 John Todd, son of Caleb Todd, Sr. and Margaret Catherine Williams.Born May 25, 1773 at Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, died Apr 15, 1839 at Madison Co., Kentucky, 65 years Father: John Todd b: ABT. 1773 Mother: Martha "Patsy" Collier Marriage 1 Nancy Ruth Lee Children Martha Ann Todd b: 16 FEB 1823 Elizabeth "Betty" Todd b: 1824 John Todd b: 1 JAN 1826 Marriage 2 Nancy Mills Children Joel Todd b: ABT. 1828 note jhll error by Nancy Ruth Lee. 1860 census show Joel Sr. with real estate value at 700 dollars and personal estate at $1300 . His age as 60, Nancy at 62 (this would be his second wife), Joel Jr. 21 personal estate at $85,. Also two females lived with them. Eliza Parker age 15 and Polly Foreman age 20 (perhaps the two black women that lived with them.) On the census the race is not marked. My uncle Lee told me that he remembers a black woman living with his grandfather Joel Jr., and that she reminded him of the lady on the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle. He also thought that she was a former slave that had belonged to the family and that when she was freed she stayed with the family. Joel was a member of John Gregg Fee's anti-slavery church. Cassius M Clay gave Fee a 10 acre homestead if he would take up residency and preach. He called this place Berea, after the town mentioned in Acts 17:10 where men were open minded and receptive to the gospel. This was the start of Berea College. In 1857-58 the mob spirit raged in Madison Co. Fee and others were threatened, but they conti nued to crusade for human rights. Hostility intensified by John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry. Two days before Christmas, 62 armed men rode into J.R. Rodger's yard (he was another leader and preacher) and told them their group had 10 days to leave the state. When the Govenor refused their protection, their exodus began to Ohio on the 7th day. the group numbering 34 carried only their necessary posessions confident of their return. They returned in 6 months. Joel was one of the men who donated to Berea College. James Todd (Jim) has a copy of the marriage bond for Joel Todd and Nancy Lee dated March 29 , 1822 and signed by Joel Todd and Thomas Todd (from A Day of Small Things by Richard Sears - summarized by Thomas J. Todd) According to Richard D. Sears, historian and teacher at Berea College, Kentucky, Joel was a s upporter of the abolitionist "colony" near Berea under the leadership of John Gregg Fee. Fee was given a grant of land by Senator Marcius Cassius Clay to start just such an antislavery movement in Kentucky. Senator Clay felt that as long as Kentucky held slavery, its poor and middle class would be under employed. With all of the waterfalls, Clay felt the state had the same potential for industrial development as New England, but that "the stain of slavery" would keep capitol venture out. Fee made an impassioned speech against slavery at a Fourth of July celebration in Richmond in 1859. Most of the influential men in the crowd were slave holders. Fee, rising to the occasion, pro claimed that any government that allowed the ownership of human beings was a government unworthy of obedience. This was too strong for Senator Clay to stomach and he removed his protective support for Fee's group. Local slave holders were further incensed by Fee bringing "Yankee" school teachers from Ohi o into Madison Co. to teach children of all races. A committee of slave owners gave Fee and his followers ten days to leave Kentucky. the 1850 census for Madison Co. Dwelling 390, family 392 Joel Todd age 50 Farmer $1500 Real Estate born Madison Co. Nancy Todd age 53 born Madison Co. Irvin Todd age 22 born Madison Co. Newton Todd age 20 born Madison Co. Amanda Todd age 16, born Madison Co. Lucy Todd age 14 born Madison Co. Mary Todd age 13 born Madison Co. Joe Todd age 10, born Madison Co. Dwelling 391, family 393 John Todd age 25, Farmer $417 Real Estate born Madison Co. Martha Todd age 23, born Madison Co. Lucinda Todd 2, born Madison Co. There is also a Madison Todd on this same page Dwelling 348, Family 390 Madison age 42, Farmer $5970 Real Estate, born Madison Co. Sarah age 37 John M age 14 Mary E age 11 George age 9 James M age 7 Nancy age 5 Walter age 2 William age 1/12 James Fletcher age 24 Farmer all born in Madison Co. There was also a Baxter Todd on a previous page. Married Oct 14, 1797 at Madison Co., Kentucky (41 years married) to:  Martha "Patsy" Collier, daughter of John Collier and Mildred "Miley" Vaughan.Born Jan 16, 1782, died May 18, 1846 at Madison Co., Kentucky, 64 years Children: 1. Joel Elias "Uncle Joel" ToddBorn Mar 8, 1801 at Madison Co., Kentucky, died Sep 18, 1886 at Madison Co., Kentucky, 85 years, buried at Berear, Madsion Co., Kentucky at family farm cemetary Note: Joel Todd was a member and supporter of John G. Fee's "Free Church," Glade Church (American Missionary Association) He was a radical abolitionist and was in the group of exiles when they fled to Cincinnati, Ohio. Later he would sell land to freed african american slaves. Joel gave land for the founding of Berea College. From A Utopian Experiment in Kentucky, pg. 81: "One family of white Bereans sold hundreds o f acres to black settlers: Joel Todd, Sr., and his wife Nancy Mills, who had been exiled for their support of abolitionism in 1860, made land available to many black families. On February 17, 1868, Todd sold land on Bushy Fork to Anderson Crawford, Stephen Hagan, and Horace Yates. These settlers living neighbors to one another, constitutes the now nonexistent town of Canton, apparently their name for black settlers on Bushy Fork. Daniel Herron bought town lot no. 4 in Canton from Joel Todd, Sr., February 2, 1869. (Lest it appear that [Rev. John] Fee's policy of interspersion was spoiled by this black village, it should be pointed out that everyone in it owned land neighboring a white person's land on one boundary line at least.) In 1873, Joel Todd, Sr., sold another parcel of land on Bushy Fork to Henry Adams, who had purchased materials for building a house in 1866. Probably blacks were permitted to erect houses on land they planned to purchase sometime later; Adams is not the only instance of a black man in Berea building a house before he owned land to put it on. The five acres Stephen Hagan bought in 1868 included the house where he already lived. Joel Todd, Jr., a pre-Civil War student in the Berea school and owner of land near his father's, also sold to blacks, including Horace Yates (1874) and Gibson Gill(1878)." 3. Aynip ToddBorn Feb 5, 1799 at Madison Co., Kentucky 4. William ToddBorn Nov 4, 1802 at Madison Co., Kentucky, died Dec 26, 1802 at Madison Co., Kentucky, under 1 year old 5. Permilia ToddBorn Dec 20, 1803 at Madison Co., Kentucky, died Oct 24, 1834 at Lincoln County, Missouri, 30 years 6. Jaila ToddBorn Jun 16, 1805 at Madison Co., Kentucky, died Jun 29, 1834 at Kentucky, 29 years 7. John ToddBorn Feb 14, 1807 at Madison Co., Kentucky, died Sep 2, 1861 at Kentucky, 54 years | |||