Thomas Todd (1765 - 1826)

Born 23 Jan 1765 in King and Queen, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Lucy Ann (Payne) Todd — married 29 Mar 1812 in The White House, Washington, D.C.

Descendants

Died 7 Feb 1826 at age 61 in Frankfort, Franklin, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

Thomas Todd is Notable.

Children of Elizabeth Harris listed in Findagrave

1. Millicent Todd (c. 1789–1810)
2. Charles Stewart Todd 1791–1871 m. LETITIA SHELBY
3. John Harris Todd 1795–1824 m. MARIA KNOX INNES
4. Ann Maria Todd Starling 1801–1862 m. EDMUND LYNE STARLING
5. Elizabeth Frances Todd Beckett 1808–1892 m. Joseph Shawhan Beckett

He was a substitute in the Revolutionary War for six months and later in service in the cavalry, moved to Danville, Kentucky , 1786 was clerk of most of the conventions for the purpose of devising plans for Kentucky to become a separate state.

Thomas and Lucy Paine Washington Todd were the first couple to be married in the White House.

Biography of Judge Thomas Todd from the History of the Federal Judiciary web site^[1]

Federal Judicial Service:

Supreme Court of the United States

Nominated by Thomas Jefferson on February 28, 1807, to a new seat

created by 2 Stat. 420, 421; Confirmed by the Senate on March 2, 1807,

and received commission on March 3, 1807. Service terminated on

February 7, 1826, due to death.

Education:

Liberty Hall Academy (now Washington and Lee University), 1783

Read law, 1786

Professional Career:

Continental Army, 1779, 1781

Clerk, Conventions Seeking Statehood for Kentucky, 1784-1792

Private practice, Danville, Kentucky, 1788-1801

Clerk, Federal Court for the District of Kentucky, 1789-1792

Clerk, Kentucky Constitutional Conventions, 1792, 1799

Clerk, Lexington Democratic Society, Lexington, Kentucky, 1793-1794

Clerk, Kentucky House of Representatives, 1792-1801

Clerk, Kentucky Court of Appeals, 1799-1801

Judge, Kentucky Court of Appeals, 1801-1806

Chief justice, Kentucky Supreme Court, 1806-1807

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Manuscript sources

Thomas Todd was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, on January 23, 1765. He was the youngest of five children. Both of his parents died when he was young. He was raised Presbyterian. At the age of sixteen, Todd served in the American Revolutionary War for six months as a private in the Virginia Continental Line after he volunteered as a substitute. He later stated that it was his first paid job. He later served in the Manchester Virginia Cavalry during Arnold’s raid. After his service he attended Liberty Hall Academy in Lexington, Virginia, which is now Washington and Lee University, and graduated in 1783.

Todd then became a tutor at Liberty Hall Academy in exchange for room and board and instruction in the law. Todd studied surveying before moving to Kentucky County (then part of Virginia) in 1783 when his first cousin, Harry Innes, was appointed to the Kentucky district of the Virginia Supreme Court. Todd read law to gain admission to the Kentucky bar in 1786, but he gained positions of influence by becoming a recorder.

Todd served as the clerk at five constitutional conventions between 1784 and 1792 where Kentucky was seeking statehood. He served as secretary to the Kentucky State Legislature when Kentucky was admitted to the Union in 1792. When the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the State's highest court, was created in 1789, Todd became its chief clerk. He also maintained a private practice in Danville, Kentucky from 1788 until 1801, when Todd was appointed a Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In 1806 he was elevated to Chief Justice. During this time he was also appointed as a Colonel of Militia by Governor Isaac Shelby.

Todd married Elizabeth Harris in 1788 and they were the parents of five children: Elizabeth (Mrs. John Hanna), Ann Maria (Mrs. Edmund Starling), Harry Innes, Charles Scott, and John Harris. On March 29, 1812, Todd married Lucy Payne Washington, the youngest sister of Dolley Madison and the widow of Major George Steptoe Washington, who was a nephew of President George Washington. It is believed that this was the first wedding to be held in the White House. Their three children were William J. Todd, Madisonia Todd, and James Madison Todd.

Todd was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Thomas Jefferson on February 28, 1807. Todd served under Chief Justice John Marshall. Politically, Todd was a Jeffersonian. Todd served as a Supreme Court Justice until his death in Frankfort, Kentucky on February 7, 1826 at the age of 61. He was buried in the Innes family cemetery but later exhumed along with his first wife Elizabeth Harris and reinterred in the State Cemetery at Frankfort. Upon his death, Justice Todd was vested with substantial real property, particularly in Frankfort, Kentucky. He was a charter member of the Kentucky River Company, the first business formed to promote Kentucky waterway navigation. The inventory of his estate revealed he was a shareholder of the Kentucky Turnpike, (the first publicly improved highway west of the Alleghenies), and the Frankfort toll bridge, crossing the Kentucky River. In addition to his home, he owned more than 7,200 acres of land throughout the state and another twenty or so pieces in Frankfort. After his children were provided for, as he put it, in "their full proportion", the remainder of his estate valued at more than $70,000—a large sum at the time. His tombstone states simply “Pvt. VA Cav”.

Sources

1. ↑ Federal Judiciary web site

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Todd
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5662/thomas-todd
• DAR record https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A114417
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5662/thomas-todd
• Dorman, John Frederick, Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/25, Vol. 1 (Families A-F), Baltimore MD, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Fourth Edition 2004, pgs. 287 & 288
• SAR Patriot Biography #: P-305765 by Robert J. Gang III