Jonathan Todd5, (Timothy4, Jonathan3, John2, Christopher1) born May 17, 1756, died Feb. 10, 1819, married first May 17, 1784, Ruth Bishop, who was born 1765, died July 8, 1785; second Aug. 15, 1790, Chloe Lee, who died Nov. 20, 1796; third Jan. 11, 1798, Sally Fowler, who was born April 7, 1768, died Sept. 19, 1858.
Jonathan Todd was a well known physician residing in Madison, Conn. where he had a very extended practice. He was instructed in medical science by Dr. Gale of Killingworth, whose eminence in his calling was great. Dr. Todd’s forty years of practice gave him great experience. He was present in the medical staff, at the battle of Germantown, Penn. in the fall of 1777. Retired on account of ill health.
The high esteem in which Dr. Todd was held is shown by this extract from a published “Sermon delivered On the next Lord Day after the death of Jonathan Todd, Esq., by John Elliott, M. A., Pastor of the Church in East Guilford, 1819.” After fifteen pages of sermon Dr. Elliott says he will give a brief sketch of “our respected friend, the beloved physician, not to eulogize the dead but to honor the providence and grace of God, which raised him up and made him, in his day, so great a blessing. After completing his studies he served his country about a year in the Continental army. In private life he was an obliging neighbor, agreeable friend, affectionate husband, kind parent, tender brother, devout Christian with solid, fixed moral principles.” The sermon was thirty-one pages of printed matter, book size. His celebrated nephew, Rev. Dr. John Todd writes this description of him, “a short, heavy, lymphatic man, whose hair was almost milk-white, careless about his dress, always rode horseback with saddlebags, and charged $0.17 a visit. He was most careful as a nurse, and though he bled, purged, and gave medicines that would now be thought fearful in quantity, yet he was a good physician. He was a peace-maker and, though a justice of the peace, he always settled the quarrel if possible without trying it.”
On April 10, 1781, Capt. Peter Vaill enlisted a company of coast guards, of which Lieut. Timothy Field and Ensign Jonathan Todd were the other officers. The company numbered 100 men and served 8 months and 20 days. It was “posted in squads at different places along the coast, these relieving each other from day to day and concentrating wherever it became necessary.” This company was engaged in the most serious encounter with the British which took place on Guilford soil. A full account of the service of this company may be found in
the History of Guilford and Madison, Conn., by B. F. Steiner.
Capt. Jonathan Todd was commander of the Military Band from 1786 to 1792.
Child by Ruth Bishop:
271. William Todd, b. Jan. 3, 1785, d. Oct. 8, 1831, m. July 5, 1814, Sarah Redfield. He was a lawyer and lived in Guilford, Conn., which town he represented at the General Court for several sessions. On July 4, 1818, Nathaniel Griffing and William Todd were chosen delegates to the convention which met at Hartford and formed the State constitution. The voters of Guilford rejected the results of their deliberations by a vote of 159 to 255. William Todd was a native of East Guilford, now Madison, Conn. He graduated at Yale College in 1806, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and practiced his profession for almost a quarter of a century in Guilford, securing the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. For many years, his tombstone recounted that he was “a graduate of Yale College, an attorney at law, an ornament to society, a pillar of the church, and his bereaved partner’s last comfort this side heaven.” After her death, the stone was removed and a marble monument erected to both. She died in 1892, aged 96. They had no children.
A part of the above description was taken from the History of Guilford and Madison, Conn., by Steiner.
Children by Chloe Lee:
272. Jonathan Todd, b. July 4, 1791, d. Nov. 20, 1796.
273. Chole Todd, b. May 12, 1795, d. May 26, 1835, m. Oct. 23, 1820, Truman Noyes Wilcox; had a daughter who m. and removed to Flint, Mich.
Children by Sally Fowler:
274. Sarah Todd, b. April 18, 1799, married Oct. 18, 1821, Timothy Rossiter. Children:
I. William Rossiter.
II. Henry Rossiter.
275. Lucy Matilda Todd, b. June 9, 1802, died March 25, 1869, married Jan. 13, 1823, Henry Sidney Norton, son of Lot and Mary (Hickok) Norton, who was born Nov. 12, 1800. They lived in New Haven and Madison, Connecticut. Children:
I. Jonathan Todd Norton, b. May 26, 1824, m. May 4, 1852, Laura Jane Clark. They resided in Brooklyn, New York.
II. Lucy Matilda Norton, b. May 31, 1826.
III. Henry Sidney Norton, b. Aug. 19, 1832, d. Feb. 22, 1834.
IV. Mary Hickok Norton, b. Feb. 14, 1835.
V. Henry Lot Norton, b. Jan. 23, 1838, m. Nov. 19, 1862, Julia daughter of William and Catherine E. Adams. They resided in Brooklyn, New York.
VI. Sidney Eugene Norton, b. Feb. 7, 1840, d. Sept. 15, 1842.
VII. Wilfred Ernest Norton, b. Aug. 21, 1843, m. April 11, 1867, Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. James and Elizabeth Averill. They lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
276. Jonathan Fowler Todd, b. June 2, 1804, died March 7, 1861, married June 3, 1828, Lucy Bartlett. They resided in Madison Connecticut. Children:
I. Sarah Todd.
II. Josephine Todd.
277. Abigail Todd, b. Oct. 6, 1810, m. first Nov. 5, 1849, John Tibbals, of Madison, Connecticut; second Oct. 26, 1871, Deacon Julius Albert Dowd, of Guilford, Connecticut.