Leonard Todd is a Greenville, S.C. native, son of Leonard (1913-2009) and Lena Miles Wever Todd (1910-2000). Todd graduated from Yale College and Yale School of Art and Architecture. He is a former Fulbright Scholar to France. He has been a resident at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In addition to being a writer, he is a graphic designer and a painter.

In 2000, Todd found out about his ancestor’s connection to Dave, the famed slave potter from Edgefield. Todd wrote Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave, a book about his family’s connection to Dave, published in 2008.

Todd’s maternal grandparents were Francis (Frank) Miles Wever (1866-1942) and Rosalind Seckinger (1893-1974). Frank Miles Wever’s parents were Lafayette B. Wever (1825-1891) and America “Mecca” Miles (1840-1907). Mecca was the daughter of Lewis Miles. The Miles family owned, and later employed Dave, later named David Drake.