Brig. Gen. Robert Todd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Todd_(pioneer)

Politician and soldier:

Brigadier General (appointed 1792) - officer in the Continental Army under General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, he took part in the Indian Wars and the western campaign during the American Revolutionary War.

Went to Kentucky in 1776. Was a skilled surveyor and was appointed and acted as surveyor of fayette county Kentucky.

He was educated in Louisa County, Virginia, by his uncle Rev. John Todd, who had a classical school.

He was in Mcclellan's Fort (now Georgetown, Kentucky) twelve miles from Lexington, when it was attacked by the Indians in 1776.

One of the founders of Lexington, Kentucky.

Statesman in Kentucky serving as a delegate for Kentucky County to the Virginia legislature and at least one of the conventions to draft a state constitution. He was also one of the commissioners selected to divide the land in Clark's Grant among the veterans of the Battle of Kaskaskia and Vincennes and later one of the original trustees of Clarksville, Virginia.

Represented Fayette County in the first Kentucky senate

Served as a circuit judge for a number of years of the Fayette District,

Selected as one of three commissioners to choose a location of the new state capital. When the vote was tied between Frankfort and Lexington, he chose in favor of Frankfort as opposed to his hometown

=========================

• 1803-4 John Todd, Senr., son of Gen'l. Robt. Elder Presbn. Church, K. died, advanced age
• 1803-4 John Todd Jr. son of Genl. Levi
• 1808-9 Robert S. Todd, Member Ky. Legislature, dec'd. Saml. B. Todd, removed to Missouri, North Todd, James C. Todd, Sheriff Fayette Co., & Elder Pres. Ch.,
• 1808-9 David Todd, Jr., died while at College, son of Genl. Robt.
• 1805-9 Levi Luther Todd, alive, Judge, Indiana, 1874, Thomas Todd, Inda. decd. 1874

Source: PART FOUR: A MEMOIR OF LEXINGTON AND ITS VICINITY With Some Notice of Many Prominent Citizens and Its Institutions of Education and Religion By WWilliam Leavy

Continued from the October 1942 Register; Register, Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 41, Number 134, January 1943, pages 44-62. This is the fourth of eight Register articles containing a transcription of a photocopy of the original William Leavy manuscript

RECORD:

1. wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Todd_(pioneer). "Brigadier General Robert Todd (c. 1757-March 1814 or 1820) was an 18th century American pioneer, politician and soldier. As an officer in the Continental Army under General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, he took part in the Indian Wars and the western campaign during the American Revolutionary War.

Together with his brothers John Todd and General Levi Todd, he was involved in the early economic and political development of Kentucky prior to its admission into the United States in 1792.[1]

[edit] BiographyBorn in Pennsylvania as the second son of David Todd and Hannah Owen, he lived with relatives in Virginia as a child and attended the school of his uncle Parson John Todd. He studied law, reportedly in the office of General Andrew Lewis, before moving to Kentucky in the spring of 1776.[2] He was one of the founders of Lexington, Kentucky and soon became involved in local politics and public affairs in the Fayette County area. On December 29, he was seriously wounded defending McClelland's Station against the Mingo chieftain Pluggy. He continued to be involved in defending the Kentucky frontier participated in expeditions with General Charles Scott. After the death of his brother John at the Battle of Blue Licks, Robert Todd was elected to succeed his brother as trustee of Lexington on December 12, 1782. He was also assigned by the council to survey the town.[3]

His reputation as an experienced and formidable Indian fighter led him to join General Anthony Wayne who he served as a captain during the Illinois campaign. In 1787, acting on information by local Shawanese, he launched a preemptive strike against a Cherokee raiding party at Paint Lick killing three warriors and taking seven others prisoner. These men would escape the following day, however.[4]

In his later years, Todd became a distinguished statesman in Kentucky serving as a delegate for Kentucky County to the Virginia legislature and at least one of the conventions to draft a state constitution. He was also one of the commissioners selected to divide the land in Clark's Grant among the veterans of the Battle of Kaskaskia and Vincennes and later one of the original trustees of Clarksville, Virginia.

In 1792, following Kentucky's admission into the United States, Todd represented Fayette County in the first Kentucky senate, and served as a circuit judge for a number of years.[5] He was again selected as one of three commissioners to choose a location of the new state capital. When the vote was tied between Frankfort and Lexington, he chose in favor of Frankfort as opposed to his hometown. As he possessed roughly 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) near the settlement, he did not want his vote "to be governed by selfish considerations".

