TODD, John A., St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 578-579.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.


Todd, John Alexander, well-to-do citizen and retired lumberman; 
son of John Alexander and Martha F. (Gaines) Todd, was born in
 St. Tammany parish, La., March 1, 1879. 
    The father was born near Biloxi, Miss., whence he moved to
' St. Tammany parish about 1849 and followed farming there until his death,
 Aug. 9, 1904. 
   John Alexander Todd, the grandfather was a native of Scotland.  
Arriving in America, he first located in Ohio. Being a sailor, he made 
several trips down the Mississippi river with barges of produce
 to the New Orleans market.  Attracted by the Southern climate, he finally 
settled in Biloxi, where he remained the rest of his life. 
  The subject of this sketch has always lived in his native parish. 
 As there were no public schools in his vicinity, he acquired only an 
elementary education, but his early training while assisting his father
 in the logging business gave him the thorough knowledge of timber,
 which contributed so largely to his later success.
 In 1905, while but a young man of 26 years, he built and began operating
 a saw mill at Lacombe, which he enlarged and improved several times. 
 In conjunction with this, he also conducted a very successful commissary. 
 In 1913 he sold the entire business-mill, timber and commissary 
to the W. W. Carre Co., Ltd., of New Orleans, for $125,000.00; 
it is now known as the Lacombe Lumber Co.  
Since retiring from the lumber business, Mr. Todd has been principally 
dealing in real estate, of which he owns about 2,000 acres,
and is very enthusiastic in the settlement and development of
the rich lands about him.  Mr. Todd's father was a member of the
 police jury of St. Tammany parish for 20 years, and the son has held 
the same office for the past 2 years, being a member of the Finance
 committee.
  Mr. Todd owned the commissary in Lacombe for 3 years. 
 The last year the business amounting to $33,500.00 with a $4,000.00 stock.
This was sold with the mill to the Carre' company. Jan. 21, 1903,
 he was married to Miss Bertha M. Pierce, of Iowa.
  They have 5 children:  John A., Jr.,  Walter,  Mandane,  Arthur, 
 Elizabeth.  He belongs to and is a steward of the M. E. church, South.
  Mrs. Todd's father was Howard A. Pierce, who was born in Kennebec county,
 Me., Aug. 16,1837, and in 1851 went to Boston as clerk in a dry goods store.
 In 1854 be moved to Fond du Lac, Wis., 
where he married, Sept. 9, 1857, Miss Mandana L. Knight.
  In 1858, with 15 others, he started on an overland journey to California.
  Thirteen abandoned the journey, but Mr. Pierce continued. 
 His wife went via New York, thence to the Isthmus of Panama,
 crossed it and then on the Pacific to California.  
They lived in California until 1862,
 Mr. Pierce being engaged in mining and stock raising. 
 In that year he moved to Nevada, and in 1863 returned to Wisconsin.
  Mr. Pierce enlisted in Co. D, 50th Wisconsin infantry, and 
served to the end of the war.  After the war he moved to Sac county, Ia.,
 where he took an active interest in all public affairs. 
 In 1885 he went to Sac City, Ia., and conducted a foundry
 and machine shop, giving attention to plumbing and the manufacture 
of lightning rods.  In 1897 he left Iowa for Central America, but got 
no further than New Orleans.  He went to Lacombe to visit relatives, 
and was so taken with the opportunities that he decided to locate there.
  His remaining years were spent in Lacombe as a farmer, 
his death occurring Nov. 30, 1909.