RESOURCES

"More than 9 million records can be accessed through Missouri Digital Heritage, including the collections of the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library and other institutions from across the state." 

WEBSITE: https://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/

"Most African Americans in Missouri were brought from other places as enslaved people, engaged to do agricultural work. A relatively few were free. Primary crops cultivated @ Clay County were hemp & tobacco." 

WEBSITE: libertylegacymemorial.org 

Mission is "To procure, preserve, restore, maintain, study, and promote manuscripts, instruments, records, charters, evidence, and documents of a public or private nature which may have statistical, legal or historical significance to Clay County, Missouri, its government or residents, or such documents as might be desirable to the association and to encourage public interest therein." 

WEBSITE: ClayCountyArchives.org

"Memorial honors the lives and legacy of more than 750 African Americans buried in segregated, mostly unmarked graves in Liberty, Missouri."

WEBSITE: libertylegacymemorial.org 

"Non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and education the public about the history and culture of an area in Missouri historically known as 'Little Dixie'. Their mission includes preservation of extant slave housing and the history of African American people who once inhabited these spaces."

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064661920901

Study of agriculture and rural life in Missouri prior to the Civil War by R. Douglas Hurt (University of Missouri Press, 1992)

Daughter of Major John Dougherty. "... one of very few individuals... to undertake a traverse of the expansive American frontier .... As the wife of captain Charles Frederick Ruff" by Mark William Kelly (Sam Clark Publishing Company, 2015)

"Historical account that delves into the life of John Dougherty, an explorer, fur trader, and Indian agent during the early 19th century in the American West" by Mark William Kelly (Sam Clark Publishing Company, 2013) 

FAMILY PAPERS: John Dougherty

"Includes numerous bills of sale of slaves, correspondence and reports regarding Indian affairs"

WEBSITE:  John Dougherty Papers, 1823-1917 | Missouri Historical Society (mohistory.org) 

FAMILY PAPERS: Charles Ruff & Annie Dougherty/Ruff

"Includes letters written/received by Annie E. Ruff, her husband Charles F. Ruff, and other family members. Also contains business and political correspondence, land documents belonging to John Dougherty."

WEBSITE:   Charles F. Ruff Papers, 1846-1859 | Missouri Historical Society (mohistory.org) 

USCT Research

 
"We are actively locating, digitizing, and creating a publicly accessible repository for the pension files of Missouri USCT servicemen in the seven counties known as Missouri's "Little Dixie": Boone, Calloway, Chariton, Clay, Lafayette, Howard, and Saline."

WEBSITE: saluspopuli.org