Justice Todd House
Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Justice Todd House. Home of Thomas Todd, built 1812. Clerk, the 10 Danville conventions leading to Kentucky statehood. Court of Appeals, 1801-1806. Its chief justice, 1806-1807. Justice on the US Supreme Court, 1807-1826. Born in Virginia, 1765. Died in 1826. His second marriage was to Lucy Payne Washington, sister of Dolley Madison, in the first recorded White House wedding, 1812.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Built in 1812, this was the Frankfort home of Thomas Todd, a Virginia-born jurist who served as clerk to the Danville conventions that brought Kentucky to statehood before rising through the young state's courts. President Jefferson appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served from 1807 until his death in 1826. His second marriage, to Dolley Madison's sister Lucy Payne Washington, was the first wedding ever recorded in the White House.
Why it matters
Todd's career links Kentucky's frontier path to statehood with the highest levels of the early federal judiciary, tying a Frankfort home to the founding institutions of the republic.
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Related people
- · Thomas Todd
- · Lucy Payne Washington
- · Dolley Madison
Themes & tags
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