TF 103 Archibald Tod of Washington County New
York
Archibald Tod, along with William Tod, were part of Dr.
Thomas Clark's Presbyterian Exodus from Ballybay,
County Monaghan, Ireland to Salem, Washington County, New York in 1764 [1]. Archibald
was one of the original grantees of a lot on the Turner Patent at New Perth
(Salem), Charlotte (Washington) County, New York [2]. Archibald
had two sons, Robert and John, and an unnamed daughter who married John McCloughin [3].
Archibald was born about 1715, estimated from the births of
his two sons sometime between 1740 and 1745. Birthplace could have been either
Ireland or Scotland, although Scotland is strongly suggested because of the
single D in his surname, which is commonly used in Scotland.
Sources
- ↑ Fitch
Gazetteer, Vol. 3, p. 486, Note 634
- ↑ Robert
Harper's list, Fitch Gazetteer, Vol. 3, p. 486, Note 634
- ↑ Fitch
Gazetteer, Vol. 3, p. 486, Note 231
John Todd
and Robert Todd (TF 103) were in Salem, Washington Co, by 1771;
John seems to have left the area before 1790. Robert was in Argyle by 1790
with 5 sons, including John b abt 1770. This
younger John appears to the father of John b 1793 who with his family was still
in Argyle in 1850 and thereafter. Robert’s other children seem to have let
the area.
DNA for desc of John b 1793 shows this branch is most
closely related to several groups of Todds - the Todds of Aghaderg,
County Down, the Todds who went from Co Down to Co Monaghan in 1756, and the
Somerset Co NJ Todds.
We know that a Robert Todd born c. 1740 was living in
Argyle, Washington County, New York in 1790 [1] and 1800 [2], and that he paid
taxes from 1799 to 1803 [3]. He is not in the 1810 census, so presumed death is
between 1803 and 1810.
Robert as the father of John Todd born c. 1765, as well as
William and Robert is somewhat speculative, based on
my (RW Todd) analysis of and conjecture on the two census records. In 1790,
Robert and John are listed adjacent in the census. Robert has seven children.
John has only a wife, no children. This implies John is recently wed, and if
about 25 years old (marrying age), then he was born about 1765. If Robert was
born early 1740s, it is chronologically plausible that John is Robert's son.
Note that the 1800 census indicates that John is more than 45 years old, but
the 1810 census indicates he is less than 46 years old. I think that the wrong
box was checked in the 1800 census. If he was 45 in 1810, then he was born in
1765.
A Robert and a William newly appear in the 1800 census,
with a concurrent decrease of males in the elder Robert's household. I
speculate that these are Robert's sons, brothers of John b.c.
1765.
Hall, Hiland. (1868). The history of Vermont, from its
discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. p. 133. J. Munsell, Albany,
N. Y. "It seems that two brothers of the name of Todd, claiming under a
New York patent to one Lieut. Farrant had commenced work on a lot, near the
west line of Rupert;, which was claimed by Robert Cochran under the New
Hampshire charter, and which, it is said, he had partly cleared; that another
New York claimant of the name of Hutchinson had begun to build a log house on
another lot belonging to a New Hampshire grantee, the logs being laid and
rafters fixed for a roof; and that further to the northward one Reid had begun
an improvement on a piece of land in Pawlet, and had erected there a shelter,
having four crotches driven in the ground with boughs for a covering. Cochran
with a party of seven armed men from Rupert;,
accompanied also by Ethan Allen and Remember Baker, went to the Todds, drove
them from their work, declaring they would never suffer any man to be seated
there who held under a New York title. The party then went to Hutchinson's
place, took down the logs and rafters of his house and placing them in piles
"burned them with fire." The house or shelter of Ried [sic] was
afterwards destroyed in the same manner, all the claimants being required to
depart immediately from the lands granted by New Hampshire, and threatened with
barbarous usage if they returned. According to the affidavit of Hutchinson,
taken before justice McNaughton, his assailants conducted in a rough,
swaggering, and boisterous maker, declaring that they had "that morning
resolved to offer a burnt sacrifice to the gods of the woods in burning the
logs of his house," with oaths boastingly telling him to go his way and
complain to his "scoundrel governor," that they had hundreds of New
Hampshire men to prevent any soldiers or others settling on their lands,
defying the New York council, assembly and laws, and affirming that if any New
York constable attempted to arrest then they would kill him, and that if any of
them should be put in Albany jail they would break it down and rescue
him."
One of Asa Fitch's interviewees describes Robert as
"next to John McCloughin [Robert's
brother-in-law], he was one of the worst tories in
Salem, N. Y. during the Rev. war; he owned no farm, & had no fixed
residence, and his name was not further recoll."[4] This
seems to conflict with the tax paying farmer with the large family living in
Argyle between 1790 and 1810 and raises the question that these might not be
the same Robert.
John Todd b about 1765 md Jane Crookshank died 1814 Argyle,
Washington Co NY (based on probate record).
John Todd b
1793 in Argyle Washington County New York D 1870 Argyle md Isabella
Mosher
John Todd b 1815 d
1861 (based on will of 1861) md Rebecca Mills
Jennett Elizabeth Todd 1840-1919 md
Edward C. Nelson
Thomas D Todd 1842-1916
Nebraska md Esther E. Nelson
James I Todd, b 1868 NY
Mary Elizabeth
Todd b 1870 NY d 1944 North Platte, NE md
Frank C. Kennedy
John E Todd b
1873 NY d 1975 md (1) Vera Todd (2) Bettie
Barbar
Russell Laurence
Todd, 1895 Waterloo, NE 1967 md 1935
Nancy Slater
Lowell Purchase
Todd 1897 Waterloo d 1978 md Ruth
Ellen Todd
Lucille Todd
Audrey Todd
John Edward Todd b
1906
Charles Russell
Todd 1846-1916 Waterloo, Douglas, NE md Sarah A.
