TODD, Thomas, jurist, born in King and Queen county, Virginia, 23 January, 1765; died in Frankfort, Kentucky, 7 February, 1826. His father died when he was an infant, and he had some difficulty in obtaining all education. He abandoned his studies to serve in the army in the latter part of the Revolution, and entered the Manchester troop of cavalry during the invasion of Virginia by Arnold and Phillips. In 1786 he was tutor in the family of a cousin in Danville, Kentucky, studying law at night. He began the practice of his profession toward the end of the year, took part in the agitation that had for its object the admission of Kentucky as a state, and was appointed clerk of all the conventions that preceded that event. He was made clerk of the United States court for the district of Kentucky, and when it became a state in 1799 he was appointed clerk of the court of appeals. He was made fourth judge of the same court in 1801, and chief justice in 1806. He was appointed an associate of the United States supreme court on 7 February, 1826. While he was an appellate judge of Kentucky he gave great attention to its peculiar system of land laws, originally an act of the assembly of Virginia, and his labors, both in the state court and the supreme court, were instrumental in establishing them on principles of law and equity.--His son, Charles Scott, soldier, born near Danville, Kentucky, 22 January, 1791; died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 14 May, 1871, was graduated at William and Mary, Virginia, in 1809, began the study of law under his father, and afterward attended lectures at Litchfield, Connecticut He opened a law-office in Lexington in 1811, but volunteered in June, 1812, for military service. In December he became division judge-advocate of the Kentucky troops, and in this capacity was sent by General William Henry Harrison with private instructions to General James Winchester. On his return to Kentucky he was recommended for a captaincy in the regular army by General Harrison, and was appointed to a vacancy in the 17th regiment of infantry in May. 1813. He was soon afterward transferred to the 28th infantry, and appointed aide to General Harrison. He was mentioned in the report of the campaign of 1813 as one of the four aides that had rendered Harrison "the most important services from the opening of the campaign." He was made deputy inspector of the 8th military district on 1 November, 1813, and he also acted as adjutant-general in the summer of 1814 under General Duncan McArthur, who in his report of the expedition into Canada attributed much of its fortunate issue "to the military talents, activity, and intelligence of Major Todd." He was appointed inspector-general on 2 March, 1815, with the rank of colonel, but resigned in June, and opened a law-office in Frankfort, Kentucky He was appointed secretary of state by Governor Madison in 1817, but resigned and sat in the legislature in 1817-'18. In 1820 he was sent on a confidential mission to the republic of Colombia. He returned to the United States in 1821, but resumed his duties in South America in 1822, taking with him the recognition of its independence by his government. Declining several offices, he retired for a time to his farm in Shelby county. He was a delegate to the Presbyterian general assembly at Philadelphia in 1837-'8, and for several years vice-president of the State agricultural society. He was a friend of Henry Clay, and sustained his claims to the presidency, but on his withdrawal as a candidate in 1835 he supported Harrison; and in 1840, on the invitations of the states of Ohio and Kentucky, he prepared, in conjunction with Benjamin Drake, of Cincinnati. a sketch of his civil and military career (Cincinnati, 1840). To support Harrison's candidature he soon afterward took charge of the "Cincinnati Republican." His relations with Harrison, who designed him for the mission to Vienna, were confidential. He was sent as United States minister to Russia by President Tyler, and reached St. Petersburg in November, 1841. He was popular with the court and people, and was elected a member of the Imperial agricultural society, from which foreigners had heretofore been carefully excluded.