HOMAS TODD, youngest son of Richard 1765, in the County of King and Queen, on York River, in the State of Virginia. His father was descended from one of the most respectable families in the colony; his ancestors being among the early emigrants from England. His mother was Elizabeth Richards, At the age of eighteen months his father died, leaving a considerable estate, which by the laws of primogeniture of that day descended to the eldest son, William, afterwards high sheriff of Pittsylvania County in that State. This event rendered it necessary that his mother should exert herself to provide for the support and education of her orphan son. She repaired, for this purpose, to Manchester, opposite to Richmond, and by the proceeds of a boarding-house under her care and management, she was enabled to give, at her death in 1776, a handsome patrimony to her son, in care of his guardian and her executor, Dr. McKenzie, of that place. By the aid of his friend, Thomas Todd received a good English education, and advanced considerably in a knowledge of the Latin language, when his prospects were clouded by the unexpected embarrassment of his guardian, which terminated in the loss of the patrimony bequeathed him by his mother. iv*] At a tender and unprotected age he was again thrown upon the world to depend for his support, education, and character, upon his own efforts. To these contingencies, which seemed at the time to be remediless misfortunes, may be traced that energy and enterprise which afterwards signalized his character. During the latter period of the revolutionary war he served a tour of duty for six months as a substitute, and often in after life referred to the incident as being the first money he had ever earned. He was afterwards a member of the Manchester troop of cavalry during the invasion of Virginia by Arnold and Phillips. He was shortly afterwards invited by his relation, the late Henry Innes, of Kentucky, who was a

then in Bedford

cousin of his mother, to reside in his family that interesting period a friendship cemented by forty years of affectionate intercourse through life he obtained a knowledge_of_surveying and of the duties of a clerk. In 1785, Judge Innes visited Kentucky, and having resolved to remove his family the following year, committed them to the care of his young friend, who arrived at Danville in the spring of 1786. Mr. Todd's pecuniary means were so limited, that whilst residing in the family of Judge Innes at Danville, he was engaged during the day in teaching the daughters of his friend, and at night prosecuting the study of the law by fire-light. This was an interesting period in the history of Kentucky; the people were actively engaged in measures to procure a sepa ration from the parent State; and such was the opinion entertained of his capacity for busi ness, that he was chosen clerk of all the conventions held from that period until 1792, for the purpose of erecting the former into an independent member of the Union.

He commenced the practice of law very soon after he came to the State, and made his first effort at Madison old court house. His horse, saddle and bridle, and 372 cents in money, constituted his whole means at the commencement of the court; at the close of the term, he had made enough to meet his current expenses, and returned to Danville with the bonds for two cows and calves, the ordinary fees of that day. The high judicial stations he afterwards occupied with such reputation to himself and such benefit to the country, are a proud commentary on the spirit of our institutions, and form the noblest incentives to industry and perseverance in the prosecution of a profession.

Mr. Todd was appointed clerk of the Federal Court for the District of Kentucky, the duties of which he performed until the separation from Virginia, when he was appointed clerk of the Court of Appeals, under the new Constitution. He held this office until December, 1801,

when he was appointed by Governor Garrard fourth judge of the Court of Appeals, an office created, it is believed, with the special object of adding some younger man to the bench, already filled by judges far advanced in life. In this station he continued until the resignation of Judge Muter, in 1806, when he was appointed, during the administration of Governor Greenup, to be Chief Justice. During the session of Congress of 1806, 1807, the increase of business and population in the western States, v*] and the necessity of bringing into the Supreme Court some individual versed in the peculiar land law of those States, induced Congress to extend the judiciary system, by constituting Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, as the seventh circuit, and adding another member to the Supreme Court. In filling this new office, Mr. Jefferson adopted a mode somewhat different from that pursued in later times. He requested each delegate from the States composing the circuit to communicate to him a nomination of their first and second choice. Judge Todd was the first or second upon the nomination of every delegate, although to some of them he was personally unknown. His appointment was the first intimation to him that he had been thought of for the office. In this high and arduous station he continued until his death, February 7th, 1826.

