Biography

1739 - 10/10/1810

William Todd (Democratic-Republican no district number) Fayette and Westmoreland Counties 1794-1795

Early Life:

William Todd, born 1739, Montgomery County, Province of Pennsylvania, British Colonial America; son of Robert and his second wife Elizabeth Todd; served with the Pennsylvania troops, French and Indian War; Revolutionary War; married, Hanna Davis, 1776; elected, Constitutionalist, Pennsylvania General Assembly, 1783-1786; delegate, United States Constitution ratifying convention , 1787; elected, Constitutionalist, Pennsylvania General Assembly, 1788-1789; delegate, Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention, 1789-1790; Associate Judge, Westmoreland County, 1791- 1794; Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1794-1975; unsuccessful campaign, United States House of Representatives, 1798; died, October 10, 1810, Unity, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. No other interment details available.

Early Career:

Served with the Pennsylvania troops, French and Indian War; Battle of Kittanning, helped capture Fort Duquesne; Revolution War, battle of Bunker Hill, Boston, Massachusetts; joining other militias, before returning to Pennsylvania.   

Pennsylvania Politics:  

Elected, Constitutionalist, Pennsylvania General Assembly, Westmoreland County, 1783-1786; one of 19 members who abruptly bolted The General Assembly Hall making it impossible to achieve a quorum for the further conduct of business on September 28, 1784. One of 25 individuals were signatories of a protest to the seating of William Maclay although he had received three less votes than Daniel Montgomery, 1785-1786 session. 

Elected, Delegate, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention, voted against the ratification, United States Constitution, 1787.

Elected, Constitutionalist, Pennsylvania General Assembly, Westmoreland County, 1788-1789.

Delegate, Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1789-1790.

Associate Judge, Westmoreland County, August 17, 1791- December 3, 1794.

Elected, Democratic-Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, no district number, Fayette and Westmoreland Counties, 1794-1975. * On January 2, 1795, a Committee of Investigation reported to the Senate that, in their opinion, “the elections of Senators held in the counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette counties, during the late insurrection, [The so called “Whiskey Rebellion”] were not constitutional, and therefore not valid. The following day, the Senate voted on a strict party line vote to expel John Moore, William Todd, Thomas Stokely, and Absalom Baird from Senate and called for new elections to be held. The newly certified Senators took their seats in mid- February. Todd, Stokley, and Baird were returned to the seats previously vacated. Moore was replaced by Presly Carr Lane.

Unsuccessful campaign, United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania 11th district, 1798. 

Legacy:

Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Pennsylvania; December 12, 1787.

In the Name of the People of Pennsylvania

Be it Known unto all Men that We the Delegates of the People of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in general Convention assembled Have assented to, and ratified, and by these presents Do in the Name and by the authority of the Same People, and for ourselves, assent to, and ratify the foregoing Constitution for the United States of America. Done in Convention at Philadelphia the twelfth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. 

Grandniece, Mary Ann Todd would later marry President Abraham Lincoln.

Cited:

Cox, Harold Senate Members "T" (wilkes.edu). Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu) 

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