Kennedy
Jennie
B Todd, 1869-1947 San Diego CA md Edward Flor
William Alexander Todd, 1871
Hebron NY d 1961 Merrick NE
md (1) Pearl Todd (2)
Elizabeth Noyes
Ruth Irene Todd
1895 Waterloo d1966 Merrick
Charles Ralph
Todd 1896 Waterloo 1977 Lincoln NE md
Marcia Louise
Riggs
Charles Ralph Todd Jr 1925 Omaha 2021 Lincoln Richard Riggs Todd 1929 Omaha 2018 Lincoln md 1952 Ima Joyce
(Ferguson) Coe
Richard
William Todd b 1950s
Lyle N. Todd 1905
md 1933 Ella Corrine Bailey
George Todd 1874 NY d 1934 md Anna
Sophia Johnson
Walter
Ward Todd 1895 Waterloo d 1960 md Pearl Todd
Menlo
R. Todd 1916-1917
Phyllis
Arlene Todd 1923 Valley NE-2013
Omaha md Wm.
Rumsey
Jesse
E. Todd
Earl Reynolds Todd 1879 WestHebron, Washington Co NY d 1957 md Lulu A. Todd
Madeline Rose
1900-1989
Merrill Vance
Todd 1902 Waterloo 1962 md Alice H.
Bruce Farrington
Todd 1904 Waterloo 1977 md Virginia E.
Tomas Todd b 1920s
Bruce W. Todd b 1942 d 2013
Jane Todd b abt
1796
Sally Shannon
Todd b abt 1798
Betsy Todd
b abt 1802
1790
Argyle, Washington Co NY
Robert
Todd 2-3-4 (2 M
over 16 b prior to 1774, 3 M under 16 b after 1774, 4 females)
John
Todd 1-0-1 1M over 16 plus 1 female)
1800
Arygle, Washington Co NY
Robert
Todd 10201- 00101 hence Robert born prior to
1755 with two sons and a daughter 16-26 =>1774-1784 and a son born 1790-1800. Only 3 of 5 sons still in Washington Co.
John
Todd 42101-01110 hence John born prior to 1755
with 7 sons: though only 1 born 1774-1784, 2 born 1784-1790, and 4 born
1790-1800
(This
is not the John Todd of the 1790 census but rather may be the John Todd b 1756
of Somerset Co NJ who came to Washington Co after 1782. The children went to Washington Co PA in
early 1800s.
The following look to me like a John b abt
1770 with a son b 1793. This could be a
son of Robert based on the 1790 census, but not the 1800 census.
1810
John Todd Argyle, Washington Co NY 00110-210011
John 26-45
b 1765-1784
1M 16-26 b 1784-94
1F over 45 b prior to 1765
1 F 26-45 b
1765-1784
1F 10-16 b
1794-1800
2F
0-10 b 1800-1810
Greenwich, Washington Co NY
Robert Todd 31010-20101 image 5 (Robert b 1765-1784)
John Todd 21101-01001 image 2 (John b pr to 1765)
William Todd 21010-11010
image 6 (William
b 1765-1784)
(Note: though the will of John Todd in Washington Co PA says
he was in Greenwich Twp, Washington Co NY, he did not have sons Robert or
William) I think this John may be the
John Todd of Somerset County NJ.
WB-1 270 John Todd of Greenwich,
Washington County, New York, dated 28 May 1823, filed 3 Feb
1830. Wife Jane deceased son Hiram in the common burying ground in Salem. 1) Martin L, 2)
Stephen, 3) James C. 4) Archibald S. 5) Martha wife of John Clarke, 6) Betsey
wife of Daniel Doddy, Grandson John Lewis Todd, Friends Abraham Savage of
Salem, William Adams of Jackson and Israel Williams of Greenwich appointed.
Williams and Adams renounced as executors for John Todd.
(1804 will of James Crookshank mentions daughter Jane
(married John Todd)
1820
John
Todd Argyle, Washington, New
York
401110-10011 image 11 b 1775-1794
Jonathan
Todd Granville, Washington,
New York 1820 000010-10101 image
8
William Todd Greenwich, Washington, New York
1820 040002-40010
1830
Jane
Todd Argyle, Washington, New York
0-00102001 50-60 b 1770-1780 This looks wlike the widow of John.
John
Todd Argyle, Washington, New York 112201-300001 30-40
b 1790-1800 This looks like a son
John b 1793.
