Judge Owen Todd

A Patriot of the American Revolution for PENNSYLVANIA with the rank of Private. DAR Ancestor # A114381

He was first buried on the homestead south of town his remains were transfered to the Vevay Cemetery.

Owen – b. April 20, 1762 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania d. December 6, 1817. He moved to Kentucky in 1794 with his parents and the family of his brother-in-law, Elijah Smith. Owen later became a Judge and moved to Ohio. Then in early 1817 moved to Vevay, Indiana. Judge Todd was first married in 1782 to Elizabeth Smith (d. 1783), who was reported to be his cousin. On June 9, 1790, Judge Todd married Maria Jane Paxton (b. April 22, 1771 – died 1834 in Madison, Indiana.)

•Owen, birth 20 April 1762, Philadelphia,PA, died 6 December 1817, Vevay,IN (age at death: 55 years old). Married to Elizabeth Smith. Married to Maria Jane Paxton, birth in 1771, died in 1834 (age at death: 63 years old),

 had:

 Owen Kentucky, birth in 1781, died in 1864 (age at death: 83 years old). 

 Married to Achsah Chapman, birth in 1793, died in 1847 (age at death: 54 years old), 

     had:

     Abbott Levi James, birth in 1820, died in 1886 (age at death: 66 years old). 

     Married to Angeline Lorraine Tate, birth in 1830, died in 1917 (age at death: 87 years old), 

          Had:

         Caleb Aurelius, birth in 1856, died in 1929 (age at death: 73 years old). 

         Married to Sarah M. Fouts, birth in 1857, died in 1884 (age at death: 27 years old), 

             had:

             Elizabeth Lorraine, birth in 1882, died in 1974 (age at death: 92 years old). 

            Married to James Buchanan Dye, birth in 1866, died in 1950 (age at death: 84 years old)

RECORD:

1. David Andrew Todd Descendants, http://genealogyconnections.blogspot.com/2007/11/david-andrew-todd-.... "5. OWEN5 TODD (DAVID ANDREW4, ROBERT3, JOHN2, JAMES1) was born 20 April 1762 in Providence, Montgomery Co. PA, and died 06 December 1817 in Vevay, IN. He married (1) ELIZABETH SMITH 1782. She was born Abt. 1766 in Providence, PA, and died Abt. 1783. He married (2) MARIA JANE PAXTON 09 June 1790, daughter of (COL.) (COL.) THOMAS PAXTON. She was born 22 April 1772 in Providence, PA, and died 1834 in Madison, IN. Notes for OWEN TODD: He left home at the age of 17 and took part in the storming of Stony Point, July 15, 1779, under Gen. Anthony Wayne, who was a neighbor and friend of his father. It is said that his conspicuous bravery on this occasion drew forth from Wayne the warmest praise, and would have gained him a commission but for his youth. It is probably that his presence with the Pennsylvania troops on the Hudson, in 1779, was without the knowledge of his parents, as in 1780-81, he was with his brother-in-law, Roger North, a member of Capt. Alexander Johnston's company of Volunteer Light Horse, of Chester county.

In 1794, Owen Todd with his parents and the family of his brother-in- law, Elijah Smith, migrated to Kentrucky, where his three elder brothers, John, Robert and Levi, had gone before the revolution. Land was bought on Cane Run, a branch of the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek, Fayette Co., at a point nine miles from the village of Lexingon. Here the parents took up their residence and their children and relatives found homes in the vicinity. Like many of the adventurous and better educated young men of that day, who found their way to the west, Owen Todd had familiarized himself with the duties of a land surveyor. For this occupation his education, his physical constitution, and his tastes eminently fitted him. He had brought with him the implements of his profession, and his services were soon in requistion by the settlers of the rich soil of Kentucky, with each of whom his earliest wish was realized only when he had secured a home for himself and some friend left behind in the "old country," as they termed the place from which they had migrated. For several years he was employed in private and government surveying, at first in Kentucky and later on the waters of the Little Miami River in Southwestern Ohio, where a stream known as Todd's Fork of the Little Miami still bears his name.

