Levi Todd
Levi Todd (October 4, 1756 – September 6, 1807) was an 18th-century American pioneer who, with his brothers John and Robert Todd, helped found present-day Lexington, Kentucky and were leading prominent landowners and statesmen in the state of Kentucky prior to its admission into the United States in 1792.
Levi Todd
October 4, 1756
American
Businessman, farmer and civil servant
Early pioneer and businessman of Kentucky; co-founder of Lexington, Kentucky
11, including Robert
David Todd
Hannah Owen Todd
John Todd (brother)
Robert Todd (brother)
Mary Todd Lincoln (granddaughter)
He was also the grandfather of Mary Todd Lincoln, the later wife of President Abraham Lincoln, born to his son Robert S. Todd, a longtime clerk of the Kentucky House of Representatives and later representative of Fayette County. His grandson John T. Stuart, born to his daughter Hannah Todd and noted Presbyterian preacher Rev. Robert Stuart, was a prominent Illinois lawyer and a later partner of Lincoln.[1][2]
Two of his daughters married politicians, Jane Briggs marrying congressman Daniel Breck and Elizabeth Todd marrying Charles Carr, the son of Kentucky statesman Walter Carr.[3]
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
The youngest son of David Todd and Hannah Owen, Levi Todd was raised and educated with his brothers in Louisa County, Virginia and studied law under General Andrew Lewis.[1] He later followed his brothers to Kentucky arriving with John Floyd to establish the settlement of Lexington in the summer of 1775. Following the completion of the stockade walls, Todd was elected one of four Gentlemen Trustees with David Mitchell, Henry McDonald and Michael Warnock following a town meeting held on March 29, 1776. Over the next year, Todd and the others would begin making plans for the construction of buildings and the eventual expansion of the settlement.[4] In 1777, he was appointed the first clerk of Kentucky County.[5]