By the time of the Northwest Indian War, he was part of a contingent of mounted volunteers from Lexington and Fayette County which included General James Wilkinson and Thomas Lewis. In June 1792, he was appointed a brigadier general under Wayne and participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers commanding the 3rd Kentucky Mounted Volunteers. He kept a personal diary of his experiences in the Indian campaigns, however, it remains unpublished. He died at the home of his son, Dr. John Todd, in Lexington in March 1814 [6] or in 1820.[7]

Of his six children, his youngest son Thomas J. Todd was a member of the Indiana General Assembly representing Marion County in the Senate from 1843 to 1846. His daughter Eliza was the wife of General William O. Butler.

[edit] References1. 1^ Harrison, Lowell Hayes. Lincoln of Kentucky. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000. (pg. 65) ISBN 0-8131-2156-6

2.^ Green, Thomas Marshall. Historic Families of Kentucky. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1889. (pg. 211-212)

3.^ Hayden, Robert. William Haydon, Kentucky Adventurer, 1740-1819. Little Rock: R. Haydon, 2000. (pg. 216) ISBN 0-9666756-2-2

4.^ Ranck, George W. History of Lexington, Kentucky: Its Early Annals and Recent Progress. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1872. (pg. 123)

5.^ Ranck, George W. History of Lexington, Kentucky: Its Early Annals and Recent Progress. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1872. (pg. 101)

6.^ Kentucky Historical Society. The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume Thirty-Nine. 1941 (pg. 70)

7.^ Hayden, William. Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778-1783. Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill Company, 1896. (pg. 947-950)."

2. David Andrew Todd Descendants, http://genealogyconnections.blogspot.com/2007/11/david-andrew-todd-.... "3. GENERAL ROBERT5 TODD (DAVID ANDREW4, ROBERT3, JOHN2, JAMES1) was born 19 April 1754 in Montgomery Co. PA, and died 01 March 1814 in Lexington, Fayette Co., KY. He married NANCY ANNE TODD 03 January 1782 in VA, daughter of JOHN TODD and MARGARET THOMPSON. She was born 26 August 1754, and died 31 August 1828.

Notes for GENERAL ROBERT TODD:

Excerpt from "Historic Families of Kentucky," by Thomas Green, 1889, in VA State Library, Richmond, VA, 1952, in "Todds": "Robert, second son of David Todd and Hannah Owen, was well educated at the school of his uncle, Parson John Todd, whose daught he married; then studied law in Virginia, it is said in the office of And. Lewis; came early to Kentucky; was sent as a burgess to the Virginia Legislature before the separation; was a member of the Danville convention of 1785; was an elector of the senate, and a senator, in 1792; was a lot owner in Lexington in 1783; was wounded in the defense of McClellan's Fort, now Georgetown, in 1776; active and brave soldier all through the trouble with Indians, and was often intrusted with important commands; and was for many years, after the state was established, a judge of the Circuit Court of the Fayette District, - (Collins). One of his daughters married Gen. Wm. Butler. Judge Levi and Col. Thomas Todd, of Indiana, and the late Dr. John Todd of Danville, were his sons."

Excerpt from "Centennial Record - History of Early Settlers of Sangamon Co., Ill," by John Power, 1876: "Robert Todd, the second brother, acquired the title of General in connection with the Indian wars, and later military operations in KY. None of his descendants ever came to Illinois. One daughter became the wife of Wm. Butler, of Carrollton, KY."

From http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyfayett/surveyfound.htm is a story from the Lexington Leader dtd Jan 1891, identifying the first town survey of Lexington. The survey is dtd Mar 24, 1791, and is signed by Robert Todd, S.F. Affidavit of William Meriwether, Jan 11, 1833, in behalf of the heirs of Levi Todd and Robert Todd. (See p. 563) Rev. War Records VA: Section IV: "William Meriwether stated that he joined Capt. John Rogers' Troop of Light Dragoons, which was raised in Spotsylvania and Culpeper Cos., VA, which was to be sent to the Western Country to join Gen. George Rogers Clark's Regt. John Rogers was comm. Capt. of the Co., and marched to the Ill. Country to join Gen. Clark's Regt. Shortly after Christmas 1779 or 1780, the Troop of Dragoons landed at Ft. Pitt, then called by that name, where Pittsburgh now stands. The rivr Ohio then froze up so that the troops were detained there until the Spring of 1780. When the ice broke up, the troop went down the river to the Falls of the Ohio, and from there to Ft. Jefferson, a few miles below the mouth of the Ohio on the Mississippi river, where Rogers' Troop of Horse joined for the first time Gen. George Rogers Clark's Regt. When the troops got there Clark's Regt. was on the ground. The troop together with Clark's regt. built the fort, called Ft. Jefferson. Sometime before this, that is in the winter of 1779, Clark had taken Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and many other places of the British forts in the Ill. country. At Ft. Jefferson, or at the Falls of the Ohio, Meriwether stated that he will recollected that Robert Todd and Levi Todd were there in Clark's Regt. and acting commissioned officers in the same. He does not recollect their rank, but believed they were bros., and went into the Regt. when it was raised and marched from VA with the Regt. The country around Ft. Jefferson was a wilderness for 400 miles distant. He believes that both Levi and Robert Todd completed the entire expedition in taking the several British posts in Ill. In the fall of 1780, Clark's Regt. came from Ft. Jefferson to the Falls of the Ohio, while the troop of Rogers, under the command of John Montgomery was taking or destroying other posts of the enemy in the summer of 1780. In the year 1781, after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis the regiment of Clark was reduced and Robert todd went to VA and married in 1782, and Levi Todd remained in KY., and was in the Blue Lick defeat, fought in Aug. 1782, when Col. John Todd was slain. William Meriwether was not again required by Gen. Clark to go into service, nor was Robert Todd or Levi Todd."

