Person:Henry Todd (10)

Notes by Anna Marie Dahlquist from 1947 tribute by Carrie Todd McLaughlin and family letters --compiled 2003:

Henry Albert Todd. Born at Canton June 27, 1856. Graduated from Monmouth College in 1880, and from Yale University, also studied in Berlin. He was ordained a Congregational minister in 1888 and preached in Springfield, Mass., and in Corona, N. Y., but spent many years in conducting tourist parties to Europe and other countries, in which occupation he excelled. In 1906, in London, England, he married Janet Low, a member of his party. In 1911, Henry Todd arranged for his niece's husband, Paul Burgess, to lead a group of 22 tourists to Europe. That is how Paul and Dora Burgess obtained free passage on their honeymoon trip! Family correspondence indicates that Henry Todd's wife Janet divorced him about 1930. After the divorce, he took his children Janet, William Henry, and Elinor to Europe where they lived for some time. Robert Bruce Todd remained with his mother in Chicago. The following letter, dated June 26, 1933, is from Henry Todd to his niece Dora McLaughlin Burgess. (Excerpts quoted): "We are staying for the summer here in the outskirts of Florence in the house where Boccaccio lived some 600 years ago . . . We are four, Janet Louise and husband and Elinor. . . William is in India, was at Forman College in Lahore until lately, now up in Cashmir region where it is cooler . . . He went through Palestine, Transjordania, Syria, irak, Persia, Afghanistan on way to India, four months at a total cost of about $250 . . . He has done some quite good writing about it . . . I think he has quite a gift that way . . . I do not know when, if ever, I shall return to U.S. I can live cheaper here than in America, and on the whole, more pleasantly. America is no longer the land to be especially proud of, with its crimes, lawlessness, lynchings, and subordination to enormous wealth and corruption . . . It seems to be due largely to the miserable misgovernment of our country. It makes one discouraged for Democracy." Henry Todd did not remain in Europe, but returned to America and died at the home of his daughter, Janet Young, in Berkeley, California, on June 29, 1942. At his own request his body was cremated.

1930 census record: Name: Henry Todd Age: 73 years Estimated birth year: 1856 Birthplace: Illinois Relation to Head-of-house: Head Race: White Home in 1930: Evanston, Cook, Illinois Others in the home: daughter Janet Louise Todd, Son William Henry Todd, and Adopted Daughter Elinor Todd. (His wife and son Robert Bruce Todd are noticeably absent) Image Source: Year: 1930; Census Place: Evanston, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T626_499; Page: 9B; Enumeration District:

Date: 2 Jan 1904