Jonathan
Todd Granville, Washington,
New York 110001-12001001
1840
Thomas
Todd Hampton, Washington, New York (wife Eunice b 1781 Connecticut)
John
Todd jr Argyle, Washington,
New York 10101-00001 John b 1810-1820
John
Todd Argyle, Washington, New York 0101001-112101 ? John b 1790-1800
Jonathan
Todd Granville, Washington,
New York 00110001 (1M
50-60)-0011000001 (1F 70-80)
1850
John Todd 57 b 1793
Isabel Todd 56
Elizabeth Todd 23 b 1827
Sarah M Todd 21
Margaret R Todd 19
Alnnrine Todd 17
Mary M Todd 13
George M Todd 16 b 1834 md Mary J 34 b 1836
Ella B Todd 8 b 1862
William
Todd 4 b 1864 md Levella b1873
Evelyn
b 1895
Grace
b 1905
James Todd 3 b 1867 md Susie b 1867
Willard
b 1906
Minnie b
1876
John Todd 35 b 1815 =>Hartford
1860 md Rebecca Todd 31 =>Waterloo
NE by 1910
Thomas Todd 8 b 1842 d 1916 md Ester +>Douglas Co Nebraska by 1877 d 1926
John
I Todd 36 b 1874 d 1975 md Bettie E Todd 34 b 1876 (2) Vera
Russell L Todd 14
b 1896 d Nov 16 1967 Omaha wid
Nancy
Dau:
Lonell S Todd 12 b 1898 md Ruth
Lucille b 1918
John Edward Todd
4 b 1906 d 1985 md carpenter Omaha
Charles R
Todd 4 b 1846 md Sarah A 29 b1851=>Hebron
1880_>Waterloo,
Douglas Nebrasks
Jennie B. Todd 11
b 1869
Willie Todd 9 b 1871 md Elizabeth 24 b1876=>1900 Waterloo, Douglas
Co
Ruth Todd 5 b 1895
Charles Ralph
Todd 2 b1898
(maybe Charles Todd b 1897 d Oct 1977 Murdock, Cass Co NE
Charles Ralph Todd
Michael Todd 1955-76-2005
Christopher
Todd 1980s
Andrew Omaha
Tom Murdock
Joe Lincoln
David -hastings
Steve kerany
Sue steve
Mary brian barta
Richard Lincoln
NE (DNA donor)
4 or 5
Lyle N 1902 d iowa
George Todd 6 b 1874 md 1894 Anna
Walter b10 MAR 1895 d29 JUL 1960 in
Douglas County, NE.
Menlo R. Todd b:
6 NOV 1916
Phylis A. Todd b:
ABT 1923 md William Rumsey
William Rumsey
Merna J. Todd b:
ABT 1928
Jesse
E 1899 d 1985
Dorothy
1923
Marjorie
1930 md Tilton
Earl K. Todd 16M b 1880 md Lulu
Merril
(m) 1903 Nebraska d 1962 Omaha widow Alice
d 1992 Omaha
Jennett E Todd 10
Michael McGeerk 15
David C Todd 29 b 1821
Mary Todd 28
Edward Todd 6 b 1844 no children
Leomia Todd 4 b 1846
Sylvanus Todd 0 b 1850 possibly in Brooklyn
1900 no children
Mary J Martin 20
Catharine McCartin 38
Barbary McCartin 40
Jennette McCartin 30
Agnes McCartin 26
Alonzo McCartin 10
William McDougle 23
Patrick McGeoch 21
Thomas Todd 31 1850:
Thomas M Todd 42 md Sarah b 1823 1860:
Manfred W Todd 5 b 1855 md Della Walsh
b 1860
Howard F Todd 11 b
1889 me Edith b 1881
Dorothy B b
1910
Lois b 1914
Fanny Todd 16 b
1884
Albert G Todd 1 b 1859
Horace Todd S. L. Gran ville, Washington, New York abt 1834 Vermont
1900 Waterloo douglas, neb Mrs. Esther E.
TODD, a pioneer of Douglas Co. and one of Waterloo's oldest residents d. at her
home 2 Apr 1926 aged 85 y 4 m; b. 2 Dec 1840 Argyle, NY. She m. Thomas D. TODD,
7 Feb 1866, and they came to Neb
in 1877 locating in Plattsmouth. In 1878 they moved to Waterloo. Mr. TODD d. 29 Apr 1916. Surviving
are 2 children: John of Waterloo and Mrs. F. G. KENNEDY of Valley; also 5
grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Services were held at the Presbyterian
Church in Waterloo
by Rev. E. ASTON and Rev. John PATTISON. Pallbearers were Ralph and Lyle TODD,
Lowell and Russell TODD, Walter and Jesse TODD. Burial was in Prospect Hill
Cemetery.
Frank Kennedy 53 b 1867 1920
Valley, Douglas Co NE
Mary Kennedy 49
Hellen E Kennedy 19 b 1901 md Ritzer?
Ethel E Kennedy 16
TODD, Russell L. (w/Nancy); 71; 18 Jul 1967 OWH morn p 26 @
Hillcrest Memorial Park*
EDWARD R. TODD, son of David C. and Mary C. (Russell) Todd,
was born in Argyle, Washington
county, N. Y. February 17, 1844. His parents were farmers and until he reached
his majority he lived on the farm, attending the schools of the vicinity and
later the commercial school at Poultney,
Vermont, from which he was
graduated. When a young man he learned the carpenter's trade which he followed
for many years. In 1872 he came to Saratoga
Springs and worked at his trade until 1881. In this
year he bought the wholesale and retail lumber business of A. W. Wright at the
intersection of Division and Walworth streets. Mr. Todd has since conducted
this business, employing several men and dealing in
all kinds of builders' materials and supplies. He has been recognized as one of
the leading business men of Saratoga
Springs, is a staunch Democrat in politics and has
been serving as street commissioner since the spring of 1897. He holds
membership in the Royal Arcanum.
In 1871 Mr. Todd married Clementine Langworthy Woodaid, and
their daughter is the wife of W. B. Milliman of Saratoga Springs. On both the paternal and
maternal sides Mr. Todd is of Puritan ancestry. His grandfather was John Todd,
whose father, also John, was a Revolutionary soldier.
***
11 DEc 12 1771 MInute
of council of New YOkr..John Todd charging Robert Cochran ..forceably
and with violence turned him and his brother Robert Todd out of possesion of the land they had settled in Lieutenant
Tarrants possession which by the confession of teh Newn Hampshire claimants themselves is distant from the
Hudson's river only fourteen miles and three quarters.
