Andrew Todd

Who was Andrew Todd?

Andrew Todd was an Anglo-Irish merchant and fur trader at Montreal and Louisiana. Born into a wealthy family at Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, he was the son of Daniel Todd of Randalstown, Co. Antrim, and his wife Letitia Thornton, sister of Lt.-General Sir William Thornton. He came to North America to work in the trading firm of his uncle, Isaac Todd, who was the business partner of James McGill at Montreal. He became a junior partner of the firm and in 1791 was admitted as a member of the Beaver Club. In 1794, the Spanish Governor, Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, granted him an exclusive monopoly over all the trade in Louisiana; highly sought after particularly by Canadians as it was then still separate to the United States. This gave him the exclusive right to the valuable trade on the Upper Mississippi River, the Missouri River and the area north of Ohio. He jealously defended his position and soon became known in the region as "Don Andreas", successfully sending vast stores of goods up from New Orleans while bringing back furs.