Myth and Fact

In the Family History

Of the Todds of Hanover Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and the Todds of Northumberland County Virginia

In 1896, an erroneous statement was made in a publication about the Hanover Township Todd family descended from James Todd b 1712. This statement was trusted by subsequent family historians who repeated it in their publications of 1906, 1920, 1937 and 1948. The following essay describes this myth, how we discovered it to be untrue and how we can procced to unravel a more accurate picture of the first generations of this Todd family.

In 1878, a manuscript family history prepared by Rev David Todd d 1871 of Providence, Illinois was sent to Dr. William H Egle, Pennsylvania state archivist and librarian. Dr. Egle published the manuscript in his 1896 Annual Volume of his “Notes and Queries” as the “The Todds of Hanover”.

As Rev Todd had died 7 years before and had no children, some other member of the family or the community must have sent the manuscript to Dr. Egle.

Dr. Egle wrote:

“(For much of the following record the descendants of an early settler in Hanover Township, Lancaster County, we were indebted to the late Rev. David Todd of Providence, Illinois. It came to us in 1878. The Todds of Hanover were originally connected with the family of the same name who removed to Virginia and Kentucky. Hugh Todd and his family came to Pennsylvania about 1735, perchance earlier. A brother John also came to Pennsylvania, but his family went to the soouthward probably about 1750. …)

1. Hugh Todd and Jeannette his wife came to Pennsylvania ,taking up lands in Hanover prior to 1740. He died in 1772 leaving children:

i. James b 1712 m Mary

ii. Cornelius, marrried and removd to North Carolina

iii.Hugh, m and removd to North Carolina.

The first two generations of the family were described as follows in the 1948 compilation of the history using Dr. Egle’s work, Gretchen French Chamberlain’s work (completed in 1920) and the work of Richard C. Todd of Middletown, OH.

“Hugh Todd the immigrant and his wife Jeannette came from Ireland to Pennsylvania where he took up a tract of land in Hanover Township, Dauphin County prior to 1740. He died there in 1772.”

Children:

“a. James born 1712

b. Cornelius moved to North Carolina. Said to have married Mary Jones Dec 17, 1739

c. Hugh, m. and moved to North Carolina.”

John Todd, brother of Hugh came to Pennsylvania but moved south about 1750.”

From this, please note the addition of the marriage date of Cornelius. Either Gretchen or Richard seems to have gone looking for Cornelius in the south and found the marriage record of Cornelius to Mary Jones in Richmond County, Virginia.

We should point out at this point that the above cited publications did an excellent job at chronicling the descendants of James Todd b 1712 who indeed settled in Hanover Township that was in Lancaster County until it became part of Dauphin County in 1785.

However, these publications have linked three families that are completely unrelated. Hugh Todd d 1772 Coleraine Township, Lancaster County was not the father of James Todd b 1712; he was the bachelor son of James Todd who also died in 1772, but just across the Lancaster/Chester County line in East Nottingham Township, Chester County. Jeanette Todd was his mother, not his spouse. Similarly, Cornelius Todd who married in 1739 in Richmond County, Virginia and died in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1750 was unrelated to either Hugh Todd d 1772 or James Todd b 1712. We have male DNA samples from all three families and they do not match and are therefore unrelated.

We have recently discovered the 1772 will of Hugh Todd in Coleraine Township, Lancaster County and a 1772 will of James Todd of East Nottingham Township, Chester County. These wills prove that Hugh Todd who died in 1772 was single, not the father of several children, and that he was the son of the James Todd of Chester County. The index entry for Hugh Todds’ will indicates that his administrator was Jannet Todd which usually means she was his wife. However, the actual will discloses that his administrator Janett Todd was his mother, not his wife. Also, the siblings listed for Hugh, namely, James, John, Hannah Anderson, Mary McCorial/McConal/ and Margaret were the same names listed as children of James Todd in his 1772 will. Hence, Hugh who died 1772 was not the father of James Todd 1717-1783 of Hanover Twp. Note that Coleraine Twp and East Nottingham Twp are just across the Lancaster/Chester county line from each other in the SW corner of Lancaster County, far from Hanover Twp in the SE corner of the county. We seem to have two distinct families here.

Also, note that there is no record of an older Hugh Todd in the Lancaster deeds or the Pennsylvania warrant register index for land grants. Hence the statement that Hugh Todd took up land in Hanover Twp about 1740 is not supported by the documentary evidence either.

We suspect that someone – either Rev Todd or an intermediary or Dr. Egle – noticed the 1772 will index entry for Hugh Todd in the county deed index and assumed that this reference referred to Rev Todd’s ancestors since both the Hanover Township Todds were originally in Lancaster County and the Hugh Todd will index entry was in Lancaster County. It is possible that Rev Todd identified the father of James Todd 1717-1783 as Hugh Todd and someone else finding the will index entry added it to the family history. Whoever made this addition must have seen the index but must not have seen the will. We note that the microfilm edition of the Lancaster wills made by the Mormons lists this will as “missing”. As I recall, I obtained the will by writing to the Lancaster County recorder or possibly visiting the court house.

With respect to the statement that the Todds took up lands about 1740, we have found a land warrant that indicates that a Samuel Todd and John Todd had obtained land by 1749 near where James Todd had land warranted in 1765 and patented to James Todd Jr in 1785. We have found a Samuel Todd obtaining land in Rowan County North Carolina in 1759 and a John Todd in Rowan County whose descendants male DNA match the male DNA of descendants of the James Todd b 1712 family of Hanover Township. So there is some truth to the tradition that branches of the Hanover Township Todd family went south to North Carolina.

The tradition that Cornelius Todd who married in 1739 in Richmond County Virginia and died in 1750 in Northumberland County, Virginia was a brother of James Todd b 1712 has been proven false by male DNA from descendants of James b 1712 and Cornelius d 1750.

Recent DNA samples have revealed that the Todds of East Nottingham Township, Chester County share a common ancestor with the descendants of William Todd b 1758 Haydon Bridge, Northumberland County England and that the Todds of Northumberland County Virginia share a common ancestor with the descendants of William Todd b 1770 Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Richard McMurtry

Dec 2004, revised Sept 2024