Revolutionary War Officers; Alphabetical List of Officers of the Continental Army; Fifteenth Virginia, pg 545; Todd, Robert (VA). Capt. of Clark's Ill. Reg. 1778 to 1782.

From "Todd Family," by Emily Todd Helm, Kittochtinney Magazine Jan. 1905 p. 85: "ROBERT TODD, born in Montgomery Co., PA., Apr. 19, 1754 - died Mar 20, 1814, son of David and Hannah (Owen) Todd, went to KY in 1776. He was in McClellan's Ft, (Georgetown), when it was attacked by the Indians in the year of his removal, and was severly wounded in the hip. While convalescing he was attacked by a buffalo bull; his shoulder blade was broken and one of the animal's horns penetrated his lungs. When McClellan's Ft. was abgandoned, Jan 30, 1777, Mr. Todd went to Harrodsburg. In 1778, he became a captain in Gen. George Rogers Clarke's little army of conquest, and was in all of Clarke's campaigns against the English and the Indians. His commission was in a VA state regiment, 1778-1782. In 1787 he was in command of an expedition to the Scioto river region, north of the Ohio, in which three Indians were killed and seven captured. He was a man of rigid, unbending integrity, and one of the bravest soldiers of Kentucky of that early day. Captain Todd was a skillful surveyor and served as surveyor of Fayette county. He settled at Lexington, where he became an extensive land owner. He was one of the commissioners to choose the seat of government for the new State of Kentucky, and gave his deciding vote for Frankfort instead of Lexington to avoid a suspicion of being governed by self interest in his choice. He held a number of civil offices. He was chosen a state senator for Fayette Co., in 1792, and was Quarter Sessions Judge and afterward Assistant Judge of the Circuit Court of the County. When the record office of the county was burned, Jan 31, 1803, he was one of the nine gentlemen who carefully copied the charred record books.

Like his brothers, John and Levi, he was opposed to slavery, and in 1799 he emancipated his slaves, one of whom had accompanied him in all his campaigns. Captain, afterward known as General Todd, married Jan. 3, 1782, his cousin, Anne Todd (b. Aug 26, 1756 - d. Aug 31, 1828), daughter of John and Margaret (Thompson) Todd."

Notes for NANCY ANNE TODD: One source says she was b. 1756.

Children of ROBERT TODD and NANCY TODD are:

• i. COLONEL JOHN6 TODD, b. 15 October 1783.
• ii. MARGARET THOMPSON TODD, b. 28 September 1787.
• iii. DAVID FAYETTE TODD, b. 08 May 1788.
• iv. THOMAS J. TODD, b. Lexington, Fayette Co., KY.
• v. GENERAL LEVI LUTHER TODD, b. 26 July 1791, Lexington, Fayette Co., KY; m. JANE BRIGGS.
• vi. ELIZA TODD."

  ---

Born on Friday, Died on Sunday.

Aged 59 years, 11 months, 1 day.

General Robert Todd, of Lexington. Died at the home of his son, Dr. John Todd, in March, 1814. aged 57 years.

Obituary.--Kentucky Gazette Dated 28-Mar-1814

< Going by the birth date on the headstone, one would think that there was a typographical error in the paper and hopefully not on the headstone... >

Thank you to P Fazzini for the Father, Mother and Spouse links.

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via sister Hannah Smith (born Todd) by SmartCopy: Feb 18 2015, 17:55:44 UTC

  ---

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 25 2020, 2:20:51 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 25 2020, 2:21:25 UTC

  ---

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 25 2020, 2:21:25 UTC