**
Washington Co Marriages:
1796 Mar 25: Robert Todd to Mrs. Unas
Sanders, widow of Peleg Cromwall
1799 Jan. 2 Simon Livingston of Canada to Sarah Todd Argyle
The Witch of Salem, New York
|
|
Salem, New York,
located north of Albany between the Hudson River
and the Vermont
border, is not known as the home of witches or witch trials. But a witch trial,
of a sort, was indeed held there in 1777, more than eighty years after the more
famous (or infamous) witch trials of Salem,
Massachusetts.
If not known for witches, the New York Salem did have controversies early in
its history. It was for good reason that Gallows Hill at the north village
limit was so named. Public executions before crowds of picnickers were held
there until 1808. Contentiousness was present even at its inception in 1764 by
a patent owned by a company of New England
settlers, or at least by 1765, when half of the 25,000 acres in the patent was
sold to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Clark, who led a congregation of Presbyterians who
were seeking a home in the new land. The lots owned by each half were mixed
together, often on alternate farms. This led both to a rapid settlement of the
town and to great rivalries. Residents couldn't even agree on the town's name. Salem only became the name of the town as a compromise in
1786 (so it wasn't called Salem
at the time of the witchcraft accusation). Until then, members of the
congregation of Presbyterians insisted on calling it New Perth; the New
Englanders used the name White Creek. It is either ironic or a sign that the
two sides were able finally to come together in harmony, that Salem, taken from
the Hebrew word, "Shalom" (Peace), was chosen as the town's name.
Rev.
Dr. Thomas Clark
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Clark played a crucial role in the witch investigation.
To set the stage, let me tell you a bit about him. He was a remarkable
individual who in several ways was unique among Presbyterian ministers who came
to America.
Born in Scotland in 1720, he
was educated at the University
of Glasgow, first earning
a degree as Doctor of Medicine in 1744 and then completing his ministerial
studies in 1748. In between degrees Clark
served a soldier who battled against Bonny Prince Charlie (1745-46). As a
minister, he was beloved and commanded great loyalty, but he was not adverse to controversy and, apparently, wielded great
divisive power. First of all, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Clark was a member of a
minority sect of a minority sect of Presbyterians. He was a Presbyterian, a
Seceder, and a Burgher. Seceders, also known as Associate Presbyterians, split
from the Church of Scotland on a church-and-state issue of patronage. Burghers
and Anti-Burghers then split on the issue of citizens swearing the Burgess oath
before holding public office, since it included a statement about upholding the
"true religion." Burghers saw no trouble with citizens swearing the
oath since nowhere was the "true religion" defined.
In the spring of 1748, shortly after he completed his ministerial studies, Clark was licensed by the Associate Burgher Presbytery of
Glasgow. By the summer of 1748 he accepted a call to Ballybay,
County Monaghain,
Northern Ireland,
where he he preached to about 200 members from
several congregations, not as an ordained preacher, but as a missionary. After
serving a probationary period, he was ordained and installed as the church's
pastor in 1751. Presbytery records indicate the name of the congregation as Ballybay New Erection. With the various splits among the
Presbyterians, there may have been more than a few competing churches and
congregations in the Ballybay area. Clark
was not associated with the official Irish Presbyterian Church in the Tullycorbet parish of Derryvalley,
but he simultaneously served congregations in Monaghain,
Ballybay, and Derryvalley.
Clark remained in Ballybay
for thirteen years. "Those thirteen years were years of trial and
persecution," claimed the Rev. W. A. Mackenzie a century later in a
biographical sermon about Clark. In January of
1754 Clark was jailed for refusing to take the
Oath of Abjuration. Since he was a Seceder and vocal critic of the established
Irish Presbyterian Church, the Synod of Ulster was likely behind Clark's trouble with the civil authorities. Since
Burghers were the group that did not object to civil servants taking oaths, it
might seem ironic that Clark was so adamant
against taking an oath himself. But his objection appears not to have been so
much with the oath, but in the manner of taking it, "kissing the
Bible." Once arrested, he stayed in jail ten weeks awaiting trial, only to
have the judge find the warrant defective. Clark
was released. Less than a month later, however, he was re-jailed after a new
writ was obtained. When or how he was released the second time is not recorded,
but he was in jail at least for several months. Clark
proudly proclaimed that while he was in prison he never missed a Sunday
service. Members of his congregations gathered outside the window of his prison
cell to hear him preach.
Beginnings in the New
World
It is not clear whether economic, civil, religious, or personal motives
weighed more heavily in the Rev. Dr. Clark's decision to emigrate to the New World. His arrest might better be called intimidation
than persecution, if one considers that during the "Killing Time" in
the previous century Presbyterian ministers were summarily executed for acts
similar to Clark's. If it was while he was in
prison that Clark began to think about coming to the New
World, nine years passed before he took any action. In 1762 Thomas
Clark's wife and a son died, and this tragedy may have led to his final
decision to emigrate. By 1763, Clark had made inquiries and received a letter
and a call from two congregations, one in Rhode Island
and the other near Albany, New York. He laid the papers before his
presbytery, and they appointed him to labor one year in America. When he announced that he
would be leaving, members of the New Erection congregation announced they would
follow. Clark seems then to have changed plans
and made new arrangements. In addition to serving as their minister, in the New
World, Clark would become their landlord. His
congregation left with Clark aboard the ship "John" from the port of Newry,
Ireland, on May 10, 1764,
and arrived in New York
on July 28. The ship's arrival was reported in the New York Gazette,
August 6, 1764:
'Last week in the Ship John, from Newry, Ireland, Luke Kiersted,
master, there arrived about three hundred passengers, a hundred and forty of
whom, together with the Rev. Clarke, embarked on the 30th ult., with their
stores, farming and manufacturing utensils, in two sloops, for Albany, from
whence they are to proceed to the lands near Lake George, which were lately
surveyed for their accommodation, as their principal view is to carry on the
linen and hempen manufacture to which they were all brought up.'
