TODD
. The first of this family in America came from the north of Ireland, and it is known that they were originally from Scotland. A man by the name of Todd--it is thought that his first name was David--was married in Ireland to Hannah Owen, and came to America, with other members of the family, previous to the American Revolution. They settled at Pequea, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and had three sons, John, Robert and Levi. They were educated by their uncle, parson John Todd, who conducted a literary institution in Virginia. These three brothers emigrated about 1778 or '79 to what became Fayette county, Kentucky. They were all influential men in the Indian wars, and in forming the institutions of that State. The eldest:John Todd, under commission from Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, dated Dec. 12, 1778, at Williamsburg, then the capital of the State, was authorized to establish the county of Illinois. He was styled in his commission the County Lieutenant Commandant. As such he organized the county and thus became in fact, though not in name, the first Governor of Illinois. See page 28. His first act was to issue a proclamation with reference to land titles, June 15, 1779. Nearly three years later he had been to Virginia, and on his way back made it convenient to visit his family in Kentucky. While at Lexington, news came that the Indians west of the Ohio river were crossing over into Kentucky. Colonel Todd, as one of the commanders, was slain at the battle of Blue Licks, August 18, 1782.
Robert Todd, the second brother, acquired the title of General in connection with the Indian wars, and later military operations in Kentucky. None of his descendants ever came to Illinois. One daughter became the wife of General William O. Butler, of Carrollton, Kentucky.
Levi Todd, the youngest of the three, was engaged in the early Indian wars in Kentucky, and was a lieutenant under Colonel Clark in the expedition that left Corn Island, opposite Louisville, and captured Fort Gates and the village of Kaskaskia, July 4, 1778. M. Rocheblave, the commander of the fort, was so mortified at his having been surprised and captured without firing a gun, that he would not accept any courtesies from his captors, and was sent under a military guard to Virginia. Lieutenant Levi Todd commanded the squad of soldiers who took the prisoner back. He afterwards acquired the title of General, was clerk of the circuit court of Fayette county, Kentucky, the greater part of his life, and lived and died in Lexington. General Levi Todd's daughter, Hannah, was the mother of Hon. John T. Stuart. See his name. His son, Robert Todd, was the father of Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, Mrs. Dr. William S. Wallace, Mrs. C. M. Smith and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, all of Springfield, Illinois. One only of his children became an early settler of Sangamon county:
TODD, JOHN, was born April 27, 1787, near Lexington, Fayette county, Kentucky.