Discoveries of the Todd DNA Project – revised August 2019

Richard McMurtry

 

This is a summary of the principal discoveries of the Todd DNA project during the 15 years between 2004 and 2019.   The DNA has made it possible to show family connections that would not have been possible otherwise.  In some case, the DNA evidence caused us to do further research which provided the corroborating evidence to support the DNA and vice versa.  In Thi early days of the project, I did a fair of amount of misinterpreting and genealogical guessing that were later proven to be in error. I hope I have corrected those errors in the latest updates to the website.

 

There have been some amazing discoveries!  This essay discusses some highlights – not every discovery we made.

                                                                               

The ones I have especially delighted in are those that reveal a hidden truth.  In most families, there are family traditions that are only partially true; with DNA and with in-depth genealogical research into original records (often going far beyond what is available online), one can find out what is true about the tradition, what is not true about the tradition and what hidden truth can be found through research.  I take special delight in finding out this hidden truth.

 

One of the outstanding discoveries was due to the work of Dee Bardes of Cincinatti, Ohio.  Her ancestor Robert Todd b 1806 Co Down was an exact 66 marker match with Andrew Todd d 1781 Somerset Co NJ and was just one mutation out of 66 with Andrew Todd b 1756 Co Down who went to Laurens Co SC in 1816 and just one mutation with a Todd that lives in Ireland descended from the Todds of Toddstown, eastern Co Down.  This led us to actively recruit DNA samples from Ireland and Scotland in the hopes of determining the British Isle origins of American Todd families. And we discovered another family with the same pattern that settled in the Dunluce area of NW Co Antrim in the 1600s.

 

Irish and Scottish Todds

 

See elsewhere on this site for a discussion of the DNA patterns of the Todds of Ireland and Scotland and the Todds of America who match their DNA.

 

  1. Group 1: Mary Todd Lincoln Family

a.       The ancestor of the Mary Todd Lincoln family, Robert Todd 1697-1775, was reported to have a half-brother Andrew Todd d 1791.   We discovered that the same DNA pattern was held by the descendants of William Todd b abt 1700 d 1760/70 who came to America by 1723, baptized his children at the same church between 1723 and 1738 as Robert’s son David married in in 1749.   This William also had a granddaughter who married a grandson of Robert Todd 1697-1775 and had a grandson who was on a surveying crew in Kentucky with a grandson of Robert Todd 1697-1775.   So William could be another brother or a close cousin forgotten by the later family tradition.

b.      There was a John Todd who married in 1724 and baptized his children between 1725 and 1738 in the same churches as did ‘William Todd.   This may be the John Todd who appears in the Hunterdon Co records in 1754 and 1757 and then shows up in Mechlenburg Co NC in 1766 and died there in 1799.   John Todd of Mechlenburg Co has DNA that differs by 2 mutations from the Mary Todd Lincoln group of Todds; hence they could not share a common ancestor in less that 2 generations and probably more like 10 or so generations before coming to America.

c.       A letter written by a grandson of the Robert Todd 1697-1775 stated that two half-brothers Robert Todd and Andrew Todd came to New York and then Robert came to Pennsylvania and Andrew followed.   Research confirmed Robert’s arrival in Pennsylvania by 1755 and Andrew’s arrival in 1760.   However, the New Jersey Supreme Court records reported a William Todd, a Robert Todd and a John Todd in Hunterdon Co, New Jersey just across the state border from Pennsylvania.   So the family may have lived in Hunterdon Co NJ before coming to Pennsylvania.

d.      DNA enabled us to distinguish which of two John Todds in central   Kentucky was the son of Andrew Todd d 1791 and which was the son of William (two of the immigrant brothers.   Descendants of John Todd 1750-1813 Shelby Co KY matched the pattern of Andrew Todd d 1791 and John Todd 1746-1829 of Fayette, Montgomery Co KY and Lincoln Co TN, matched the pattern of William Todd b abt 1700 d 1760/70.  See elsewhere for detailed discussion of documentation that supports this assignment of parentage.

 

  1. Group 2: New Jersey Todds
  1. There were two genetically unrelated groups of Todds that remained in New Jersey.   One was a family of five brothers (William, Andrew, John, Robert and James) and a sister who appear in the Janeway Store records in Somerset County, NJ as early as 1735.   It is possible that William d 1760, Andrew d 1781 and James d 1781 were three of these brothers and that the other two dispersed to other locations.  The second was the family in Hunterdon Co NJ , just west of Somerset County, of David Todd 1731-1809 and his brother John 1729-1802 and a possible nephew John Todd 1755-1820.    The DNA patterns of these two groups are very very different.  They are not related families.     To confuse matters, John Todd 1729-1802 removed to Somerset County and later historians confused the two families, possibly due to intermarriage.  This family also matches the DNA of Andrew Todd b abt 1750s, lived in PA 1779-1782, then moved to SW Virginia where he died in 1801 in Tazewell Co VA.   We suspect he was an Irish immigrant just before the Revolution with a common ancestor with the Hunterdon Co Todds back in Ireland.   However, it is also possible that he was a lost branch of the Hunterdon Co :Todds or, must less likely, even the Mary Todd Lincoln or Mechlenburg Todds.
  2. We also believe that the Mechlenburg Todds progenitor and the Mary Todd Lincoln group of Todds may have lived in Hunterdon Co (Bethlehem Township) based on the Supreme Court records showing cases in Hunterdon Co for Robert, William and John.  These two families are not closely related to each other.  But the Hunterdon Co Todds have a DNA pattern that is only 1 mutation different from the Mechlenburg Todds and 1 mutation different from the Mary Todd Lincoln group of Todds. 
  3. This DNA pattern for the Somerset County Todds and the Mary Todd Lincoln group of Todds is shared by many immigrant families to America and Canada.

