October Local History Book Club

October 8, 2025, Meeting of WCHS Local History Book Club

Washington County Historical Society’s Local History Book Club will meet from 12:30 to 1:30 PM on Wednesday,
October 8, at Bancroft Public Library, 181 Main Street, Salem. Discussion topic is Margaret Tilford, Accused Witch of
Salem. The Tilford’s had followed Presbyterian minister Rev. Thomas Clark from Scotland to the Salem area where he
had purchased 12,000 acres for his congregation. The accusation made against Margaret in 1777 was that she prevented
her neighbor’s cows from giving cream that could be churned into butter. She was brought to trial by the local Scotch
Presbyterian church but the trial was interrupted by Burgoyne’s march to Saratoga.

Margaret and her husband are buried in Salem Revolutionary Cemetery. Attendees can prepare by viewing a You Tube
presentation titled Salem Voices from the Grave – Margaret Tilford and by reading about the history of witchcraft in
America. A lengthy article also appears under her name on findagrave.com.

Future sessions of the club will feature books about the larger Adirondack area as well as works by local authors.
Upcoming topics include; Charles Evans Hughes, NY governor; Phillip Embury’s establishment of the second Methodist
Church in America in White Creek; and slavery in Washington County. For additional information, email Connie Harris
Farrington at connieandlee@roadrunner.com.