As the newspaper account indicated, they traveled up the Hudson. Their first settlement was in Stillwater, just north of Albany. While in Stillwater
or earlier while the congregation was still in New York City, yet another controversy broke
out, and the disharmonious Presbyterians split up again. The New York Gazette
reports that although 300 arrived on the John, only 140 embarked with Clark for
Albany, and in
late 1767, 140 men, women, and children established themselves in New Perth.
The 160 who did not travel with Clark left for Abbeville County, South Carolina,
eventually forming three churches: Little Run, Long Cane, and Cedar Creek. The
emigration was the first instance of an entire Presbyterian congregation making
the journey to the New World as a unit.
Although there were a few other en masse migrations later on, the Ballybay exodus was the only one in which a church in its
entirety, pastor, ruling elders, and communicants successful did so with no
break in its worship services. It was not like the Rev. Dr. Clark to miss a
Sunday service. In what was an important distinction for him, he refused to be
formally installed as the pastor of the Salem, New York congregation on the
grounds that he had already been installed as the church's pastor in 1751 at Ballibay, and that the relationship had not been severed,
but was ongoing. As another first, when Clark established his church in what is
now Salem, New York,
he became the only Burgher minister in America.
In the spring of 1765, seeking a permanent home for his congregation, Clark
bought half of a 25,000-acre tract of land in what is now Salem, New York.
This patent was divided up into 308 lots, plus a large pine lot reserved for
the common benefit and three lots set apart for the use of the preacher and a
schoolmaster. They traveled up the Hudson and
settled first in Stillwater, just north of Albany, where they lived
for two years under primitive conditions while engaging in desperately hard
work to clear land in the new frontier. They built houses, but first they
constructed a church.
One sign that Clark's congregation could be argumentative and disharmonious
(as many Presbyterians throughout America
were depicted by their fellow colonists) was that the congregation split in two
before the new settlement was completed, and almost a hundred households moved
to Abbeville County, South Carolina. Five years later, the
congregation was greatly enhanced by five boatloads of Covenanter Presbyterians
who were organized by Reverend Willam Martin to leave their homes in Kellswater in central county
Antrim to settle in Abbeville County.
The relationship between Clark and Martin while they were in Ireland is unclear
to me, but since both were connected to the same church in South Carolina, and
since both Clark and Martin brought hundreds of congregants with them to
America, they may have had a connection.
Clark's congregational emigration has
become known as the "Cahans Exodus." That
seems odd to me since it was only after Clark
departed that the church where the congregation worshipped became known as Cahans. And if it is true that the entire congregation
emigrated with him, a Cahans congregation would have
been unrelated to Clark. The other possibility
is that the church did not migration in its entirety, but first had yet another
schism.
A Few Comparisons
Salem, New York,
was not Salem, Massachusetts; 1775 was not 1692; and the
Rev. Dr. Thomas Clark was not Cotton Mather. But some similarities exist. Both
Salems, in their time, stood at the edge of the frontier, where they lived in
certain fear of "Indian savages." In addition
Salem, New
York, suffered the additional fears of a war on its
doorstep. Both communities were young and still striving to define their town,
religiously and politically. Both communities were experiencing an unusual
amount of tension and social turmoil. They ranged from petty squabbles among
neighbors to more hostile activities. The church was intricately involved in
much more than the religious life of both communities -- Salem, Massachusetts,
for reasons of theocracy; Salem, New York, because so many of the the church members had immigrated as a single unit and were
tenants of the preacher. Theologically, the Presbyterians, like the Puritans,
were Calvinists, and their religious observances were austere. Among
Presbyterians, Seceders were known for doctrinal rigidity and conservative
theology. The multiple schisms is one indication that Clark's congregation could be uncompromising. Another is
that many Presbyterians from outside Clark's original congregation after
joining the Clark congregation, found the Seceders "too exclusive"
and so within two years of the first Presbyterian church's founding organized
their own church, affiliating themselves with the main body of Presbyterians in
America (The New England Presbyterians' first house of worship, however, was
not built until 1774.). After all those negative things said about them, I
should conclude these comparisons by saying that the Presbyterians were not
known for witch-hunting.
Margaret Tilford and George Telford
The accused witch of Salem, New
York, was a member of Clark's
congregation named Margaret Tilford. She and her husband George were not among
the original members of Clark's congregation,
so to a certain extent they might have been viewed as outsiders. There are some
unanswerable questions about her name, both first and last. Although her name
was Margaret, in Robert Blake's account of the witch accusation, he calls her Betty.
Perhaps she was known as Betty; or perhaps Robert Blake, telling the story
seventy years later, confused the names of the mother and her daughter,
Elizabeth or, as is common in our family, mis-spoke the one thinking the other.
To the befuddlement of genealogists, their surname is spelled both "Telford" and "Tilford" in various
documents, and both Tilfords and Telfords
are found among their descendants. Whether or not it is an indication of his
literacy, George made a mark rather than signing his name when he made out his
will late in his life. What seems quite unique to me, even as they lie
side-by-side in Salem's Revolutionary Cemetery, "Telford" is engraved on the husband's gravestone,
but "Tilford" is engraved on the wife's.
