Information Sheet

 

 

R         Raff family.

124                  Papers, 1852-1923.

                                    One folder.

 

 

 

This collection consists of correspondence and miscellaneous papers of the Raff fam­ily of Crawford County, Missouri.  Included are letters by George Raff of Greenock, Scotland, 1865-1873, and the letters of Archie Raff from Camp Funston, Kansas, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 1917-1918.

 

The earliest letters in this collection are those of George Raff, an accountant in Greenock, Scotland, to his nephew, Sandy, who probably lived at Potsdam in St. Lawrence County, New York.  The letters are filled mostly with family news, but one dated 6 March 1865 in­cludes Raff’s views on the American Civil War, slavery, and emancipation.  He claimed to have been sympa­thetic toward the southern states initially, but turned more toward the northern states when emanci­pa­tion became a Federal policy.  However, his shift in attitude may not have been alto­gether altru­is­tic, for he also noted that he had two sons serving in the Federal forces.

 

The second group of letters includes the First World War letters of Archie Raff.  Ar­chie be­gan his military service in September 1917 with a train ride from his hometown of Cuba, Mis­souri, to Camp Funston, Kansas.  Originally assigned to the Field Artillery, he was soon trans­ferred to the 110th Motor Supply Train and was sent to its camp at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  His unit had just begun training when it was quarantined due to an outbreak of measles.  Raff contracted the disease, and spent the remainder of his brief military career in the quarantine camp and the base hospital.  He was given a medical discharge in February 1918.

 

 

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