Records from Rawlins County

Abstract: The only materials held or owned by the Kansas State Archives from Rawlins County consist of school district financial records and related materials from one of the county's superintendents of public instruction, O.V. Henderson.

Administrative History: Rawlins County in western Kansas, along the Nebraska border, was established in 1873. It was named for John A. Rawlins, General Ulysses S. Grant's chief of staff and closest friend during the Civil War. He died a few months after accepting the position of Secretary of War in Grant's first presidential administration, in 1869.

The county seat is Atwood for Rawlins County. Townships include Achilles, Atwood, Center, Driftwood, Herl, Jefferson, Ludell, Mirage, Rocewood, and Union.

[Kansas State Historical Society, "Kansas Counties -- Rawlins County, Kansas," http://www.kshs.org/genealogists/places/counties.php?county=RA (accessed 6 July 2009).]