ANDREW P. TOPP.
Born in Schleswig, Germany, February 22, 1868, Andrew P. Topp, a well-known farmer of Sharon township, and the owner of a splendid farm of one hundred and sixty acres, is the son of Peter and Mary (Petersen) Topp, both of whom were natives of Germany, where they lived all their lives, and where the father dealt in live stock and operated a small farm. Their five children, Jacob, Mrs. Mary Hansen, and three others are all living, but only Jacob and Mrs. Hansen are living in Audubon county, besides Andrew.
Educated in the schools of his native land, Andrew P. Topp worked with his father on the farm after leaving school until he came to America in 1886. He located first in Scott county, Iowa, and there he worked as a farm hand for about two years, after which he came to Audubon county and located here permanently. After working in Audubon county for four years, however, he again removed, this time to Minnesota, where he was foreman of a cattle ranch for about two years. Returning once more to Audubon county, Iowa, he purchased eighty acres of land in Sharon township, on which he is now living, and which he subsequently increased to one hundred and sixty acres. The farm was wholly unimproved when Mr. Topp purchased it, and during his ownership and management he has invested approximately thirty-five hundred dollars in various improvements. He is accustomed to raising about fifty-five acres of corn which yields on an average fifty bushels to the acre, besides thirty-five acres of small grain, most of which he feeds to live stock, selling annually about eighty-five head of hogs.
Andrew P. Topp was married in 1900 to Helen Christensen, the daughter of Chris and Sine Christensen, and to this union six children have been born, Peter, Sine, Chris, Edward, Mary and Leona, all of whom are living at home. Mrs. Topp is a daughter of native-born Danish parents, although she was born in Illinois, and came to Audubon county, Iowa, when a small child. They located in Sharon township. Her father is now retired and lives in Kimballton. They were the parents of six children, all of whom are living.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew P. Topp are members of the Danish-Lutheran church, and Mr. Topp has sensed as treasurer of the church. Politically, he is a Democrat, and has taken an active interest in the civic affairs of his township, serving as school director of Sharon township, and is at present the efficient and capable township trustee. He is also treasurer of the local school board.
Andrew P. Topp is a well-known and successful farmer, a man who is thoroughly engrossed by his vocation; a born optimist, of pleasant and agreeable manners and popular in the neighborhood where he lives, and as a husbandman he has no superiors and few equals in Sharon township.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 807-808.
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