“Naffs Va Sept 20th 1861 Paid 5” all in manuscript from scarce small town on fresh commercially-made envelope to Rev. Isaac A. Naff, Dublin, Va. Extremely Fine, Ex Harrison. $165.

Reverend Isaac Newton Naff (1817 – 1900) was born into a large German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) family but became a Presbyterian. He was an 1849 graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City.  By 1776, several families named Näff or Naff had immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany. Brothers Jacob and Rudolph Naff arrived in Philadelphia in 1749 on the Priscilla and settled at Germantown, Pa. Sebastian Naff came from the Swiss-German border. He was followed by his brother, Jacob, who arrived in Philadelphia on the Dragon, also in 1749. In 1782, Jacob settled in Franklin County, Va., and was joined there in 1793 by Sebastian. Descendants who moved to the Midwest before the Civil War changed their name to Neff; those who remained in Va. or moved to Tenn. retained the form Naff.