If you want tall trees with straight, non-forking trunks with no internal defects you won't be topping them.

In many cases the trees will eventually develop new terminal leader(s). If you remove all but one you will sometimes get a reasonably normal tree that has lost a few years in growing taller. Other times you will get a tree with a strange crooked trunk. It may or may not help the bottom grow denser, no guarantee it will always direct extra growth there. If multiple leaders develop and are left to grow, you will have a weak multi-trunked tree prone to storm damage.

Bundles of small seedlings are usually available in bundles of 10 or so for $10-$20 a bundle through many nurseries and soil conservation districts in early spring. They are very small but establish well. Maybe planting more each year at a low cost per tree would give you the option of removing those that do not have good form after a few years of growth.

...I would not want to buy nursery stock that has the terminal bud removed. Not a good way to grow an attractive, healthy tree.

Any time I see two leaders, I will look for the best one and cut the other one off.

The majority of my trees look great. I was just asking more out of curiousity. The one with the dead at the top had to be cut.

The other one I just wanted to see what would happen. The leader was probably more than a foot long and I cut half off. The leader alone was close to half the height of the tree. I bought all they had this year and this was the one I almost didn't buy, but they gave it to me for half price, so I said what the heck.

Poor specimens are often a waste of time and money. The condition of a plant at installation has a critical effect on the results it produces.

Depending how long the trees have been bent over and if the wood was damaged, they may or may not be able to be straightened. I've had smaller trees (7-8 ft) that were bent by snow and when it warmed up in the spring, I've put a rope on about half way between the bend and the top and pulled it straight and put a stake on the rope to hold it for a while, until the tree started growing again. On a larger tree or one where the wood has been damaged, this method probably won't work. If you cut the top off, you'll most likely get a 'twin' leader started that could be cut to a single leader after a time. The tree will however be shorter than the other un-topped trees and as you mentioned won't be quite 'as beautiful' but it won't kill them.

Thank you so much. Unfortunately, the trees had to wait over winter, so I'll have someone determine damage to the wood.

'Unfortunately, the trees had to wait over winter' That's a good thing. Trying to straighten the tree when the wood was cold/frozen might have damaged it further. The wood is more pliable when not frozen, so now will be a better time of year to attempt anything.

I'm thinking that if the diameter of the trunk at the point of the bend is less than 3", there will be a pretty good chance of straightening it. As the diameter increases, so will the difficulty. If the wood is cracked or damaged, all bets are off.

Good Luck! :-)