The Telfords joined the congregation about seven
years after its founding. Since they chose Clark's congregation over the "New England" Presbyterian church, there is a strong possibilty that they were Seceders before joining the
church. Margaret Tilford was born in 1725. Her husband, George, was three years
younger. Both were born in the Scottish border region. In late May of 1772,
with their young family of five children, they emigrated from the rural parish
of Castletown, in Liddesdale (the valley around Liddle
Water) in the shire of Roxburgh. They departed with neighboring families, the
Bells and Blakes. Every article they wished to take with them had to be carried
or, perhaps, put on horseback. They must have traveled along river beds or
rough pathways, because nothing fit to be called a road then existed in that
part of Scotland.
It was thirty or more years after the Telfords
emigrated that the first person (Sir Walter Scott) took a wheeled vehicle into
any part of Liddesdale. What affection the families
had for the land they were leaving is not recorded. The land could be described
either as one of stark beauty or bleak desolation, romantic or melancholic. The
land is tangled with high moors, craggy hills, and foreboding hollows, and none
of it good for any type of agriculture beyond grazing sheep and cattle. There
may be more trees there now than there were in the 18th century, and the land
even then was filled with ruined castles and gaunt fortifications wasted by
centuries of border clashes, barbarous feuds, and the plundering by the reivers during previous centuries.
It is likely that the families were recruited by an agent for Clark to
settle in the Salem
valley. When a large part of his congregation removed themselves to South Carolina, the Rev.
Dr. Thomas Clark needed additional tenants for his part of the patent. It is
only speculation when or how the Telfords would have
been recruited, but after they arrived at the port of New York City with their Liddesdale neighbors, the Blakes and Bells, the families
immediately traveled up the Hudson. They stopped for a few days rest at a few
places, once to bury a neighbor's wife and later to bury an infant son of the Telfords, before arriving in August in what is now Salem. On arrival the Telfords and some of the Blakes moved into an empty house
not far from Fitch's Point. In that same year, 1772, both George and Margaret
were listed on the roll of Clark's church. The
Telfords remained members of the church, but at some point moved into, or built, a house near East Greenwich,
about four miles southwest of Salem (which, in
the records of the time, was in the town of Cambridge,
Albany County).
George Telford was extremely dutiful in following his faith and, as not
unusual for a Presbyterian, a strict Sabbatarian. For example, one Saturday,
late in the day, he took his grain to the mill to be ground. The miller told
him there would be a long wait and suggested he leave it to pick up later.
George left his grain and went home. The next day, being the Sabbath, George
drove his family in his wagon and passed the mill to church. While George was
at church, the miller must have recognized the wagon and decided to do George a
favor by placing the ground grist into the Telford
wagon. George didn't discover it until he was home. Scrupulous in observing the
Sabbath day, George took the grist back to the miller the first thing Monday
morning. Knowing that hauling the grist home, even if he had done it
unknowingly, was a violation of the fourth commandment, George Telford wanted
no part of the Sabbath-violating grist.
On another occasion, George Telford observed a resident of the town come out
of his house on a Sunday, take up an ax, split a log in two pieces, and return
with one piece of the log to the house. George made the observation while on
his way to church. He became so incensed that the following Monday he swore a
warrant against the man before the local magistrate for desecration of the
Sabbath. The magistrate dismissed the case.
The Revolutionary
War
What kinds of ill-will was created by George's action is not recorded, but
once the Revolutionary War broke out, tensions in the community, apparently,
ran even higher. The settlements around present-day Salem
lay near the path of Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne's march from Canada to Saratoga,
and in the summer of 1777, the area was the scene of a war atrocity. An
Iroquois scouting party led by a chief called Le Loup (the wolf) was allied to
Burgoyne. After claiming some injury, Le Loup vowed revenge on the town. In
Argyle, the Allen family was attacked in their home, and seven people,
including women, children, and slaves, were killed. In another incident, near Fort Edward,
Jane McCrea was attacked and killed. As word of the massacres spread, residents
fled for their lives. Many went to the only safe place in the area --
Burgoyne's camp in Fort
Edward. Unfortunately,
many of those who fled to the stronghold of the British were branded afterward
as traitors or loyalists. The Telfords and Blakes
were among those who sought shelter at Fort Edward,
and they had to pay a price for seeking shelter. The following year, on April
17, 1778, George Telford, William Blake, and two other men were summoned before
the Albany County Board of Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating
Conspiracies "for going to the Enemy." The other family that had had
traveled with the Telfords and Blakes, the Bells,
proved themselves to be loyalists by moving to Canada. Fortunately for the Telfords and Blakes, an officer from the militia who knew them,
Cap't John McKellop, was willing to provide
information on behalf of the accused. They each had to post a hundred pound bond, and the captain paid their bail of
another hundred pound. For several reasons, including "that their only
inducement to go was to save their Families from being Scalped by the
Indians," they were permitted to return home, but not before "their
entering into Recognizance with security for their future good behavior as good
and faithful Subjects and monthly appearance before any one of the
Commissioners." Again on February 16, 1781,
George Telford was ordered to appear before the board and post a hundred pound
bond for his good behavior, even though in the intervening years he had served
in the New York Militia as a private in Cap't
Cornelius Doty's company of Col. Lewis Van Woert's Sixteenth Regiment of Albany
County Militia. There is no history of the regiment, but it served primarily as
frontier guards. A letter of
grievance from Van Woert to New York Governor George Clinton indicates that
the regiment was poorly armed and unable to acquire ammuntion.
Witchcraft hysteria
An accusation that they were Tories was only one of the Telfords'
troubles in the memorable year of 1777. "It was the same year (I think) in
which Burgoyne's invasion took place, that a most foolish and deplorable
superstition took place," reported Salem
native and eyewitness, Robert Blake, in November 5, 1847. If he remembered
correctly, then it was in 1777, while the horrors of war were surrounding them,
that the residents of Salem
suffered their own witchcraft hysteria.