 

  1. Group 3: Eastern Virginia focused Todds

a.        Group 3 connects 2 families from eastern Virginia (Mallory Todd b 1742 of Isle of Wight and James Todd b 1765 of Prince George and Dinwiddie Co) and connects them with a family in SC (William Todd b 1745 d 1820 Horry Co SC).  William was reportedly born in Scotland. Mallory Todd was from Bermuda and his ancestors settled in Bermuda in the early 1600s.

b.        This group also shows a genetic link with a family that lived in Johnston Co NC and a family in Fayette Co West Virginia.

 

  1. Group 5: Anne Arundel MD Todds
  1. DNA was very useful in showing that a John Todd who married Mary Jarman in Baltimore in 1791 was connected to the Todds of Anne Arundel Co, not the Todds of Dorchester Co, as had been asserted by a family historian in 1912.  Knowing that the connection was with the Anne Arundel Co Todds enabled the research to focus on the loose ends of the Anne Arundel family until the corroborating evidence could be found.
  2. Similarly, the John Todd d 1809 Bourbon Co KY and the Benjamin Todd d 1823 Logan Co KY were known to have Maryland origins, but the DNA made clear that their ancestry lay with the Anne Arundel Co Todds, not the Baltimore or Dorchester Co Maryland Todds.

 

  1. Group 8:  Lancaster Co PA Todds and the Rowan Co NC Todds

a.        Family historians in one of the Rowan Co NC Todd families had linked their family to the Mary Todd Lincoln group of Todds, but the DNA showed them to be the long lost branch of the Lancaster Co PA Todds, referred to in a genealogical magazine printed in the 1890s.

b.        The DNA disproved a family tradition of the Lancaster Co Pennsylvania Todds printed in a genealogical magazine in the 1890s which asserted a connection with a Hugh Todd who was the son of Todd in nearby Chester Co PA.   The DNA led to more indepth research in the Chester Co and Lancaster Co records that showed the two families had been scrambled by the editor of the magazine.  

c.        The DNA also disproved the tradition of a Cornelius Todd of Virginia being related to the Lancaster Co Todds.

 

  1. Family 14: Cornelius Todd d 1750 Northumberland Co, VA
  1. The DNA helped end the incorrect tradition of oCornelius Todd d 1750 Northumberland Co VA being related to the Lancaster Co Todds.
  2. The DNA instead found two branches of the family in Tennessee (namely Samuel Todd md 1810 Davidson Co TN and John B Todd of Lincoln Co & Shelby Co TN)  that encouraged more in depth research in Rockingham Co, North Carolina records that provided the link with the Northumberland Co family.

 

  1. Group 15:  Russell Co VA Todds

a.   The DNA for the Russell Co Todds showed that Lewis Todd b 1815 was the likely son of James G. Todd 1770-1849 who had come to Russell Co in 1802/1804.  Unable to find Lewis Todd in the Russell Co records but knowing from the DNA that he was related to James G. Todd, caused us to research the Catherine Trout who was reported to be Lewis’ mother.    We found a record for Lewis Trout that we believe to the son of Catherine Trout and James Todd.

b.   The importance of getting samples from all the unknown Todds of the colonial and early national period was underscored by finding a Joseph Todd in Pulaski Co KY who turned out to be kin to the Russell Co VA Todds, even though there were several Todds in the county related to the Washington Co VA Todds.

  1. Washington Co VA Todds

a.  We are still trying to sort out the Washington Co Todds, but one curious result of trying to get DNA samples from all Todd families is that we found a Todd family that was a close genetic match to the Todds of Washington Co VA.  This family was an Irish William Todd b 1815 in Ireland who came to Canada with a son coming to Chauttaqua County New York.   Perhaps this Canadian family can be linked back to Ireland and provide a point of connection to the Todds of Washington Co who came there in 1792.

 

  1. Ernie Johansen searched for years for the ancestors of his John A. Todd d 1875 California and finally found DNA link to a family that came from Canada to New York about 1820 and then went on to Iowa.  Male DNA and Family DNA proved that Ernie’s ancestor was the son Jacob Morningstar Todd (1808-1881) who had come from Canada with his parents to New York before coming to Iowa. DNA also showed a match with a family that had settled in Cecil County Maryland in the late 1700s and a family that lives in County Armagh in northern Ireland.

 

  1. Linkages to British Isles

We have DNA samples from families whose home prior to emigration to America is known.   These provide potential geographic linkages to other families in America that may be found to share a genetic relationship.

  1. John Todd 1621 Yorkshire, England  d1689/1690 Rowley, Massachusetts
  2. George Todd 1711-1790 Caroline  Co VA born in the Orkney Islands of Northern Scotland
  3. Joseph Todd d 1699 Philadelphia, came from Eling, Southamptonshire, England