In 1786, then being a resident of Kentucky, he acompanied the expedition of Gen. George Rogers Clarke against the Indian towns on the Wabash River, but in what capacity is not known, probably as a private. He was commissioned by Gov. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, to take rank from Sept 9, 1789. During the years following he was engaged in frequent expeditions against the Indians. In August, 1791, he commanded a company under Gen. James Wilkinson in the second expedition against the Indians on the Upper Wabash River, and Aug. 20, 1794, fifteen years after his boyish adventure at Stony Point, he again fought under General Wayne, commanding a company of Kentuckians in the brigade of his elder brother, Gen. Robert Todd, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, on the Maumee River, Ohio, generally known as "Wayne's Victory".

In 1797, Owen Todd moved to Hamilton County, Ohio, locating on the east bank of Little Miami River, on O'Bannon's Creek, one mile east of the present town of Loveland, where his wife's family, the Paxtons, had preceded him two years before.

When the county of Clermont was organized, Dec. 6th, 1800, the Todd and Paxton families found themselves citizens of Clermont County, and indeed were the first actual settlers in that county. Owen Todd was presiding Judge of the first Court of General Quarter Sessions convened in the county, on the first Tuesday in February, 1801, at Williamsburgh, then the county seat, which position he held until December, 1803. During the occupancy of this home, a period of six or eight years, he did a great deal of private surveying. In much of this work he was associated with William Lytle, afterwards Major General of the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812, and later Surveyor General of the public lands of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, whom he had known from boyhood in Kentucky. In the meantime he had acquired considerable bodies of land on Todd's Creek, in the adjoining county of Warren, where his business of surveying frequently led him. One tract of two thousand acres lay not far from the present town of Clarkesville, Clinton Co., where he built a blockhouse for the protection of his surveying party. A few miles below this, on the left bank of the Little Miami River, in Warren Co., he had a smaller tract on which he lived for a short time when he purchased the well-known farm lying on the north east corner of the crossing of the Waynesville and Morrow, and the Lebanon and Fort Ancient pikes, one and a half miles west of the last named place, and now occupied by Cephas Gutterry. Here he lived for many years and until his removal to Indiana. Judge Owen Todd was one of the notabilities of the "Miami Country".

In person, he was five feet, ten inches in height, compact and muscular and weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds. His bodily activity and powers of endurance were remarkable, and incredible stories are told of his leaping and other athletic feats. His complexion was far and his head, which was large, was covered with dark brown hair that hung to his waist, but which he wore as a queue, put up in a silk or leather bag. The queue was cut off a short time before his death and is now (1883) in possession of his granddaughter, Miss Jane Todd, of Chattanooga, Tenn... He was a man of great courage; indeed, it may be said of him that he was utterly without fear. In his affections he was warm and demonstrative. To his wife and children and other near relatives, he was charmingly tender and gracious.

Another of his children, Mrs. Madison, says of him that he never left home for the shortest time without kissing his wife farewell. He was confiding and generous to weakness. His willingness to serve his friends gave him much trouble in his later days, dissipating the ample earnings of a lifetime and bringing him almost to the verge of bankruptcy.

Though a slave owner while living in Kentucky he was always an advocate of the abolition of slavery, and before leaving that state he gave freedom to all his slaves, about fifteen in number. Seven or eight of these refused to be left behind and were taken to Ohio, where their wants were well supplied, all the women receiving twenty acres of land on their marriage.

Though descended on the paternal side through a long line of Presbyterians he early attached himself to the Methodist Church, as did his wife, and died in the communion.

Early in 1817, he followed some of his children to Vevay, Indiana, buying a farm two miles below the town on the banks of the Ohio River, and died the same year, at his town home, the site of which is now occupied by a Baptist Church. 

He is buried in the Vevay Cemetery, where a stone with suitable inscription marks his grave. He was eloquent of speech, but was not ambitious of political distinction and never sought office, yet during his short life he filled many places of honor, and it is not known that he ever betrayed a public or private trust.

