Source:
Tabor Historical Society
Courtesy of Harry Wilkins
May 18, 2017
John Todd was born into a Presbyterian Pennsylvania family with deep roots in the American experience, his grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War. Todd was ordained in 1844 at Oberlin College, Ohio, one of the few colleges in the nation that admitted all regardless of gender and race. The school was known for its strong anti-slavery stand. John met his future wife, Martha Atkins, at Oberlin where she was studying music.
Todd was pastor in Clarksfield, Ohio, when George Belcher Gaston, a young man who had worked as a 'farming missionary' with the Pawnee Indians in Nebraska, convinced Reverend Todd that an 'Oberlin of the West' could be established in sparsely populated Southwest Iowa. Todd agreed, and in 1848 joined the families of Gaston, Samuel Adams and others on the trek to Civil Bend (present day Percival) near the Missouri River. Several years of flooding and sickness drove the group to found the town of Tabor in 1852 as a permanent home and Christian colony.
As a staunch abolitionist, Todd worked with his neighbors in organizing a station of the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves moving north from Missouri before the Civil War. John Brown visited Tabor several times and became friends with Todd and the people of Tabor. Brown drilled his men in Tabor's park and stored 200 Sharps rifles in the basement of the Todd home.
John Todd was a leader in the founding of Tabor, its schools, government, church, and Tabor College, which operated between 1866-1927. He served as pastor of the Congregational Church for over 30 years, retiring in 1883. Todd was the father of eight children and was remembered as a loving father and good neighbor, known and respected by all. He remained active in his community until his death in 1894, his 75th year.
The Todd House was the third home constructed in Tabor, completed in August of 1853. At the time of its founding, Tabor was located in a prairie and wood was scarce. With no milled lumber available, Todd built his house with locally cut oak and cottonwood, using stone for the foundation and adobe walls in the cellar. As Todd's family grew, additions in 1868 and 1890 added windows, a front porch, kitchen, and bedrooms. Like most early settlers, the Todd family constructed a barn west of the house, maintained a large garden, and kept pigs, a milk cow, and a horse and buggy.
To Learn More about the Underground Railroad, "The Todd House", and other history of Tabor, contact the;
