aspects, until finally he drifted to west Kootenay. Soon
although
alien, he found himself Recorder and Constable- in fact “the
government” of
that lonely region. Prospectors were then beginning to stray into
southern British Columbia from Idaho and Montana, and such human
driftwood formed the
bulk of Topping’s subjects. They were a little rough, of course, but
“bad
men” were scarce, and the few that did wander into west Kootenay
invariably showed the most profound respect for the old Indian fighter,
and took the first opportunity to remove themselves from his
jurisdiction. It is a leaven of just such men as he that made life
possible in the mining regions of the west; without them rapine and
murder would have stalked unchecked from the Missouri to the coast.
Topping had now found a quiet anchorage after hi adventurous youth, and
seemed likely to pass his later days as many another mountain man has
done,
in an uneventful though not by any means monotonous fashion. When a man
is
fond of the wilderness and finds himself beside waters teeming with
fish,
and prairies alive with fowl, and where venison may always be had for
the
pressing of a trigger, he is likely to be too contented to make any
very
strenuous efforts to change his lot.
But that was six years ago. Read, and let me tell you how Topping fares
today.
One evening in the fall of 1890 he was startled by a violent rapping on
the split cedar door of his cabin. He lifted the latch, and Joe
Bourgois
and his “Pard” Morris stumbled into the little shanty, and dumped the
bags
of ore samples they had been laden with on the rough floor. Deadbeat
and
half frozen, they were yet full of enthusiasm over a wonderful body of
sulphide ore, which their trail shots had disclosed in the bottom of an
old trail shaft
high on the flanks of Red Mountain. They had staked out five claims,
they
said, and would give one to Topping if he would pay the recorders fees
on
the lot. This, he agreed to do, and in due course became the owner of
what
seemed the poorest prospect. It is now the famous Le Rol mine. One of
the
locations is the War Eagle, and another the Center Star, Each a
valuable property,
but inferior to the Le Rol. From that day Trail Creek, Topping’s abode,
began
to be famous.
Events move fast in the West, Topping was almost alone at Trail in
1890; today there are hotels, stores, a smelter, a railroad station,
and steamboat wharfs, while perched on the shoulder of the mountain
near the Le Rol has sprung up the bustling town of Rossland, numbering
already 10,000 inhabitants and increasing in population at the rate of
5,000 a year.
Topping of course sold out long ago. He need worry himself no more
about ways and means, but can buy all Winchesters, boats and pack
animals he may desire, and still have an ample income left- and what
more can a frontiersman and old Indian fighter ask? The veteran is a
great favorite with his fellow citizens.
---------------------------------
In 1872, E.S. Topping and Dwight Woodruff climbed to the top of Bunsen
Peak. Looking south they spotted “an immense column of steam arising.”
They made their way to it and discovered Norris Geyser Basin.
Source:http://www.yellowstonepark.com/MoreToKnow/ShowNewsDetails.aspx?newsid=2
-----------------------------------------
A Brief History of Boating on Yellowstone Lake
1874 is the next year in which a boat appears on the waters. E.S.
Topping, in his 1883 history Chronicles of the Yellowstone, describes
the
event: "In June of this year [1874] Frank Williams and E.S.
Toppping,
furnished with a whipsaw, canvas, and rigging, went up the Yellowstone
to
its lake. There they sawed out lumber to build a row boat, and a
yacht,
which they rigged in sloop form. They launched the latter on the
twentieth
of July . . . They advertised that the first lady to come up
should
have the privilege of naming the yacht. Two parties from
Bozeman, each having a lady, came in at nearly the same time.
These ladies, Mrs.
W.H. Tracy and Mrs. Arch Graham, were each named Sarah, and they
compromised
by naming the yacht Sallie, and took a cruise in commemoration of
the
event." Topping and Williams were issued a permit to
operate
boats on the lake that year. In 1875 Topping constructed a cabin
and
boat dock at Topping Point, west of the Lake Outlet and built a
boat
called the Topping. He operated on the lake for about two
years.
