He is also the basis for the abolitionist preacher and grandfather of John Ames, main character in Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead (2004).
Todd's home in Tabor served not only as a station on the Underground Railroad, complete with a concealed room in which escaped slaves hid until their next ride arrived,[3] but also as a storehouse of weapons, ammunition and other supplies for radical abolitionist John Brown.
Brown was given safe haven in Tabor, but the citizens made it clear they did not condone his actions.
But Todd had no knowledge of the use to which the weapons he had stored would be put, nor any involvement [4] in what he termed "the Harper's Ferry insurrection.
"[This quote needs a citation] Todd was also a leader in the temperance movement and was a board member of Tabor College from its founding in 1866 until his death in 1894.