In 1791, before the separation, he was commissioned by Governor Randolph, of Virginia, to be captain of a company of cavalry in Lincoln County, and in May of that year he was appointed a lieutenant of a troop of cavalry, of which Major Thomas Allen, late clerk of Mercer County, was captain, and the Hon. James Brown, late minister to France, was a lieutenant, upon the campaign led against the Wea towns, on the Wabash, by General, afterwards Governor Scott.

In June, 1792, soon after the organization of the State, he was commissioned by Governor Shelby to be lieutenant colonel of the militia of Lincoln County; and he was elected without opposition to the office of clerk of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly, for the first fifteen years of the State government. These various offices, civil and military, were indications of the estimation in which his character was held by his cotemporaries, and are the more decided, as it is known that he never solicited any of them. It was a maxim with him so to act that office should seek him—not that he should seek office.

In 1789 he married Elizabeth Harris, a niece of William Stewart, from Pennsylvania, an early adventurer to Kentucky, who fell in the battle of the Blue Licks. Five of their offspring, three sons and two daughters, arrived to maturity: only two survived him, the youngest daughter and the second son, Col. C. 8. Todd, advantageously known as an officer of the late war, and as the first public agent of the United States in Columbia, South America. In 1811 Mrs. Todd died, and in 1812 Judge Todd married the widow of Major George Washington, a nephew of General Washington, and the youngest sister of Mrs. Madison, wife of the late President. He left one daughter and two sons by this marriage.

Mr. Todd possessed in an eminent degree the

respect and esteem of his friends. His stability and dignity of character, united with manners, peculiarly amiable, left a deep impression on all with whom he had intercourse. His deportment on the bench as well as in the social circle. secured him universal veneration. The benevolence of his character was manifested in the patronage and support he extended to many indigent young friends and near relations, whole families of whom he advanced in life by his friendly influence and means. There is one incident of this sort which, being con- [*vi nected in some degree with his official career, deserves to be mentioned.

In 1805, 1806, some influential members of the Legislature of Kentucky prevailed on Justice Muter to resign, upon an assurance of being allowed a pension during life. He had devoted his property and the prime of his days to his country in the revolutionary war, and was now in indigent circumstances and far advanced in life. The pension was granted by the Legislature at the next session, but repealed at the second session after the grant. În the meantime Judge Todd had succeeded his old friend as Chief Justice, and about the time the Legislature repealed the pension, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, with a salary more than double that of the Chief Justice of Kentucky. He proposed to his friend Muter to come and reside with him, especially as a better adverse claim had deprived Muter of his home. The offer was accepted, and Muter, who had commanded ship of war during the Revolution, with the rank of colonel, and who had, without reproach, presided in the civil tribunals of the State from its early settlement, spent the remainder of his days upon the bounty of Judge Todd. As a testimony of his gratitude and affection, Muter, having no family, made Todd his heir and residuary legatee, though at the time his debts greatly exceeded his available means. But, as though Heaven had decreed that an act so generous in an individual, when contrasted with the ingratitude of the State, should not go unrewarded even in this world, the revolutionary claims of Judge Muter have been acknowledged by Congress, and the proceeds have descended to the widow and younger children of Judge Todd.

The land law of Kentucky, originally an Act of the Assembly of Virginia of 1789, forms a peculiar system, and has been established chiefly upon principles of law and equity contained in decisions of the Appellate Court. To this result the labors of Judge Todd eminently contributed, as well in the State court as in the Supreme Court of the United States. His opinions had a prevailing influence in the decisions of the State authorities, and his decisions on the circuit were rarely reversed in the Supreme Court at Washington; an exalted tribunal, whose character is illustrated by the genius and attainments of Marshall, Story, Washington, and Trimble. He was cherished with peculiar regard by his associates in the State and national tribunals; his judgment and acquaintance with the principles of the land law hav ing, in one instance in particular (the Holland Land Company of New York), rescued the reputation of the Supreme Court from the effects of