D. W. Todd

DAVID W. TODD.

David W. Todd, best appreciated as a lawyer, politician and soldier, and for many years a resident of Urbana, was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1835, a son of David and Sarah (Mc- Cormick) Todd, natives also of Pennsylvania. The father brought his family to Ohio in 1846, and while prospecting in Champaign county left them in the care of a brother in Warren county. Greatly impressed with the advantages to be found in this part of the state he settled the following year in Pretty Prairie, near Urbana, where his death occurred in 1868.

The first impressions of life and work gained by David W. Todd were on his father's farm, where he performed his share of the arduous duties, attending at the same time the district schools. His higher education was acquired at Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1860, and he thereafter studied law in the office of Shellabarger Goode. of Springfield, being admitted to the bar in 1863. Almost from the beginning of his practice in Urbana a fair measure of

JJ success came his way, and in the fall of the same year he was elected county prosecutor, and re-elected in 1865. From 1873 until 1875 he embarked upon a business venture as superintendent of the Urbana Machine Works, but this proving" somewhat disastrous, he returned to law, and in October of 1878, was elected probate judge of Champaign county, serving in all four consecutive terms of three years each. This service performed, he again returned to his former professional allegiance, and has since assembled under his erudite and capable banner many import- ant cases in the county and city.

The same energy and devotion to duty apparent in the general life of Mr. Todd found emphatic expression in his Civil war career, during which he won the rank of colonel. He joined Company F. >f the Sec md Ohio, which was organized at Spring-field, Ohio, and went to Columbus, from which they were ordered to Washington. D. C. At Lancaster they were mustered into the United States service. His enlistment occurred April 29, 1861, and he was mustered out of the three months' service July 31, 1861, at Columbus, Ohio. In 1862 he assisted in the organization of Company B, Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was commissioned second lieutenant June 1, 1862, and later first lieutenant, after which he served as regimental quartermaster from June 16, 1862, until September 25, of the same year. He was mustered out at Camp Delaware. Ohio, and May 6, 1864, was commissioned lieutenantcolonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After participating in the first battle of Bull Run and many minor skirmishes, and in 1804 in the advance on Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, he was again mustered out, August 31, 1864. S'nce the war Mr. Todd has been very active in Grand Army circles, and is a member of the W. A. Brand Post, Number 98, department of Ohio.

In 1863 Mr. Todd married Virginia H. Hamilton, who died in 1868, leaving two children, Lee H, who is a merchant in Urbana; and

Robert M., a resident of Columbus, Ohio. In 1869 Mr. Todd married Ella W. Hovey. and of this union there are two children, Nancy H., the wife of Clarey Glessner; and Frank \Y., a newspaper reporter of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Todd are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Todd is one of the foremost progressive elements of Urbana, and his professional standing is an enviable one. Courteous and faithful to clients, attentive to business, measuring professional duty and effort by recognition of obligations and ends attainable, together with available knowledge of legal principles and an aptitude in their application, all combine to bring him a creditable place among the positive forces of the bar.

As printed in A centennial biographical history of Champaign county, Ohio .. (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.