FRANK MONROE TODD

The following bio was taken from page 414 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Frank Monroe Todd was born May 16, 1846 in Alabama and died February 6, 1926 in Rusk County, Texas. He came to Texas when a very young man with his father’s family, settling in the northern part of Rusk County. He was the son of James Calvin Todd and Melissa Ann Boles, the grandson of Williamson Todd and Dicey Tedder, the great-grandson of James Todd and Frances (?) of Roane County, Tennessee. (See James Todd story)

Frank married Charlotte Ann (Lottie) Gibson Robertson (born January 16, 1844 in Alabama and died March 1, 1926 in Rusk County), the daughter of Allen Gibson and Maria (?) and widow of William Robertson, who died in Arkansas during the Civil War. She had one daughter, Willie, who was born after her father left for the army. Lottie’s slave, Dick Reed, refused to accept his freedom but stayed with Lottie and looked after her property.

Lottie’s father, Allen Gibson, who died at the age of sixty-four on January 4, 1876, was a very prosperous man who had a large family of children, some born in Alabama and some in Florida. He lived first at old Easton (Camden) near the Sabine River, where he had a large two-story log house, but later moved to the Millville Community. His wife Maria died only eight days after her husband’s death on January 12, 1876, at the age of sixty. They are both buried in the Millville Cemetery.

Lottie married Frank Monroe Todd next, and they settled near the Millville Church where they lived off the rest of their lives. They died only three weeks apart and are buried in the Millville Cemetery.

Lottie and Frank had six children. (1) Their daughter, Ida, who married William Pitt Craig, the son of Colonel W.D.L.F. Craig of Civil War fame, had five children: Eva, Idalene, Walter, Janie and Mary; (2) Gippie died when only eight years of age; (3) Walter died as a young man of nineteen; (4) Lottie married Truitt Brown (See Truitt Brown story.); (5) Clate, (August 28, 1881-January 1, 1960) married Bessie Busby (March 25, 1881-June 8, 1947). Clate was a prominent cattleman and landowner and lived seventy years on the same farm. He was a charter member of Millville Baptist Church and a Deacon for fifty years. He had a host of friends in Henderson and Rusk County. His wife, Bessie, preceded him in death several years and they are both buried in the Millville Cemetery. Their children are: James Ralph (April 2, 1919-August, 1949) married Etta Revesz and their children are Vicky, Cecilia and Eddie Claton; Walter married Virginia McCormick and their three sons are James, and twins Clifford Ralph who married Denise Smith and Ralph Clifford who married Pam Thompson; Mary married Hoyt Holliman and had two sons John, who married Mollie Robertson, Bob, who married Vickie Jo McKee; Ethel married William (Bill) E. Bryan, their son is Billy Todd, who married Charlotte Pirtle; Grace married Floyd Pratt and had one child, Ethel Jean who married Julian Reipe; Erma Jean who married E.V. Douthit and their daughter is Mary Bess; Orville married Bobbie Hargis and their three children are: Joe Clayton (1951-1957), Richard, who married Debbie Parker, Bobbie Ann who married Paul Smith III; (6) Frankie married Johnny Ballenger, well-known farmer and landowner of the Millville Community. He was the grandson of Thomas Ballenger who was the co-founder of the New Prospect Baptist Church, and their daughter married Taft Maddox.

Submitted by Margaret Brown