Born: May 25, 1898
Died: December 28, 1924
Married: Nora Andrew on November 7, 1923
Samuel D. Telford, aka "Sammie," was a tuberculosis patient who cured twice at Ray Brook State Hospital. He first arrived at Ray Brook on Valentine's Day, 1921. He regained his health and returned home in May of that year. He was in good health for two years, during which he married Nora Andrew. In August of 1924, he returned to Ray Brook after a cough turned out to be a relapse. He died at a sister's home on December 28, 1924. He and Nora had been married just a year.
A letter from Dr. Harry Bray to Telford about his stay at the hospital was found in the Telford Farmhouse in North Hoosick, NY in 2014. The letter had been in the house since it was received by Telford and is now part of the Historic Saranac Lake Collection.
Telford's illness was described in the memoir of his niece, Julia Niles Rea, titled 'My Life as I Remember:'
"In the fall, Nora Andrew Telford (Mrs. Samuel D. Telford) at District 13, her husband was my mother's brother, who had brought the May Nichols farm to start their married life together, had been ill all summer, went to the Adirondacks for his lung trouble. Nora boarded at our home but he didn't gain. He was very homesick even though different family members and friends visited him. He came to our home and mother tried to nurse him back to health. Doctors said our home had a wonderful elevation but he slipped away and [his] funeral was at our home on January 1st."
Nora Andrew Telford remarried, and her grandson Peter received diaries kept by Sammie after she died. Peter wrote a book based on the diaries entitled "Chicken Coop Pinky Swear" in 2023.
