Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-09-24
BioRrnnhicaI Memoranda


relating to the early settlers of Ohio. They are
as nearly authentic as it is possible to obtain,
after the lapse of years, the sources of much of
his information being original letters in his coll
lection of the late Gen. jah Wadsworth pa
pers.
Mr.. ". has at our request, furnished for pub
Ication the following brief sketch of the life and
character of the Hon. George Tod.-AkrOn
Beacon
George Tod.
He was native of Sufield, Conn, born De-
cember llth, l773 Graduated at Yale College
in 1895, and received his law education at the
celebrated Law School ofJudge Reeves at Litch-
field, Connecticut.
On his admission to the bar, he.commeneed
the practice OF law at New Haven, Connecticut,
aud intermarried in October 1877, with Miss Sal
ly Isaacs then residing with her sister, the wife
of Gov. IngersolL.
He was one of the early, and respectable pi-
Oneers of the Western Reserve-came first tc
Youngstown, Trumbul county, in 1900. Was
private Secretary to Governor St Clair, then
Governor of the North Western Territory, and
in 1901, removed his family, consisting of his
wife aud two children, from New Haven, and
settled at Youngstown, now Mahoning county,
and in the year 1916, he removed to Brier Hill,
near Youngstown, which was his place Of resi-
dence until his death.
He was 4 prominent lawyer, and Judge of
Ohio, an eloquent debater, and an accomplished
gentleman.
He was a member of the Ohio Senate from
Tumbull county in IS04-5, and lSO5-6, and was
again member of the State Senate from the
same county in IsIO-ll, and lsII-l2.
In the first organization OF the Ohio Militia,
he took great pride in having it well and eff
ciently organized, and was reputed by the Mill
tia officers ofthat day to be strict disciplinari
an, and an efficient drill officer at the first
Military election, in the 4th Division of the Ohio
Militia, on the 9TH of May, 1904, he was elected
a Captain, and soon after a Major and Colonel
in the Regiment where he resided, and It was
through his Intervention, and partly by his
means, that the first field piece was obtained,
for tue first Artillery Company in the Brigade
(and probably in the Division) in which he re-
sided
In 1906 he was elected one of the Judges of
the Supreme Court of the State
In 1907 OF s, the COnStilutionality Of the Act
defining the duties of Justices of the Peace,
was drawn in question. Judges Huntington
and Tod of the Supreme Court, and Judge Pease
Of the C immon Pleas, declared the law uncon-
stitutiOnal and void. At the session Of the Le-
gislature Of ls07-S, a resolution for the i'm
Peachment Of the Judges vas introduced, bat
not acted on In lSOS, Judge Huntington re-
signed his seat on the Supreme Bench, and was
elected Governor of the State At the session
of the Legislature of lsOs-9, Committee re-
ported articles of impeachment against Judges
Tod and Pease. The investigation lasted sew
eral days, but resulted in the acquittal of Judge
Tod, and afterwards in the aequittal of Judge
Pease
The firm stand taken by Judge Tod, and
maintained by him through all opposition, rela-
tive to the COnstitutiOnalIty Of the law regu-
ating or defining the duties of Justices of the
Peace, received the unqualified approval Of the
most able jurists Of the country And not a
few Of the members, who tried the case in the
Legislature, claimed the honor of sustaining the
impeached Judges.
When war was declared by the United States !
against Great Britain in 1872, Judge Tod was |
rendered Commission of Major, by President |
Madison, in the .. 5 Army, which he accept |
ed, and he served in the Army during the whole |
of the War, and the greatest part of the time |
on the North Western and Northern frontiers.
He was with Gen. Harrison at Fort Meigs |
during the siege Of the Fort by the British and
Indians, the last of April and the first of Nav.
1913, and hal animpOrtant command in the bril-
liant and successful sortie from the Fort, the
- DAY of May, 1913. He was at Detroit
when Gen. Harrison set off in pursuit of Gen.
Proctor and the Indians, and on Gen. Harrison's
'eturn to Detroit. after the victory OF the
Thames, Col. Tod accompanied him down Lake
trie to ButialO-thence to Niagara Falls,
gueenstOn Heights, and Newark, in Canada
hence on board Commodore Chauncey's fleet
N Like Ontario, and thence to Sackett's Har-
IL =.
er, 1913, in command of portions Of seve9
Ompanies ofthe I7th and 18Th Regiments of U.
Infantry.
On the 18th of March, 1914, be was promo
ed to the rank of Lieut.. Colonel of the 18th !
regiment of u S. Infantry
AT the close of the war, be resigned his Gem I
iission in the army, and returned again to the
ractice of the law.
Soon after the close of the war, he was elect
} President Judge of the third sldicial District
Ohio, and continued President Judge of that
ldicial District fourteen years.
Judge Tod was one Of the getters up, and
as always firm friend and strong advocate of P
lie Common School system of Education.
private letter says:
." He Judge Tod was an enthusiastic encour-
ger of domestic manufactures, delighted IN the :
I'm Of the spinning wheel, always declaring
q
sayist.) than when surrounded by wheels and =
els. While in the army, he wore with great
lde, coat spun in the family, of wool from
$ own sheep, woven by a tenant, colored at c
'me, but fuilcd and dressed in Pittsburgh. s.
,lieye be brought into the country the first full Z
oOded Meriuo sheep. In 1871 or 'l2, when g
occupied the Speakers chair in the Senate
ne seat of Government being then at Zanes- |.
lle) he received q letter stating that the dogs
ID killed eve which he had given forty
filings for. His maledictions were such as not
be easily forgotten"
He was one of the early advocates for the
emotion of Agricultural Societies, and was
~ active and efficient in the formation Of the T
st Trumbull County Agricultural Society in l.
II OF IS The first Fair and Cattle Show
Is held al Youngstown in 1919, and Judge
d-if | am not mistaken-wss the first Pres n,
mt He was the President of the Society,
delivered the annual Address at Youngs- 4
vn, in 1921. i
Judge Tod lived the friend of all, respected by =.
, and died at Brier Hill, April llth, Is4I, aged
years and 4 months.
SAD AccIDEST-WARSlNs To TRUANrs-
e Worcester Transcript says that the b Y who -