The family papers primarily include letters written and received by Annie E. Ruff, husband Charles F. Ruff, and several family members; some business and political correspondence and also land documents that belonged to John Dougherty; and two photographs. The papers are arranged chronologically. The collection dates from 1836 to circa 1890, with the bulk of the items dating from 1842 to 1850. There are several gaps in the correspondence: July 1851-1852, 1855, 1857-1864, 1867-1880, 1882-1885, and 1889.

The collection is comprised mostly of letters, many of which were written by Annie E. and Charles (Charlie) F. Ruff from their various residences and military posts, including Fort Vancouver, Fort Sanford, Oregon City, New Orleans, Mobile, Fort Kearny, Fort Laramie, and Jefferson Barracks. Annie often lived in Philadelphia when she did not accompany Charlie to his posts. The Ruffs resided in Philadelphia permanently after Charlie’s retirement from the military. Annie mostly wrote to her mother, while Charlie wrote primarily to her father. Annie’s letters generally included information about the children, their family’s living conditions, Charlie’s assignments, people she encountered such as officers and their families, and general discussion of her younger brothers and friends from Liberty. There are no letters written by Annie between May 1843 and November 1846, which coincides with the time that the Ruffs resided in Liberty when Charlie practiced law.

Charles Ruff’s letters to Major Dougherty often discussed his duties, the state of the troops, some business and financial affairs, and plans for the future. He asked Major Dougherty to write letters of recommendation on his behalf numerous times. In 1846, Ruff filed a lawsuit to claim the estate of Peter Hertzog on behalf of the husbands of Mr. Hertzog’s nieces, Mary Dougherty and her three younger sisters (f.5-6). The first letter in the collection is written by Ruff to Mary Dougherty in which he explained his plans to travel to Liberty and marry Annie (f.1). In 1843, he wrote another letter to his mother-in-law informing her that Annie gave birth to their first child, a baby boy who did not survive, at Fort Sanford (f.2).

The Ruffs’ letters from May 1849 to December 1850 describe their journey to and life in Oregon (f.8-11). Annie and Charlie both wrote from Laramie, presumably due to the presence of a mail express, about conditions on the trail, cholera and other ailments encountered on the journey, and the arrest of Major Crittenden for drunkenness. They wrote many letters once they reached their destination, realizing that it took almost six months to receive mail on the Pacific coast. The Ruff family resided in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona from approximately 1856 to 1860. However, there are no letters written by the Ruffs from these posts.

There are several letters received by Mary Dougherty in the papers. One of her regular correspondents was her mother, Caroline Hertzog. There is also one letter written by Mrs. Hertzog to Annie (f.7). Other family members writing to Mary included her sister, Rachel Cooke; her brother-in-law, William N. Wickliffe; nephew William Collins; and Annie’s sister-in-law, Margaret Gibson.

There are also many letters written to Annie’s father, Major John Dougherty, by people other than the Ruffs, including various business associates concerning financial accounts, the education of his sons, and politics. James S. Rollins wrote several letters to Major Dougherty from 1842 to 1844 concerning Lewis Dougherty’s education in Columbia, Missouri, and the state of Whig politics in Missouri and nationally. On March 8, 1844, an unidentified correspondent in St. Louis discussed Clay supporters and the accident aboard the USS Princeton which killed Secretary of State Upshar and others. On October 29, 1849, Thomas Swords wrote from Washington D.C. about John C. Fremont’s court martial.

There are file copies of two letters written by John Dougherty. On August 25, 1853, Dougherty wrote to Robert Campbell concerning goods and troops at Fort Kearney. On July 23, 1857, he wrote to Lewis Ramage concerning a bond and the deed for the one-third share of the Iatan tract that the remaining partners obtained after the death of J.G. Shultz. After the 1836 Platte Purchase, Dougherty, Thomas Swords, and J.G. Shultz laid out the town of Iatan, Missouri, in 1841. There are several accounts for the Iatan tract and deeds dating from 1854 to 1856 (f.13).

Most of the land deeds date from 1838 to 1843 and were issued to John Dougherty by the General Land Office for property in Clay County, Missouri. A later deed dated 1866 transfers property from the Ruffs to O’Fallon Dougherty (f.12). The earliest document in the collection is a slave bill of sale for a man named Bob.

There are two photographs in the collection. The first is a portrait of Annie E. Ruff taken circa 1890. The subject of the second photograph is a painting of a beloved horse owned by Major John Dougherty, Leon. A biography of Leon, possibly written by O’Fallon Dougherty, accompanies the photograph. Leon traveled to Oregon with the Ruffs and returned to Liberty when they left the west coast. He is mentioned in two letters written buy the Ruffs: June 24, 1849 (f.8) and December 6, 1849 (f.9).

NOTE: The page numbers following the descriptions of select letters identify those which are published in Annie’s Story: The Extraordinary Life of Annie Dougherty Ruff by Mark William Kelly (2015), with the source noted as “Joan Worrall private collection.”