The boat was reportedly dismantled and abandoned after the 1876
season.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/geysrbob/Boats.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Times GRABBING A GREAT PARK; FACTS ABOUT THE YELLOWSTONE
LEASES. REMARKABLE METHODS OF DOING BUSINESS IN THE INTERIOR
DEPARTMENT--A POINTED LETTER FROM GEN. BRISBIN, January 20, 1883, Page
1, WASHINGTON, Jan 19.--A very interesting chapter in the history
of the Yellowstone Park was brought to the surface to-day in the
Senate. A few days ago Mr. Vest offered a resolution, which was
adopted, calling upon the Secretary of the Interior to send to the
Sonato all correspondence and papers in that department relating to the
proposed
lease of the par);. The letters were dumped into the Senate in aui a a
bundle,
but a bundle that was interesting enough to be worth some inspection.
Taken
together with some papers reported a few weeks ago from the same
department, they map, and probably will, eive eras to criticism of
certain public officers, and cannot but wonder or suspicion as to the
methods of conducting business in the Interior Department. Reduced to a
running story and ' only the parts which conjecture must be left to
fill in the absence of detailed information, the correspondence the
following record: Secretary Teller, on April 3, wrote to P. H.
Conger, Government Superintendent of the 5'c Park, to him an
application by Russell, E. S. Topping, S. J. Hoyt, E. D. Parker, James
Gourlap,
R. H. Rowtand, R. R. Odell for a lease of part of the Yellowstone Park,
with
rights for the erection of hotels, the construction of roads, and use
of
boats on the lake.
---------------------------------------------------
Topping's Trail, Elsie G. Turnbull, (Vancouver, Canada: Mitchell
Press, 1964) Book about Eugene Sayre Topping
--------------------------------------------------
One of Crissman's more interesting views was an image showing the
sailboat constructed on the shores of Yellowstone Lake by Captain E. S.
Topping to provide transportation and tours of the lake.
Source: Joshua Crissman: Yellowstone's forgotten photographer
----------------------------------------------------
THE CITY OF TRAIL
The City was founded in the 1890s as the supply point to the mines
operating in the mountains around the City of Rossland, 10 kilometres
(6 miles) to the
West. The settlement was founded by Eugene S. Topping and Frank Hanna,
both
Americans who were at the time living in Nelson. Both hoped that their
investment
in the Trail townsite would prosper as the Rossland Mines moved into
full
production.
In 1896, a small smelter was built on a bench above the Topping/Hanna
townsite to process the ores from the Rossland Mines. In 1906, this
smelter, a number of the Rossland Mines, and the Rossland Power
Company, were amalgamated to form the Consolidated Mining &
Smelting Company of Canada Ltd. From this small beginning, the CM&S
has grown to become a world-wide mining company, now called Cominco
Ltd., and one of the key players in international mining circles.
Source: The History of Trail City, British Columbia Canada
-------------------------------------------------------
THE DEWDNEY TRAIL
A man of many adventures, Colonel Eugene S. Topping is known today as
the father of Trail. The deputy mining recorder in Nelson, Topping took
the chance on $12.50 paying the registration fee for the four claims
held by Moris and Bourgeois and in return he received the claim for the
LeRoi mine, the gold mine of all gold mines. This combined with the 343
acres bought by Topping and Hanna at the base of Trail creek provided
him with riches beyond his expectations.
In 1901, the incorporation of the City of Trail saw Topping named as
the
mayor, a position suited in theory but not in action. He resigned after
his
first term.
Source:
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/~dewdney/english/map/trail/stories.php
-----------------------------------------------------------
Trail A Smelter City
Read about the history of Trial and Eugene Sayre Topping, the man who
was the dominant figure in making it a famous smelter city. Others are
recognized as the developers of this industry, but Topping, has been
given the title, “Father of Trail.” In 1890, he and his partner Frank
Hanna pre-empted more than 300 acres of land at the mouth of Trail
Creek and by 1895 the settlement had grown to include a smelter. On
June 14th, 1901, Trail was declared a city
and Topping was unanimously chosen as Mayor. He died in 1917, but left
behind
a legacy