Judge Todd married (1) in 1782, his cousin, Elizabeth Smith, who died in 1783, and had one child, Hannah, who married Mordecai Redd. He married (2) June 9, 1790, Maria Jane Paxton, born April 22, 1771, died at Madison, Ind, in 1834. She was the daughter of Col. Thomas Paxton, then living on the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek. Colonel Paxton removed from Bedford Co., PA to Fayette Co. KY in 1789. In 1776 he was a captain in the Bedford County Militia, and commanded a company in active service from Sept. 12 to Nov 13, 1776. In 1794, he commanded the scouts in advance of the govements of Gen. Wayne's army that resulted in the battle of Fallen Timbers. Mrs. Todd was buried in the "old graveyard" at Madison but the place of her sepulchure is unknown, her tombstone having disappeared... More About MARIA JANE PAXTON: Burial: "Old Graveyard" in Madison, IN Child of OWEN TODD and ELIZABETH SMITH is: i. HANNAH6 TODD, b. 1783; d. 1876; m. MORDECAI REDD. Children of OWEN TODD and MARIA PAXTON are: 10. ii. OWEN KENTUCKY6 TODD, b. 23 October 1791, Cane Run, Fayette Co. KY; d. 1864, Barry Co. MO. iii. MARIA JANE TODD, b. 1793; d. 1880; m. CHANNING MADISON, 1814. iv. PAXTON WARREN TODD, b. 1795; d. 1837; m. MARTHA FELTER. v. ROBERT WILLIAM TODD, b. 1797, Pa; m. CATHERINE MCCULLY. vi. DAVID ANDREW TODD, b. 1799; d. 1864; m. MARY OGLE. vii. JOHN HAWKINS TODD, b. 14 October 1801, Clermont Co. OH; d. 1824, Vevay, IN. Notes for JOHN HAWKINS TODD: Died unmarried. viii. ISABELLA RAMSEY TODD, b. 1803; d. 1879; m. ABRAHAM DUMONT. ix. NANCY SMITH TODD, b. 1805; d. 1831; m. SIMON S. GILLETT. x. LEVI WESLEY TODD, b. 1807; m. DEMIA BUTLER. xi. ELIZA JANE TODD, b. 1809; d. 1863; m. WILLIAM PEYTON STEVENS. Notes for WILLIAM PEYTON STEVENS: Have also found his last name listed as Stephens 11. xii. ELIJAH SMITH TODD, b. 06 July 1811, Warren Co. OH; d. 1864, Wright Co. MO.

generation 2 11. ELIJAH SMITH6 TODD (OWEN5, DAVID ANDREW4, ROBERT3, JOHN2, JAMES1) was born 06 July 1811 in Warren Co. OH, and died 1864 in Wright Co. MO. He married MARTHA HARDIN BOYD 31 May 1832. Notes for ELIJAH SMITH TODD: He may have married before this or there is an error in some date. The oldest child was born 3 Oct 1830 TN, says the 1850 census. Of their 12 children, all but the first one was born in AR. Children of ELIJAH TODD and MARTHA BOYD are: i. JULIA ANN7 TODD, b. 03 October 1830, TN; d. 13 July 1851; m. GEORGE HANCOCK. ii. NANCY J. TODD, b. 15 March 1833, AR; d. 28 January 1847. iii. WILLIAM S. TODD, b. 10 January 1835, AR; d. 20 September 1835. iv. MARTHA L. TODD, b. 06 June 1837, AR; d. 16 May 1861; m. JACOB L. DAVIS. v. JOHN PAXTON TODD, b. 17 December 1838, AR; d. 08 March 1860; m. (1) PERNINA JANE DAVIS; m. (2) EMILY MORRISON. vi. MARGARET L. TODD, b. 09 December 1840, AR; d. 30 October 1864; m. WILLIAM BELLOWS. vii. JOSEPHINE L. TODD, b. 31 March 1843, AR; d. 07 September 1876; m. JAMES KILBURN. viii. MARY M. TODD, b. 27 November 1844, AR; m. JOHN T. RANDOLPH. ix. SARAH D. TODD, b. 27 November 1844, AR; d. 18 April 1867; m. KENNETH M. DAVIS. x. WILLIS M. TODD, b. 01 February 1847, AR; d. 13 October 1867; m. HANNAH M. LOWERY. 16. xi. ANN ELIZA TODD, b. 06 February 1849, AR; d. 30 October 1939. xii. PERNECIA TODD, b. 08 January 1852, AR; d. 24 December 1868; m. ZACHARIAH TAYLOR."

