Dear RootsChat Friends,
I am back on the trail of the Todd Family, which many were so kind to contribute to last year. Full disclosure: depending upon how much material I can garner I would like to write an historical novel about these most interesting ancestors.
Here are my current lines of inquiry:
• We know that David Todd was a very successful cotton mill operator. Where did he get the money to build his mills? I found a reference to a purchase of land by John (likely David’s father because his son, John, was only 5 yrs old at the time) and David. So, was John wealthy enough to help David buy the land? If so, how did he come by his wealth?
• Skoosh, you were kind enough to provide links to two articles concerning “Todd’s partner in Springfield.” However, I don’t know the name of this partner (several names are included in the articles). Could the partner have been the money behind the mill ventures?
• Scritsal, you say you have plenty of information on the Todds. I am hoping that you know a lot about their businesses that you are willing to share. John and Charles were in partnership with their father. What about David’s other children? Were they also partners?
• Scritsal, you mention the finding of the glass bottle in the Buchanan’s Lair 50 of Ramshorn cemetery with instructions for the embalmment of Charles Todd in Paris in 1841. What is the date on the article? This has got to be the connection to Margaret Buchanan; it would be too much of a coincidence otherwise. My question is: weren’t those lairs expensive, for the “gentry,” implying that the Buchanans were people of means? If so, it contrasts with of Susanne Buchanan’s statement that Margaret was laborer in one of the Todd mills, only 12 or 13 at the time she and Charles got together.
• What was Charles doing in Paris in 1840? At the time, he is 49 years old, long past the customary age for affluent young people’s “Grand Tour” of the time.
• I found an Ancestry entry indicating that George Todd (David’s youngest son) may have been in New York City in the summer of 1837. Can anyone confirm that he was and, if so, what he was doing there? Conversely, does anyone have any evidence that he could NOT have been there? I am inclined to believe that he was because the document has the same middle name (Sidney), lists birthplace as Scotland, occupation as weaver, and age as “abt 32” (he was 33).
• Susanne notes that John (eldest son of David) ended up with large inheritances from Charles (who was also his business partner, along with their father, David) and his sister Arthur. Was Arthur a partner in the business as well? If not, where did her money come from? Was she ever married and perhaps inherited from her husband?
• Can anyone confirm Scritsal’s assertion that under 19th century Scots law a wife did not legally take her husband’s name?
• Tony Frith, you mention that David’s eldest son, John, did marry the mother of his children after his father’s death. Do you have any support? Perhaps a marriage document?
• Susanne, you mention researching a book that has Todd family information in it. Can you share the name of the book and how I can obtain it?
• I have a bit of a conundrum on which I invite input: David Todd’s father on Ancestry shows up as Cornelius, David being born in 1864.
o However, there is a John Todd, closely related to David’s business dealings, which I have assumed to be his father. David’s first son was named John and tradition was that the first son was named for the father’s father:
http://www.happyhaggis.co.uk/births.htmo Susanne gives David’s birthdate as 1851. This date makes a whole lot more sense, since in 1773 David signs a contract for an investment. If he were born in 1864 he would have been a bit young to do so, being only 9 years old. If he was born in 1851 he would have been 21 or 22. Susanne, do you have names of David’s parents or any documentation on his birthdate?
Many thanks in advance.
BurrGardner
