MAHONING COUNTY OHIO BIOS: TOD, David (published 1898)
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Historical Collections of Ohio By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898

 
        DAVID TOD, the second of Ohio's War Governors, was born in
Youngstown, February 21, 1805, and died there November 13, 1868. He was the
son of Governor Tod, an eminent man who was born in Connecticut, graduated
at Yale, and emigrated to the Northwest Territory in 1800. He was Secretary
of the Territory under Governor St. Clair; was a State Senator after the
organization of the State of Ohio. He served as Judge of the Supreme Court
from 1806 to 1809, and occupied other important positions. He rendered
gallant service in the war of 1812 at Fort Meigs, serving as a lieutenant-colonel.
        David Tod, was admitted to the bar in 1827. As a lawyer he was very
successful, and commencing penniless, he soon accumulated a fortune by his
talents and industry. He had a strong love of politics and was an able
campaign speaker. In 1838 he was elected as a Democrat to the State Senate;
in 1840 gained great reputation as an orator while canvassing the State for
Van Buren. In 1844 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor, being
defeated by 1,000 votes; from 1847 to 1852 he was Unitet States Minister to
Brazil, under President Polk's administration; returning to the United
States he rendered very effective service in the campaign resulting in the
election of President Pierce; in 1860 he was a delegate to the Charleston
Convention, was chosen vice-president of that body, and presided over it
when the Southern wing of the party withdrew.
        Whitelaw Reid says in "Ohio in the War:" "The executive and
business talents of Mr. Tod were conspicuously evidenced as the President
of the Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad, the construction of which he was one
of the first to advocate, and with whose success he became identified. To
Mr. Tod more than any other man, belongs the honor of inaugurating the
steps which led to the development of the vast coal mines of the Mahoning valley.
        Before and after the meeting of the Peace Congress at Washington in
February, Mr. Tod warmly advocated the peace measures, and the exhausting
of every honorable means, rather than that the South should inaugurate
civil war. But from the moment the flag was shot down at Sumter he threw
off all party trammels and was among the first public men in the State who
took the stump advocating the vigorous prosecution of the war till every
rebel was cut off or surrendered. From that moment, with voice and with
material aid, he contributed his support to the national government. Beside
subscribing immediately $1,00 to the war fund of his township, he furnished
Company B. Captain Hollingsworth, Nineteenth Regiment, Youngstown, their
first uniforms."
        In 1861 he was nominate for Governor of Ohio by the Republicans,
and elected by a majority of 55,000.
        His administration during the most trying years of the war was
zealous, painstaking and efficient. His continued efforts for recruiting
the army, his fatherly care and sympathy with Ohio soldiers in the field
and their families at home; his vigorous measures to repel invasions of the
State, are the distinguishing features of an able administration. "Ohio in
the War" closes  an account of it with the following words: "He made some
mistakes of undue vigor, and some of his operations entailed expenses not
wholly necessary. But he was zealous, industrious and specially watchful
for the welfare of the troops, faithful in season and out of season. He was
at the head of the State in the darkest hours, through which she passed. He
left her affairs in good order, her contributions to the nation fully made
up, her duties to her soldier sons jealously watched, and her honor untarnished."
        After the close of his term of service he retired to his farm known
as "Brier Hill," near Youngstown, which formerly belonged to his father,
and which he repurchased after he began to accumulate property, from those
who had come into its possession. As a boy, David Tod was always ready for
fun, and many amusing anecdotes are told of his pranks. We give the
following from the "Pioneer History of Geauga Count:" "On one winter day,
when a deep cut had been shovelled through a snow-bank to give access to
the school-house. Tod led some of his schoolmates to fill the cut with
wood, so that when the schoolmaster, returned from dinner he was obliged to
climb the pile to get to the school-house." On another occasion he played a
decidedly practical joke on "Uncle John" Ford, the father of Governor
Seabury Ford. John Ford was an eccentric genius of much sterling worth.
"The spirit of humor overflowed with him, and when Brooks Bradley drove the
cows up the lane at night, they would dash back past him, heads and tails
high in the air, and run clear to the woods.  Brooks, as he chased back
after the frightened cattle, did not see 'Uncle John's' old hat down in
front of his bent form, shaking out from behind a stump in that lane." He
played some trick on David Tod, afterwards Governor of Ohio. David sawed
the top bar over which "Uncle John" leaned when he poured the swill to his
pigs. "Dave" and his companions watched the next time  "Uncle John" fed,
and when well on the bar it broke, and he fell with pail and contents,
among the hogs. A suppressed laugh from an adjoining fence corner hinted to
"Uncle John" how it happened; but he climbed from the mess and said
nothing. He saw only one thing in Tod that he called "mean."






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