Dr. Elnathan Todd is the well-respected physician of Templeton. Tall and gangly, he was sickly as a child, and so exempted from the farm labor of his brothers. After he is caught as a child eating pills like candy, he is sent to school where it is hoped he will be a doctor. After completing his classes, he is sent to live with the village doctor to learn from him. Upon turning 18, Todd travels to Boston, ostensibly to work in the hospital there, and returns two weeks later carrying a mysterious box filled with potions. Shortly after returning, he is married and travels to settle in Templeton.

Todd is well liked in Templeton, but he experiments with his potions when he is called to treat travelling vagrants. Cooper reveals that he lacks formal medical training and instead learns through practicing on the townsfolk. One day, he is forced to operate on a man’s broken leg, despite having no experience. Richard holds the man’s leg while Todd amputates it. Though the man survives, he complains about the pain for two years. However, the event greatly increases the public’s confidence in Todd, and is the source of Richard’s incessant bragging about his own medical skills.