Todd, Eli

Extract

Todd, Eli (22 July 1769–17 November 1833), physician, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Michael Todd, a wealthy merchant, and Mary Rowe. When Eli was five years old, his father went insane and died, and he was sent to live with his great-uncle in Guilford, Connecticut. He completed his secondary education under a private tutor, and in 1783 he matriculated at Yale College, where he received his A.B. four years later. In 1787 he took a trip to the West Indies, where his family had business interests; while in Trinidad, he contracted yellow fever and almost died. After a failed shipping venture cost him his inheritance, he studied medicine for two years with a New Haven physician. In 1790 he opened his own medical practice in Farmington, Connecticut....