~ My 5th Great-Grandfather ~  From "Todd Family," by Emily Todd Helm, Kittochtinney Magazine, published by G.O. Seilhamer, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 1905), pp. 90-91:

"OWEN TODD, (born in Providence twp., Montgomery Co., Pa., April 20, 1762 -- died Dec. 6, 1817), son of David and Hannah (Owen) Todd, was educated in such schools as his township afforded. According to family tradition he left home at the age of seventeen and took part in the storming of Stony Point, July 15, 1779, under Gen. Anthony Wayne, who was a neighbor and friend of his father. It is said that his conspicuous bravery on this occasion drew forth from Wayne the warmest praise, and would have gained him a commission but for his youth. It is probably that his presence with the Pennsylvania troops on the Hudson, in 1779, was without the knowledge of his parents, as in 1780-81, he was with his brother-in-law, Roger North, a member of Capt. Alexander Johnston's company of Volunteer Light Horse, of Chester county. In 1794, Owen Todd with his parents and the family of his brother-in-law, Elijah Smith, migrated to Kentucky, wither his three elder brothers, John, Robert and Levi, had gone before the revolution.

Land was bought on Cane Run, a branch of the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek, Fayette Co., at a point nine miles from the village of Lexington. Here the parents took up their residence and their children and relatives found homes in the vicinity. Like many of the adventurous and better educated young men of that day, who found their way to the west, Owen Todd had familiarized himself with the duties of a land surveyor. For this occupation his education, his physical consitution, and his tastes eminently fitted him. He had brought with him the implements of his profession, and his services were soon in requistion by the settlers on the rich soil of Kentucky, with each of whom his earliest wish was realized only when he had secured a home for himself and some friend left behind in the 'old country,' as they termed the place from which they had migrated. For several years he was thus employed in private and government surveying, at first in Kentucky and later on the waters of the Little Miami River in South-western Ohio, where a stream known as Todd's Fork of the Little Miami still bears his name. In 1786, then being a resident of Kentucky, he accoompanied the expedition of Gen. George Rogers Clarke against the Indian towns on the Wabash River, but in what capacity is not known, probably as a private. He was commissioned by Gov. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, to take rank from Sept. 9, 1789. During the years following he was engaged in frequent expeditions against the Indians. In August, 1791, he commanded a company under Gen. James Wilkinson in the second expedition against the Indians on the Upper Wabash River, and Aug. 20, 1794, fifteen years after his boyish adventure at Stony Point, he again fought under General Wayne, commanding a company of Kentuckians in the brigade of his elder brother, Gen. Robert Todd, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, on the Maumee River, Ohio, generally known as 'Wayne's Victory.'

In 1797, Owen Todd moved to Hamilton County, Ohio, locating on the east bank of Little Miami River, on O'Bannon's Creek, one mile east of the present town of Loveland, whither his wife's family, the Paxtons, had preceded him two years before. When the county of Clermont was organized, Dec. 6th 1800, the Todd and Paxton families found themselves citizens of Clermont County, and indeed were the first actual settlers in that county. Owen Todd was presiding Judge of the first Court of General Quarter Sessions convened in the county, on the first Tuesday in February, 1801, at Williamsburgh, then the county seat, which position he held until December, 1803. During the occupancy of this home, a period of six or eight years, he did a great deal of private surveying. In much of this work he was associated with William Lytle, afterwards Major General of the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812, and later Surveyor General of the public lands of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, whom he had known from boyhood in Kentucky. In the meantime he had acquired considerable bodies of land on Todd's Creek, in the adjoining county of Warren, where his business of surveying frequently led him. One tract of two thousand acres lay not far from the present town of Clarkesville, Clinton Co., where he built a blockhouse for the protection of his surveying party. A few miles below this, on the left bank of the Little Miami River, in Warren Co., he had a smaller tract on which he lived for a short time when he purchased the well-know farm lying on the north east corner of the crossing of the Waynesville and Morrow, and the Lebanon and Fort Ancient pikes, one and half miles west of the last named place, and now occupied by Cephas Gutterry. Here he lived for many years and until his removal to Indiana. Judge Owen Todd was one of the notabilities of the 'Miami Country.' In person, he was five feet, ten inches in height, compact and muscular and weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds. His bodily activity and powers of endurance were remarkable, and incredible stories are told of his leaping and other athletic feats. His complexins was fair and his head, which was large, was covered with dark, brown hair that hung to his waist, but which he wore as a queue, put up in a silk or leather bag. The queue was cut off a short time before his death, and is now (1883) in possession of his grand-daughter, Miss Jane Todd, of Chattanooga, Tenn. . . .

