E. Lilian Todd

E. Lilian Todd, originally from Washington, D.C and later New York City, was a self-taught inventor who grew up with a love for mechanical devices. The New York Times issue of November 28, 1909, identifies her as the first woman in the world to design airplanes, which she started in 1906 or earlier. In 1910, her latest design flew.

Childhood

E. Lilian Todd (E. stands for Emma) was born Washington, D.C. in 1865. The 1870 U.S. census lists her as "Lily," living with her mother Mary Todd and her sister Cora in the U.S. capital. Her father is not mentioned in the census, however. In the November 1909 issue of Woman's Home Companion, an autobiographical article mentions her grandfather (probably on her mother's side), from whom she inherited her mechanical and inventive talent.

Adulthood

Todd received her education in Washington, D.C. and taught herself typewriting to earn a living. Her first job was at the Patent Office, but left two years later to work in the office of the governor of Pennsylvania (she claims in her article that she became the first woman to receive an appointment in the executive department of that state). Then she went back to New York to continue her work with patents, began to study law, and became a member of the first Woman's Law Class of New York University (circa 1890). In 1896, she was issued a patent for a typewriter copy-holder (number 553292) which she shared with George W. Parker. Todd later worked as a secretary to the director-general of the Women's National War Relief Association during the Spanish-American War.

After about 1903, Todd turned her attention to "mechanical and aeronautic toys." She was further inspired after seeing airships in London and at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, as well as a sketch of an airplane in a 1906 Parisian newspaper. Todd exhibited her first design in 1906 at Madison Square Garden in an aero show. Her first full-sized biplane began construction as early as the fall of 1908 by the Wittemann Brothers of Staten Island. Realizing the importance of future aviation, she started the first Junior Aero Club in 1908 to foster the education of future aviators. As she mentions in the 1909 article, Todd wanted to pilot her own airplane and applied for permission at the Richmond Borough Commissioner of Public Works. She also considered applying for a permit to fly it anywhere in the United States. Her permit was denied, however. Nevertheless, her plane took flight on November 7, 1910, with Didier Masson as the pilot.

Todd's career in airplane design ended abruptly after she was hired by the multimillionaire philanthropist Olivia Sage (widow of Russell Sage) in January of 1911.

Later Years

After the death of Mrs. Russell, Todd moved to Pasadena, California, during the first half of the 1920s, as noted in the Voter Registrations of 1924 and onward. She moved to Corona Del Mar, California, in 1936. Todd died on September 26, 1937, at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Her body was cremated and her remains were sent to New York, but her burial site remains unknown.

References

• Crocker, Ruth, Mrs. Russell Sage: Women's Activism and Philanthropy in Gilded Age and Progressive Era America, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 2006, ISBN 0253347122