The Family of Edward D. Todd 1830-1850

Virtually all records pertaining to Edward D. Todd are from census records.

He is on the 1864 Militia Enrollment List for Tattnall Co., which means, if I understand correctly, that he didn't serve during the Civil War on either side. His reason given was inability, whatever that means.

There is an entry for Edward D. Todd's family in Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia (Huxford Gen Soc. pub) submitted by Joseph E. Spann, Jr. I no longer have my xeroxed copy or notes in my possession, so I can't recall the volume or page number. If your library has the whole set, look it up in the index. As I recall, the Wiregrass entry was essentially based on Edward's 1850 census entry.

Now, on to the census records. The first census where we find Edward D. Todd by name is the 1830 Tattnall Co. Ga. census.

Age	Males	Females
Under 5	2	1
5 to 10	1	1
10 to 15
15 to 20
20 to 30	1	1

(on page 372).

Note that there are actually more age brackets beyond 20-30, but they were all blank, so I've omitted them. Also, for the record he had one female slave between the age of 10 and 24.

Edward D. Todd is also recorded in the 1840 Tattnall Co. Ga. census, but for some reason the page where he is recorded is inaccessible or missing.

The 1850 US census is the first time where every member (free white persons) of the household were listed by name. Thus, this is how Edward's family is recorded in the 1850 Tattnall Co. Ga. census:

#	name	age	place of birth
100	Edward D. Todd	45	McIntosh
	Mary	50	S. Carolina
	Mary	23	Tattnall
	Jacob	21	ditto
	James	19	ditto
	Joseph	17	ditto
	Margaret	15	ditto
	Gemamy (Jemima)	13	ditto
	Charles	11	ditto
	Harrietta* (see notes below)	9	ditto
	Cornelius	9	ditto
	Sarah	5	ditto
	Martha	2/12.	ditto

The # refers to the house/visit number.

Now, let''s compare the 1830 and 1850 censuses. Keeping in mind that there is a 20 year span, Jacob is the only male in Edward's 1850 household who was one of the three young males enumerated in 1830, so where were the other two?One of the daughters would be Mary Elizabeth, but who was the other one?

The other female child was probably married by 1850. It seems plausible that she was the Eliza R. Todd who married Joseph L. Bryan in Tattnall Co. in 1847 (see Tattnall Marriages in tabbed header above). Yes, there seems to be an age discrepancy for one or the other, but that's not so unusual in old records.

I believe Edward and his wife had two additional sons, William E. Todd and James J. Todd.

Look at the 1830 census again- Edward had 3 males under the age of 10. Jacob is already accounted for, but if you scan down past Edward's 1850 entry, you will find:

#	name	age	place of birth
101	William E. Todd	25	Tattnall
	Caroline	21	ditto
	William	1	ditto
102	John J. Todd	24	Tattnall
	Elisabeth (sic)	25	Tattnall
	Piercy (aka Pearcy)	4	ditto
	Mary	1	ditto

Note the house/visit numbers- Edward, William E., and John J.- are enumerated one after the other, which usually indicates they were in close proximity to each other, and families tended to live near each other. William E. and John J. fit the 5-10 and under 5 brackets respectively. Both were born in Tattnall Co, so they would have been enumerated in the 1830 Tattnall Co. Ga. census.

What about William Todd, Jr., the only other Todd head enumerated in 1830 Tattnall Co.? The 1830 census (page 377) shows he only had one male in his household age 10-15. That would be John W. Todd. cf. the 1850 census where Washington Todd's household is counted before William's.

A note about Henrietta/Harrietta

Though many family trees indicate her name as Henrietta, I believe it was actually Harrietta (or Harriette).

Here's a snip of her entry in the 1850 census:



Yes, it looks like it says Henrietta, but it also looks like Harrietta too, doesn't it? How about this snip from the 1880 Tattnall Co. census?



It's clearly Harriette. Later census records and her death index entry do indicate Harrietta, so that's what I'll go with.. As a side note, her entry in the 1860 census is Maryetta.


Mary, wife of Edward D. Todd

Mary's maiden name was Blocker. (source: death certificate of her son James W. Todd). She was the daughter of Jacob Blocker, who migrated to Georgia with his family from Colleton Co., South Carolina. He is found in the 1820 Tattnall Co. census. Edward and Mary's marriage is not listed in Tattnall County Marriages 1801-1850. (Huxford Gen. Society, pub.). Going by the age of Edward's eldest son, William E., who was born in Tattnall Co.. he was living there as early as 1825, so it would make sense that they were married in that county. There is a listing, though, for Jacob Blocker (Jr.), Mary's brother, who was married twice in 1837 and 1839.

I haven't done any real research into the genealogy of the Blockers, but you can find a good bit of information by googling: "Jacob Blocker" +South Carolina or +Tattnall County. It appears he is a descendant of Michael Blocker, an immigrant from Prussia. South Carolina Department of Archives and History has a record of a land plat for Jacob Blocker (no image online).

Incidentally, there are also records there for John Todd. Sr., his wife, and his son John, Jr, For more detailed information about the Todds time in South Carolina, see page 18 of Book: Todds 1695-1999 (Annette B. Todd's site).