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Are there any Todds still living?
07-24-2012, 08:44 PM (This post was last modified: 07-24-2012 08:48 PM by LincolnMan.)
Post: #1
Are there any Todds still living?
We know the Abraham Lincoln direct bloodline is done. There are many who claim to be related to the Lincoln line indirectly. Now perhaps this is a stupid question but I will throw it out here on the Forum anyway. Mary Todd had many siblings didn't she? Are the Todd bloodlines from the siblings still with us today? I don't ever remember reading about that. Or has the Todd line from Mary's father ended?

Bill Nash
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07-25-2012, 05:18 AM (This post was last modified: 07-25-2012 05:21 AM by RJNorton.)
Post: #2
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Bill, I do not do any work in genealogy, so when I receive questions about the Todd family I forward them to Donna McCreary. Donna is the expert on this topic. She is the author of Lincoln's Table, Fashionable First Lady: The Victorian Wardrobe of Mary Lincoln, and she recently released her latest book titled The Kentucky Todds in Lexington Cemetery.

She can be reached through her website here.
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07-25-2012, 07:45 AM
Post: #3
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Roger: I just knew someone knew a book or someone to deal with this question! No surprise that it turned out to be you. Do you ever remember hearing from a Todd about Mary and her life? I don't. It seems such a person could offer rich insight. Perhaps Donna can shed some light for us.

Bill Nash
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07-25-2012, 08:32 AM
Post: #4
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Bill, I think I'll write Donna and see if I can get her to join our group here.
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07-25-2012, 09:08 AM
Post: #5
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Roger: that would be wonderful!

Bill Nash
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07-25-2012, 02:15 PM
Post: #6
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
She joined! Welcome, Donna!
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07-25-2012, 04:08 PM
Post: #7
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Welcome, Donna! Please feel free to jump right in!

Bill Nash
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07-26-2012, 10:19 AM
Post: #8
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Yes, there are Todds living from the bloodline of Robert Smith Todd. However, very few carry the surname Todd. I have met a few of them. Plus, there are hundreds of people related through Mary's cousins - it is a very large family. Several family members did write about Mary, including her sister Frances, her half-sister Emilie, cousin Elizabeth Todd Grimsley Brown, and later her niece Katherine Helm wrote the first (and only authorized) bio of Mary. The Todds as a whole are an intersting family.
For years, I have been compiling a genealogy of the Todds. Thus far, it is about 300 pages in length. Someday, I will get it finished and published.
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07-26-2012, 11:03 AM
Post: #9
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Hello Donna! Again, glad you joined our group. Do you consider the Helm book the best resource regarding Mary? It struck me that I don't recall ever from any Todd blood relatives in my Lincoln pursuits over the years. They seem to keep a low profile. I'm pleased you have heard from them. Are there some things you have learned about Mary and/or the Todd's you can think to share with us?

Bill Nash
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07-26-2012, 08:27 PM (This post was last modified: 07-26-2012 08:28 PM by Donna McCreary.)
Post: #10
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
The Helm book is good, and probably the best source for information about Mary's time in Lexington. We just have to remember that Robert T. Lincoln had final say in what information was written in the book. Since he fought so hard to protect the family's privacy - I often wonder what, if anything, he had removed before publication.

For a good look at Mary's first few months in Washington, read Elizabeth Grimsley's "Six Months in the White House." Just be sure you get her article and not F. Carpenter's article with the same name.Shy Well, his is good reading as well.
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07-26-2012, 09:15 PM
Post: #11
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Donna,

Given my current research interests, just curious as to your thoughts on Sandburg and Angle's Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow.

Best
Rob

Abraham Lincoln in the only man, dead or alive, with whom I could have spent five years without one hour of boredom.
--Ida M. Tarbell

I want the respect of intelligent men, but I will choose for myself the intelligent.
--Carl Sandburg
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07-27-2012, 09:55 PM
Post: #12
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
I am not sure if there were one or two versions of this book. The copy I own has no footnotes, no documentation, and reads like a novel.
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08-28-2012, 08:29 PM
Post: #13
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Herb Collins is the retire curator of the political collection at the Smithsonian. Several members of this symposium have gone on field trips with me to see Herb down in Caroline County. He is a collateral relation to the Tod line of VA from which the KY Todd line comes from. The Tods of Virginia used to say that if 1 d was good enough for God, 1 d was good enough for Tod.
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08-29-2012, 04:54 AM
Post: #14
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Hi Jim. There is also this story involving Lincoln: In 1863 David Tod, the governor of Ohio, had occasion to visit Washington on government business. During an interview with President Lincoln, the president remarked, "You are perhaps aware, Governor, that my wife is a member of the Todd family of Kentucky, and they all spell their name with two d's. How is it that you use but one?"

David Tod replied, "Mr. President, God spells his name with one d, and one is enough for the Governor of Ohio."
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09-05-2012, 12:50 PM
Post: #15
RE: Are there any Todds still living?
Another member of the Todd family has come forward with orginial family documentation that will help shed some light on just how many children were born to General Levi Todd. (Mary Lincoln's grandfather) Apparently, there were more than orginially thought. I trust this man's documentation -- it is a family Bible from the early 1800's. Some of the information was recorded in the late 1700's. Ah, the Todd family tree has just gotten a little bigger, and I am busy adding information to the manuscript.
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