Individual Page

Marriage: Children:
  1. Abner Simmons Todd: Birth: ABT 1837 in Tennessee, USA. Death: BET 1857 AND 1858 in Tennessee, USA

  2. Almerinda Melissa Todd: Birth: ABT 1838 in Tennessee, USA.

  3. John Henry Todd: Birth: 26 Feb 1841 in Tennessee, USA. Death: 11 Oct 1926 in Trenton, Fannin, Texas, USA

  4. Sarah J. Todd: Birth: ABT 1842 in Tennessee, USA.

  5. Malinda Elizabeth Todd: Birth: 3 Mar 1845 in Hoover's Gap, Rutherford, Tennessee, USA. Death: ABT 1909 in Cannon, Tennessee, USA

  6. Isabella Todd: Birth: ABT 1846.

  7. Mary Ann Todd: Birth: ABT 1849.

  8. Hiram Todd: Birth: ABT 1854. Death: ABT 1883

  9. Miriam Thankful Todd: Birth: 27 Jan 1854. Death: 17 Sep 1937 in Collin County, Texas, USA

  10. Thomas Jefferson Todd: Birth: 26 Oct 1855. Death: 21 Feb 1935

a. Note:   g man of 21 in the Fox Hollow area of Rutherford County because in 1835 he married Mary Ann Simmons, whose father John Simmons owned land in the Fox Hollow area. In 1848, Jefferson sold the land his father-in-law had owned (presumably having inherited it through his wife). In 1848, he also bought land on Carson's Fork in Cannon Co near where Walker Todd had bought land in 1847. Since Walker's first wife was Julia Painter whose father also lived in Fox Hollow, we assume that Walker and Jefferson may have both lived there at one point. The close connection between Jefferson and Walker may have extended back into their childhoods. In 1850, Mary Todd 1762-1866, Walker's grandmother, was living with Walker. In 1830, there was a Mary Todd in the census in the Big Springs area, living next door to Benjamin Todd b 1785 at the western end of Todd Hollow. This Mary Todd had living with her a young woman and three young boys, two of which were the ages to be Walker Todd b 1822 and Jefferson b 1814. Though this Mary was 8 to 18 years younger than Mary Todd 1762-1866, Walker's grandmother, the census might have been off a decade. In any event, it suggests the possibility of a close connection of both Walker and Jefferson to each other and to Mary Todd. Benjamin Todd b 1785 bought land in Fox Hollow area in 1832 suggesting his movement from Todd Hollow to Fox Hollow and raising the possibility that Mary and Jefferson and Walker made the same movement. When Jefferson moved to Carson's Fork he bought land that had once been owned by James B. Todd and/or was adjacent to land owned by James B. Todd. This James B. Todd b 1788 NC and his brothers Willliam Thomas Todd b 1793 NC and Jesse Todd b 1770-80 did not share the same male DNA as the Todds of Big Springs and so their father was not a Todd. So this was either an unrelated Todd family or if they were related, it must have been through a female lineage and an illegitimate birth. Jefferson appears on the 1850 Cannon County census. He had 10 children with Mary between 1837 and 1855. Just before he died he bought land in 1856 from A.J. McFerrin. Then he died at the young age of 43, leaving his wife with young children to care for. Walker Todd b 1822 was administrator of his estate in 1857. We have not been able to determine Jefferson's father nor determine his connection to Walker Todd or to the two Todd families of Rutherford and Cannon Co. However, the limited data we have cited above suggests that Jefferson and Walker Todd were connected before they came to Cannon Co and possibly might have been connected through Mary Todd 1762-1866. The large genetic distance (7 generations to common ancestor) between Walker and Jefferson Todd could be interpreted as Jefferson being a grandson of one of Mary's aunts or uncles. We have placed Jefferson on the family tree as a descendant of Mary's grandfather, not because we are certain of this, but simply as a "placeholder" until further research can reveal the secret. With respect to his father, we note that the male DNA of two of his descendants does not match Walker Todd nor either of the two Todd families in Rutherford/Cannon Co. Unfortunately, the DNA from those two descendants doesn't match each other; so we can't be sure of which is representative of his father. But the DNA from the descendant of Jefferson's son John Henry Todd b 1841 is a close match to a descendant of the McFerrin family of Cannon Co. The match is sufficiently close to suggest the McFerrin's as a possible father to Jefferson but sufficiently distant to make that conclusive uncertain. More samples from the McFerrin's and Todd's have been recruited. With respect to his mother, the Family Finder DNA shows that Jefferson is not a brother to Walker and not a first cousin, i.e. his grandmother was not Mary Todd 1762-1866. We considered the possibility that Jefferson b 1814 might have been the son of Elizbeth Duncan b 1800 who lived next door to Asa Todd b 1817 and his mother Jemima Todd Espy in 1850. This was an intriquing possibility because a family tradition said that Jefferson and Walker were brothers and that Walker's mother had married a Duncan and moved away. DNA samples from two Elizabeth Duncan descendants were obtained - one suggesting that Jefferson could have been her son and the other indicating that he could not have been her son. We conclude that he was not her son. But she also showed a consistent relationship to the descendants of the various lines of Caleb Todd b1751-58, implying that she was a granddaughter of Caleb's parents, Benjamin Todd and Sarah Griffin or perhaps someone in the Griffin family.
Note:   Jefferson Todd was born in Rutherford Co TN in 1814. We assume that he was living as a youn
