The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Lincoln Collection, Robert S. Todd Papers 1819-1860
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| Title: | Lincoln Collection. Robert S. Todd. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1819-1860 |
| Size: | 0.5 linear feet (1 box) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | The Robert S. Todd Papers consists of approximately two hundred-eighty documents from the settlement of the estate of Mary Todd Lincoln's father, Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky. The papers form part of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana. |
The collection is open for research.
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ROBERT S. TODD
Robert S. Todd and Eliza Ann Parker, both of distinguished Lexington, Kentucky families were the parents of Mary Ann Todd Lincoln and five other children who survived to adulthood. Eliza Ann Parker Todd died in July 1825. Robert S. Todd then married Elizabeth Humphreys and had nine children by her, eight of whom lived until the Civil War. Robert S. Todd died on July 16, 1849 during a cholera epidemic in Lexington. Just before his death he made and signed a will that was, however, witnessed by only one person. George R.C. Todd, the eldest son of the Parker marriage, and Mary Lincoln's full brother, contested the will in the Kentucky Courts on the grounds of having no second witness and won his case. Thus, by Kentucky law, the widow and administratix, Elizabeth Humphreys (or Elizabeth L.) Todd had to convert the estate into cash, including the share in the business of Oldham, Todd & Co. and divide it equally among the fourteen children then living.
WILLIAM E. BARTON
Rev. William Eleazar Barton (1861-1930) The Rev. William Eleazar Barton (1861-1930) was one of the early twentieth century's most prominent writers and lecturers on the life of Abraham Lincoln. Born in Sublette, Illinois, in the same year Lincoln assumed the presidency, Barton grew up in an environment heavily influenced by reverence for Lincoln. After pursuing undergraduate studies at Berea College in Kentucky, Barton earned his divinity degree from the Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1890. He served parishes in Tennessee, Ohio, and Massachusetts before becoming the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Oak Park, Illinois, a position he held until his retirement in 1924. Four years later, Barton accepted an appointment as lecturer at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, where he also organized and served as pastor of the Collegeside Congregational Church.
Barton's work as a writer produced a number of denominational manuals for church organization and a series of books presenting the wisdom and parables of a character he named Safed the Sage. For the last ten years of his life, however, Barton was best known to the public as a prolific author and lecturer on Abraham Lincoln. His publications about Lincoln included The Soul of Abraham Lincoln (1920), The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln (1920), The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1925), The Great and Good Man (1927), The Women Lincoln Loved (1927), and The Lincoln of the Biographers (1930).
In the course of compiling material for his writings and talks, Barton visited Lincoln sites in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois; interviewed surviving Lincoln relatives and acquaintances; and traveled as far as California and England to collect information and conduct genealogical research on the ancestry of the Lincoln family. While acquiring a large collection of books, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, and ephemera related to Lincoln and the Civil War era, Barton also purchased privately or at auction historical materials amassed by other Lincoln collectors such as John E. Burton and Osborn H. Oldroyd.
The Robert S. Todd papers consists of approximately two hundred-eighty (280) documents from the settlement of the estate of Mary Todd Lincoln's father, Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky (1791-1849). The documents, with the exception of eleven photostats relating to the case of "Oldham and Hemingway vs. Lincoln et al." , are either the originals or contemporary certified copies of the originals used in the litigation. They range from 1820 to 1860 with the largest group falling between 1849 and 1855.
The most important documents are fifteen which are directly concerned with Mary or Abraham Lincoln and mention one or both of them by name. Many of these documents are of significant content besides referring to the Lincolns. In addition, there are eleven photostats of Lincoln documents, some of them autographed. The originals of these photostats were, as late as 1951, in the possession of William H. Townsend of Lexington.
The collection also includes eighty (80) to one hundred (100) original legal documents or contemporary court copies of documents involved in the litigation following Robert S. Todd's death. These are of interest to the Lincoln scholar for the information they contain about the affairs of the Todd family. The largest single category of documents is composed of some one hundred fifteen (115) bills issued to Robert S. Todd, his family, and his estate. Many include official certification of their validity; some are of interest for the detailed information they give of the goods and prices of the mid-nineteenth century; others have comparatively little value. The remaining documents in the collection are mostly receipts, papers of Oldham, Todd & Co. or the personal legal documents of Robert S. Todd.