He was a man of great courage; indeed, it may be said of him that he was utterly without fear. In his affections he was warm and demonstrative. To his wife and children and other near relatives, he was charmingly tender and gracious. Another of his children, Mrs. Madison, says of him that he never left home for the shortest time without kissing his wife farewell. He was confiding and generous to weakness. His willingness to serve his friends gave him much trouble in his later days, dissipating the ample earnings of a lifetime and bringin him almost to the verge of bankruptcy. Though a slave owner while living in Kentucky he was always an advocate of the abolition of slavery, and before leaving that state he gave freedom to all his slaves, about fifteen in number. Seven or eight of these refused to be left behind and were taken to Ohio, where their wants were well supplied, all the women receiving twenty acres of land on their marriage.

Though descended on the paternal side through a long line of Presbyterians he early attached himself to the Methodist Church, as did his wife, and died in that communion. Early in 1817, he followed some of his children to Vevay, Indiana, buying a farm two miles below the town on the banks of the Ohio River, and died the same year, at his town home, the site of which is now occupied by a Baptist Church edifice. He is buried in the Vevay Cemetery, where a stone with suitable inscription marks his grave. He was eloquent of speech, but was not ambitious of political distinction and never sought office, yet during his short life he filled many places of honor, and it is not known that he ever betrayed a public or private trust.

Judge Todd married (1) in 1782, his cousin, Elizabeth Smith, (died in 1783), and had issue:

1. Hannah Todd was born May 4, 1783 in Philadelphia, PA and died 1876 in Indianapolis, Marion Co, IN. She married (1) Mordecai Redd on February 26, 1800 in Fayette Co, KY (2) Nathaniel Cotton.

Judge Todd married (2), June 9, 1790, Maria Jane Paxton, (born April 22, 1771 -- died at Madison, Ind., in 1834), daughter of Col. Thomas Paxton, then living on the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek. Colonel Paxton removed from Bedford Co., Pa., to Fayette Co., Ky., in 1789. In 1776, he was a captain in the Bedford County Militia, and commanded a company in active service from Sept. 12 to Nov. 13, 1776. In 1794, he commanded the scouts in advance of the movements of Gen. Wayne's army that resulted in the battle of Fallen Timbers. Mrs. Todd was buried in the 'old graveyard' at Madison but the place of her sepulchure is unknown, her tombstone having disappeared. . . . Owen and Maria Jane (Paxton) Todd had issue:

1. Owen Kentucky Todd born October 23, 1791 in Cane Run, Fayette Co, KY and died June 1862 in Barry Co, MO.

2. Maria Jane Todd born June 28, 1793, married Channing Madison on July 21, 1814.

3. Paxton Warren Todd born April 1, 1795 in Cane Run, Fayette Co, KY. He married Martha Y. Felter.

4. Robert William Todd born April 28, 1791 in Cane Run, Fayette Co, KY. He married Catherine McCully on March 16, 1810 in Lawrenceburg, Dearborn Co, IN.

5. David Andrew Todd born October 27, 1799 in Hamilton Co, OH. He married Mary Ogle on July 1, 1822 in Vevay, Switzerland Co, IN.

6. John Hawkins Todd, born October 24, 1801 in Clermont Co, OH and died 1824 in Switzerland Co, IN.

7. Isabella Ramsey Todd born November 24, 1803 in Clermont Co, OH, married Abraham Dumont in 1820.

8. Nancy Smith Todd born October 22, 1805 in Warren Co, OH, married Simon S. Gillett.

9. Levi Wesley Todd born August 18, 1807 in Warren Co, OH. He married Demia Butler on February 26, 1829 in Vernon, Jennings Co, IN.

10. Eliza Jane Todd born November 12, 1809 in Warren Co, OH, married William Peyton Stevens in 1831 in Switzerland Co, IN.

11. Elijah Smith Todd born July 6, 1811 in Warren Co, OH and died June 1, 1864 in Wright Co, MO. He married Martha Hardin Boyd on May 31, 1832 in Washington Co, AR.

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

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