Mary Todd Lincoln's Uncle, Judge David Todd-- Part 1: War of 1812 Veteran and Lawyer

From Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois.

DAVID TODD

Born:  29 March 1786   Fayette County, Ky.

Died:  9 June 1859  Columbia, Missouri

Buried:   Columbia Cemetery, Columbia, Mo.

David Todd was the uncle of Mary Todd Lincoln and brother of Mary's father, Robert Smith Todd.

He attended Transylvania University, served in the military in the War of 1812, read law with Mr. George M. Bibb, earned admission to the Kentucky bar and served in the Kentucky legislature.

In 1817, he and his wife, Eliza, whom he married in 1810, and with whom he had ten children, moved to the frontier town of Franklin in Missouri Territory.

--Brock-Perry

Dr. John Todd-- Part 3: From Kentucky to Springfield, Illinois

From The People Lincoln Knew site.

Mary Todd Lincoln's uncle and de facto patriarch of the Springfield, Illinois, Todds.  Robert Smith Todd, Mary's father, never moved to Springfield.

He was born in Lexington Kentucky in 1787 and received an excellent education, graduating from Transylvania College in Lexington and the Medical University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  he served in the War of 1812 as surgeon general of Kentucky troops  before returning to his Lexington, Ky., practice.

In 1813, he married Elizabeth Smith, age 20, .

In 1827, John Quincy Adams appointed him Register of the General Land Office in Springfield, Illinois.  He held that position until 1829, when he was removed for political reasons following the election of Andrew Jackson to president.  John Todd then practiced medicine in Springfield until his death at age 77 in 1865.

--Brock-Perry

Dr. John Todd-- Part 1: Brother of Robert Smith Todd

From Find-A-Grave.

Brother of John Smith Todd, uncle of Mary Todd Lincoln.

Graduate of Transylvania University and University of Pennsylvania. 

Took part in the War of 1812.    Acted as Surgeon General of Kentucky troops.

Was at the Battle of River Raisin where he was taken prisoner and later confined to  the "Pens of Malden."  Paroled in winter of 1813.

Returned to Kentucky where he continued his medical practice.

1817 moved to Edwardsville, Illinois, and 1827 to Springfield, Illinois.  Buried Oak Wood Cemetery in Springfield.

--Brock-Perry

Robert Smith Todd-- Part 4: After the War

He was the father of Mary Todd Lincoln.

After the War of 1812, Robert ran a dry goods store with a partner.  Doing this, he made trips to New Orleans to buy French brandies, Dutch gin and green coffee, which they sold in Lexington.  He used these while entertaining friends at his home and he became acquainted with many prominent persons.

Later, he became a partner in a cotton manufacturing company near the Ohio River and by 1835 was serving as the president of  the Lexington branch of the Bank of Kentucky.  In 1827, he was appointed trustee of Transylvania University, alongside with Henry Clay and Charles A. Wickliffe.

Robert Todd was a close friend of John J. Crittenden and served as a justice of the peace and sheriff.  He spent  over twenty years as a clerk of the Kentucky House of Representatives in Frankfort and also served terms a a Kentucky representative and senator.

A Very Prominent and Successful Man.  --Brock-Perry

Robert Smith Todd (Mary Lincoln's Father)-- Part 3: At Battles of Frenchtown and Thames

In July 1812, when the 5th Kentucky Regiment left Lexington, , it contained Robert , three of his brothers and eight Todd cousins.  Initially, Robert did not receive his commission, although his two older brothers did.

Along with his younger brother, Samuel, Robert enlisted as a private.  Before he could leave Ohio, however, he caught pneumonia and had to stay there to recover.

After recovering (and during which time he returned home to marry Eliza Parker), he went to the front of military action and  fought at the Battle of Frenchtown in Michigan in January 1813 and later in the fall was at the Battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh was killed and which ended fighting in that part of the war.

Before the end of the war, Robert was promoted to captain.

--Brock-Perry

Robert Smith Todd (Mary Lincoln's Father)-- Part 2: Militia and War of 1812

After graduating from Transylvania College, he began studying law, first by apprenticing himself in the office of clerk of Fayette County and then with noted jurist George Bibb, chief justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals (and later U.SD. senator and Secretary of the Treasury in the 1840s.

He was admitted to the bar in  on September 11, 1811, however, he never practiced law and chose instead to go into business.

Even before the War of 1812 began, Robert Todd  was active in a company of the Kentucky militia that eventually  merged into the Lexington Light Artillery of the 5th Kentucky Regiment.  During the winter of 1811-1812, he asked for a commission as an officer from Senator Henry Clay.

--Brock-Perry

Robert Smith Todd (Mary Todd Lincoln's Father) in the War of 1812-- Part 1

I have been writing about the Todd family of Kentucky in the Civil War in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.  They were from Kentucky, a deeply divided border state and that certainly applied to the Todd family which, besides Mary Todd being the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, many of her half-siblings and even one brother were staunch Confederates.

Robert Smith Todd was Mary Todd Lincoln's father.

From Wikipedia.

ROBERT SMITH TODD

Born February 25, 1791  Died July 17, 1847

Lawyer, soldier, banker, businessman and politician.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, the year before it became a state.

One of six sons of Levi Todd, who fought in the American Revolution under the command of George Rogers Clark.  After the war, his father and uncles helped found the city of Lexington, Kentucky.

Robert Todd attended Transylvania College in Lexington and graduated at age 18.

--Brock-Perry