It began when Archy Livingston's cows began producing cream that couldn't be
churned into butter. Archy Livingston was a
neighbor of the Telfords, both their friend and
fellow church member. Like the Telfords, Livingston was not an original member of the church.
Archy, bemused by his cows, went to see a peculiar individual named Joel
Dibble. Dibble also lived nearby; in fact he had moved
into an abandoned house that had once been inhabited as temporary shelter by
the Telfords. Dibble had been a veteran of the old
French War, but was known by most as a worthless Yankee. He was not a member of
Clark's congregation. Among other nefarious
activities, Dibble told people's fortunes by cutting cards. When Archy
Livingston asked for his help, Dibble shuffled the cards. Archy cut them.
Dibble pondered the cards and then told Archy that the milk or the cows were
bewitched. And Dibble then proceeded to tell Archy who the witch was -- a
short, thick, black-haired woman who had a red-haired daughter.
Margaret Tilford accused
This description could only apply to one woman, Margaret Tilford. Archy
accepted the word of the fortune-teller and announced to the community that his
neighbor was a witch. As the word spread, the whole community, already
terrorized by the war, was thrown into further ferment. Livingston's
father-in-law supported the Telfords and censured
Archy for going to a "malevolent designing scoundrel." However,
others began to shun the Telfords. Some parents
forbade their children to associate with the Telford
children. The local magistrate refused to get involved. Or perhaps he was not
asked -- the Presbyterians might have thought that would have violated the
separation of church and state. Because both families were members of Dr.
Clark's church, they agreed that the church was the proper authority to decide
the matter.
Although it was not a trial, a formal investigation was instituted by Clark. Witnesses were called. Several church members
testified that Margaret Tilford was an upstanding Christian woman and her moral
character was exemplary. Clark then agreed to
examine Joel Dibble. He did so with some reluctance, since Dibble was not a
church member. During the examination, Dibble said he had learned his art in
French Canada, and had paid good money for his lessons. He defended the art of
cutting of cards on the grounds that, like any other art or trade, it had
rules. He said he wasn't naming any names. He just followed the rules of the
cards and, through them, learned indications. With that, Clark
cut off the examination, saying there was "nothing tangible here for the
church to take hold of." In Robert Blake's account, he indicates simply
that "the matter was still before the Church and undecided when Dr. Clark
moved away."
What Blake omitted was the detail that the congregation had a vote whether
or not to retain the Rev. Dr. Clark as its minister. There is no indication
that the vote was at all related to the witch trial, but a new spirit of
divisiveness could easily have sprung or been enhanced by the controversy.
Although Clark survived the vote by a very slim majority, perhaps only a single
vote, he realized his tenure in Salem
was insecure, and in 1782 he requested to be released from his pastoral charge.
He then visited his former congregants in South Carolina and remained there for about
a year. Clark had kept in touch with his
former congregants, having visting them by order of
the Presbytery in 1779, and perhaps once before in 1771. Although he is listed
in the church records as preaching at the congregations of Long Cane, Little
Run, and Cedar Springs (formerly Cedar Creek), he was not formally called as
their pastor. Sometime during the summer of 1783, he left South Carolina and began serving as a
missionary for the newly established Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church,
largely traveling in the northern states. His peregrinations ended in 1789,
when he accepted a petition of the united congregations of Little Run, Long
Cane, and Cedar Creek, to return as their paster. He accepted the call, once
again refusing to be formally installed most likely on the grounds that he was
simply continuing an uninterrupted church ministry begun in Ireland forty years before. The
Rev. Dr. Clark preached his last sermon on Christmas Day, 1791, at the Long
Cane Meeting House. He died the following day.
The matter dropped
Unfortunately, the Rev. Dr. Clark never made an official ruling or
declaration in regard to Margaret Tilford, so, to use a modern phrase, the
matter had no closure. After the war's end, in 1782, said Robert Blake,
"the subject was prudently dropped." Perhaps there was nothing Clark or his successor could have done to improve the
situation for the Telfords. Neither superstitious
notions nor hard feelings easily disappear. Even after "the excitement
died away," Margaret continued to suffer from having been accused of being
a witch. Many neighbors made life difficult for the family. The young Telford folks were shunned from many parties and
merry-makings. When George and Margaret 's son John became engaged to Sarah
Rowan, many of her friends and relatives opposed the match. George and
Margaret, however, were hearty souls and endured all the offensives and
humiliation, thus proving even further the depth of their faith and strength of
their character. They lived to an old age in or near Salem. Although they may have moved to Hebron and Argyle, it
could not have been to flee the unpleasant situation, since both are nearby,
not far enough away to escape rumors and gossip. George and Margaret are buried
in the "Old Cemetery"
in Salem, so
they must have remained members in good standing of the church that the Rev.
Dr. Clark founded. Margaret died on September 15, 1807 in her 76th year. George
outlived her; he died on July 23 (or 25), 1813, in his 84th year.
Acknowledgments
I first learned about the witch of Salem,
NY, from Robert Cree Duncan. He
credits Ernest H. Tilford for uncovering the story and communicating the
details of it to him sometime in the early 1960s. Ernest Tilford praises Asa
Fitch in a letter to the New York Historical Association's journal for showing
"1) from what part of Scotland and when my father's ancestors came, 2) who
comprised the family and with what neighbors they migrated, 3) that they first
settled in Fitch's Point, 4) that in 1777 the wife of the emigrant was accused
of witchcraft and 5) the strict sabbatarianism of
these Scottish people." Fitch's source, in 1847, was Robert Blake, then
aged 85 years old. Blake had come over with his family and the Telfords when he and one of the Telford
boys, John, were 10 years old. He would have been about 15 years old when the
witch accusation was made. I have only seen excerpts of Blake's account as they
were transcribed in Bob Duncan's "The Telford Family" chapter in
Joseph R. Henderson and Robert Cree Duncan's privately printed Henderson
Family History, 1986. Blake's account was originally recorded in Asa Fitch
in 1847 as part of his historical and genealogical masterwork "Notes for a
History of Washington County, New York." The account was published in an
article in volume 73 of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record
(1942). Bob Duncan's transcription has been corroborated by the Fitch Gazetteer of
Washington County, New York by Kenneth A. Perry (1999), which summarizes
the story that originally appeared in article 59 of Fitch's unfinished seven
volume manuscript history.