The main source of information about the legal cases following the death of Robert S. Todd is the writings of William H. Townsend. The relevant volumes are Lincoln and His Wife's Home Town (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1929) and its revision Lincoln and the Bluegrass (Lexington, Ky: University of Kentucky Press, 1955). Abraham Lincoln, Defendant (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923) deals with the case of "Oldham and Hemingway vs. Lincoln et al." All the above cases are mentioned in Townsend's works, although some only in footnotes. However, to some extent Townsend's discussion of the court cases does not fit the documents contained in this collection. Most interesting is the fact that Townsend makes very little mention of "Todd's Heirs vs. Todd's Administratrix" and its corollary "Todd's Administratrix vs. Todd's Heirs". The collection contains a substantial number of documents from these cases which mention Lincoln by name. Furthermore, Townsend dates the end of the legal trouble about the autumn of 1853 when the "Oldham and Hemingway vs. Lincoln et. al." case was dropped. A significant proportion of the documents in this collection fall after this date. Indeed the latest manuscript, which incidentally mentions Lincoln by name, is from the winter of 1860. Therefore, it is possible that some of these documents have not been studied by Lincoln scholars.
Series I: George R. C. Todd vs. Todd’s Administratrix and Heirs |
In this case, Todd's elder son sued for what he considered to be an equitable division of the estate. This is the case from which the collection has the largest number of documents - approximately forty-seven.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Documents, 1850
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| Box 1 Folder 2 | Documents, 1850-1852
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| Box 1 Folder 3 | Documents, 1820-1851
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| Box 1 Folder 4 | Documents, 1835, 1851
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| Box 1 Folder 5 | Documents, 1851
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| Box 1 Folder 6 | Documents, 1852
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| Box 1 Folder 7 | Indenture conveying property, D. (copy) 3p., September 1852:
Documents, 1852
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| Box 1 Folder 8 | Documents, 1852
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| Box 1 Folder 9 | Documents, 1852-1853
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| Box 1 Folder 10 | Documents, 1853
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| Box 1 Folder 11 | Documents, 1853-1856
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Series II: Todd’s Administratrix vs. Oldham Todd & Company |
Elizabeth Todd sued her deceased husband's business in order to secure distribution of the company's assets. The collection contains fourteen documents from this case.
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Documents, 1850
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| Box 1 Folder 13 | Documents, 1850-1854
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Series III: Todd’s Heirs vs. Todd’s Administratrix and Heirs |
This case concerns the division of the Parker property among the children of Todd's first wife. There are about twenty documents from this case. Most of the original Lincoln documents are found here.
| Box 1 Folder 14 | Documents, 1851-1853
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| Box 1 Folder 15 | Documents, 1853-1855
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| Box 1 Folder 16 | Documents, 1855-1856
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Series IV: Todd’s Administratrix vs. Todd’s Heirs |
This appears to be an appeal to a higher court from the decision of the previous case. Seven documents from this case are in the collection; three of them mention Lincoln.
| Box 1 Folder 17 | Documents, 1852-1860
|
Series V: Oldham and Hemingway vs. Abraham Lincoln et al. |
Todd's former partners sued Lincoln for money which they said he collected for the firm and never remitted to it. This case has been researched by William H. Townsend. The collection contains only photostats of documents from this case; the originals were last known to be in the possession of Townsend.
| Box 1 Folder 18 | Documents, 1853
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| Box 1 Folder 19 | Documents, 1853
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Series VI: Todd’s Heirs vs. Robert Wickliffe |
A case begun by Robert S. Todd and continued after his death by his heirs, including Lincoln. Lincoln apparently traveled to Lexington to further this case with no success. It is a very interesting property case with slavery connections. Townsend discusses it in detail. In this collection there are a few bills, receipts, etc., signed by Wickliffe, but only one document concerning the law case.
| Box 1 Folder 20 | Redd, Thomas S., Fayette County Circuit Court, to Levi O. Todd's Heirs, Statement of amount owed, A.D.S. 1p., March 1851 |
Series VII: Debts owed to Robert S. Todd |
| Box 1 Folder 21 | Debtors, A - L, 11 items |
| Box 1 Folder 22 | Debtors, M - Z, 11 items |
Series VIII: Statements of Debts Owed by Robert S. Todd, His Family, and His Estate |
| Box 1 Folder 23 | Creditors, A - B, 11 items |
| Box 1 Folder 24 | Creditors, C - D, 11 items |
| Box 1 Folder 25 | Creditors, E - F, 12 items |
| Box 1 Folder 26 | Creditors, G - H, 10 items |
| Box 1 Folder 27 | Creditors, J - L, 6 items |
| Box 1 Folder 28 | Creditors, M, 13 items |
| Box 1 Folder 29 | Creditors, N - P, 10 items |
| Box 1 Folder 30 | Creditors, R - S, 11 items |
| Box 1 Folder 31 | Creditors, T - Z, 12 items |
| Box 1 Folder 32 | Debts owed to Sheriff of Fayette County, 5 items; owed to Clerk of Fayette County Circuit Court, 15 items |
Series IX: Receipts Issued by Todd Family, Etc. |
| Box 1 Folder 33 | Recipient, B - Z, 18 items |
Series X: The Papers of Oldham Todd and Company |
| Box 1 Folder 34 | Papers of Oldham Todd & Co.
|
Series XI: General |
| Box 1 Folder 35 | General correspondence and legal documents
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