THOMAS J. TOPHAM, proprietor of the Madera Soda Works, was born in Huntingdonshire, England.  He was reared on the farm of his father and was educated at Eton College.  In 1872 he came to the United States with his parents and landed at Boston during the disastrous fire in that city.  They then went to Wythe County, Virginia, where Mr. Topham bought a farm of 420 acres and carried on general farming.  After five years in this country, on account of failing health, young Topham took a trip to England, and after one year there went to Australia and New Zealand, hoping to derive benefit from the sea voyage.  After four years passed in traveling about Australia, with health restored, he started out for California, where he arrived in February, 1884.  He then settled upon a farm of 120 acres in Tulare County, where for three years, he carried on general farming.  In 1887 he came to Madera, purchased land and erected his present establishment, which is fitted up with the latest improved machinery for the manufacture of soda water and the bottling of wines.  Mr. Topham purifies the water used in his soda water by a chemical process.  The water is then carefully filtered before bing used, making the soda of better quality and causing it to keep for a longer time.  He has a bored well, 100 feet deep, which supplies the factory and an ice house of the storage of manufactured stock.  He is pleased with his success, as he is building up an extensive patronage throughout the county.  Mr. Topham was married, in Australia, in 1884, to Miss Carrie Reinhardt, a native of Australia, but of German descent.  They have no children.



Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare, and Kern, California.  Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1891

Transcribed by Liz Brase 2006 ©).