An earlier version of this story also appeared in August 21 and 28, 1998,
issues of The Salem Press. Thanks to Al Cormier, Salem Town Historian, for
showing an interest in the tale and making the arrangements for having it
published in the paper. Ernest H. Tilford saw the article in the paper and sent
a letter to the
editor concerning it. The letter was published September 17, 1998, and I
have reproduced on this Web site with permission of the author, who was given
permission by the Salem Press. Since my essay appeared in the Salem
Press, I have had exchanged several letters with my new-found
many-times-removed cousin. My thanks to him for his suggestions and criticism.
They have been invaluable in helping me improve upon the story.
Photograph of the Salem
Revolutionary Cemetery,
at the top of this page, is used by permission of Al Cormier, Salem Town
Historian.
Family Search, a
genealogical web site maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, provides family and pedigreee
information for both George and Margaret Telford.
I visited the Revolutionary
Cemetery in Salem, New York, on October 11, 1998, and confirmed
with my own eyes that the grave markers of husband and wife have different
spellings of their last name. An online list of those buried in the
cemeteries in the Salem
area is now available. Instead of having vertical grave markers like those
adorning the other graves in the old cemetery, both George and Margaret's
graves are covered by large horizontal grave slabs, which I have been told by
an expert in gravestone architecture, is quite rare for that time and place.
More mysteries! Because they are horizontal, unfortunately, some of the writing
is now worn away. But the Telford and Tilford
spellings can still be seen. The historical society, which now has a
restoration project underway and welcomes contributions, has placed a guide to
all the cemetery listings at the entrance to the cemetery. The guide indicates
the original inscriptions:
George Telford, d. July 23, 1813, in
85 y.
Margaret Tilford, w of George
Tilford, d. Sept 15, 1807, in 76 y.
Works Consulted
Boyer, Paul, and Stephen
Nissenbaum. Salem
Possessed: the Social Origins of Witchcraft . Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1974.
Fitch, Asa. Early History of the
Town of Salem From Its First Settlement in 1761 to the Close of the
Revolutionary War. Salem, New
York: Salem
Press, 1927.
Davis, Nora Marshall. An
Historical Sketch of the Long Cane Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Greenwood, SC:
Greenwood Index-Journal Company, 1941.
Fitch, Asa. "Notes for a
History of Washington County,
New York." New York Genealogical and
Biographical Register (1847).
Fitch, Asa. Their Own Voices;
Oral Accounts of Early Settlers in Washington
County, New
York. Edited
by Winston Adler. Interlaken,
N.Y.: 1983.
Ford, Henry Jones. The
Scotch-Irish in America.
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1915.
Fraser, George MacDonald. The
Steel Bonnets. New York:
Knopf, 1972.
French, J. H. Gazetteer of the
State of New York.
Syracuse: R. P.
Smith, 1860.
Hanna, Charles Augustus. The
Scotch-Irish. New York:
Putnam, 1902.
Jamison, Wallace N. The United
Presbyterian Story: a Centennial Study, 1858-1958. Pittsburgh:
Geneva Press,
1958.
Johnson, Crisfield. History of Washington County, New
York. Philadelphia:
Everts & Ensign, 1878.
Leyburn, James G. The
Scotch-Irish: A Social History.Chapel
Hill: UNC Press, 1962.
Moscrip, Amos D. Old Cambridge
District. Fort Edward, NY:
Washington
Country Historical Society, 1969
McGough, Hugh. Presbyterian Emigrations from Ulster
to South Carolina; the Cahans Exodus from Ballybay to Abbeville in 1764
(http://www.magoo.com/hugh/cahans.html) Updated April 20, 2003.
Nesbitt, David. Full Circle: a Story of Ballybay Presbyterians.
Ballybay, Co. Monaghan,
Ireland : Cahans Publications, 1999.
Short summary available at The Cahans
Project.
Porter, H. Leonard. Destiny of
the Scotch-Irish: an Account of a Migration from Ballybay,
Ireland to Washington County, New York, Abbeville District, South Carolina,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Preble County, Ohio, Randolph County, Illinois, and
the Central Illinois Prairie, 1720-1853. Winter Haven, Florida:
Porter, 1985.
Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story:
Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Tilford, Ernest H. "From
Scottish Borders to New York's
Frontier, 1772: The Bells, Blakes, and Telfords."
Unpublished essay, 1988.
Tilford, Ernest H. "Letter to
the Editor." New York
History 71 (April 1973): 262.
Tilford, Ernest H. "The 'Witch,'
Covenanters, and Dr. Thomas Clark: Some Observations about Salem's Early
History and Background." The Salem
Press, 17 September 1998, p. 5.
Writers' Program of the Work
Projects Administration in the State of New
York. New York : a Guide to the Empire State.
New York: Oxford University
Press, 1940.
This page maintained by: John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu),
Ithaca College.
First created for the Web: December 1996
Last modified: July 29, 2008
Author: John R. Henderson (whose great-grandmother's great-grandmother was
Margaret Tilford)
URL: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/witch.html
