LANCASTER "GRAEFF/GRAFF" IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Being a patriot did not always involve going into battle - it also involved giving supplies, money, medical help, and general support to the Colonial troops or individual soldiers.  Many Mennonite and Amish non-combatants can fulfill the description of patriot because they helped in other ways besides actually killing the enemy.  If I ever get around to gathering together the documentation to file for "supplemental" patriots for my DAR lines I am currently aware of 6 - 8 "patriots" within my own family line - most were Mennonite and refused to actually kill other human beings but they valued their personal and religious freedom and did contribute to the cause.

There is now a wonderful book available "Revoluntionary Patroits of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 1775-1783" by Henry C. Peden, Jr. published in 1998 by Family Line Publications.

On pages 105-106 are listed these Grof/Graff/Graeff men with brief descriptions of their service.  I have chosen to simply list the names.

Graeff, Frederick - soldier
Graeff, Jacob - soldier
Graeff, Samuel
Graff, Andrew - soldier
Graff, G. - boarded soldiers
Graff, Garret - soldier
Graff, George Michael -
Graff, Jacob - soldier
Graff, Jacob Sr -
Graff, John -
Graff, John -
Graff, John - soldier
Graff, John - soldier
Graff, Mathew - soldier
Graff, Matthias -
Graff, Samuel -
Graff, Sebastian - soldier
Graft, Phillip - soldier
Groff, Peter -


The above Sebastian Groff is probably the same man who was elected State Senator in 1790.  This same man in 1787 was also a delegate to the convention to ratify the Federal constitution and was also a delegate in 1789 to amend the constitution of Pennsylvania (Source: A Biographical History of Lancaster County: Being a History of Early Settlers..... by Alex Harris 1872, reprinted in 1989.

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