I've worked long and hard on my Sellars ancestors and have some insight about them, but on the subject of Creek ancestry... I just don't know. William Sellers/Cellers (sic) was a early settler of Thomas County from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and had at least one son who lived in Thomas County so far as I know continuously, and that was Simeon Thurmond Sellers. He had another son, Wright Sellers, who seemed to move back and forth to Camilla (not Pelham, but close). He also had one daughter who lived in Thomas County, Elizabeth... wife of Alexander Peacock, Jr. The Peacocks were married in Pulaski County in 1833 but after a couple of decades of living in Thomas County in 1860 they appeared in the census in both Thomas and Baker counties and her father William "Cellers" was living with them in Baker County. In 1857 Mitchell County was cut out of Baker so they would not have been in Camilla or Pelham, but they could have been close. But as William came south from North Carolina one of his sons, Jacob Benjamin Sellers, stayed behind and after marrying Georgia Ann Joiner in Pulaski County in 1836, he sort of wandered around the Sumter, Schley, Calhoun, Dooly county area. Georgia Ann Joiner was a daughter of Bennett Joiner and Charity Sherrod and they ended up in Sumter County. Georgia Ann Joiner was born in Camilla in 1819 when it was still in Indian Lands, but my best guess is that the Joiners were "White interlopers", not Creeks. They may or may not have had Indian ancestry. I think it very possible that they did, but I actually KNOW nothing on the subject. Besides Jacob Benjamin, Wright, Elizabeth, and Simeon Thurmond, I believe that Elijah Sellers (I'm drawing a mental blank on where Elijah lived and his unit at the moment, but he was a sergeant and lived somewhere north of Thomas County... I just can't remember the particular county at the moment), and two others who settled in Alabama, were also sons of the same William Sellers. However, this is dangerously close to being just a matter of my opinion. I know of no complete and documented accounting for the whole family of William Sellers. Jacob Benjamin Sellers joined the 51st Georgia Infantry in Calhoun County in March of 1862 and died of disease in camp very shortly after. His oldest son George Washington Sellars (sic) also enrolled in the 51st Georgia at the same time, and was very ill as well for many months, which for awhile saved his life, because the 51st Georgia was nearly massacred in the first battle they engaged in Virginia. George W. Sellars was wounded at Funkstown Maryland during Lee's retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, and died in a Confederate hospital at Kingston, Georgia in December of 1863. In the meantime, Georgia Ann Joiner Sellers had also died, leaving a number of orphaned children some of whom were raised by the Veal family in DeKalb County, Georgia... and two of the daughters married Veals. Others I have not been able to track, yet. The second-oldest son of Jacob Benjamin and Georgia Ann was my great grandfather Richard M. Sellars. He ran away from home and joined the 11th Georgia Infantry Regiment in Hawkinsville, Pulaski County. He served in Stonewall Jackson's Army during the Valley Campaign of 1862 and through the Seven Days Battles, but then contracted Typhoid Fever and was disability discharged. His discharge document said that he was 14 years old and that he was born in Hiawassee, Towns County... but I am fairly certain that he was 15 years old and that he was born in the Towns District of Calhoun County. After his discharge R. M. Sellars had no home to return to. Besides that he never learned to read or write. His father never owned land so far as I can find, and after his older brother George W. died, Susan Sellers filed a claim for his back pay. The only Susan Sellers I can find record of was Elijah Sellers' wife. So R.M. apparently went to the home of some fellow soldier in Lee County, because he had no other place to go. He appeared on the Militia Roll of 1864 in Lee County. At some point he ended up in Thomas County. There he married my great grandmother Mary Ann Haven in 1874. I believe that Mary Ann Haven may have had Indian blood through her mother Martha Ann Welch, who was a daughter of Richard Welch and Abigail Blackshear Gill Welch Merritt of Thomas County. The Welches came to Thomas County as early settlers, from Iredell County, North Carolina, though, and if she did have Indian ancestry I doubt that it was Creek. R.M. Sellars acquired interest in a grist mill and parlayed that into over a thousand acres of land and several mills of various types. He was the treasurer of the Long Branch Baptist Church north of Cairo, and when Grady County came into existence on 1 January 1906, his home and the church came into Grady County. R.M. probably didn't know a whole lot about his family, or if he did he didn't admit to it... and his children grew up believing that they were not related to the other Sellers families in the area. I believe that in fact they were probably fairly closely related to most if not all of them. Now... what does this all have to do with Joseph Cullen Sellars? Well... I'm not clear as to whose son he was but I am VERY clear that "Alford" (probably Alfred) Sellers who grew up with the Veal family in DeKalb County was a close relative of R.M. Sellers. He may have been a brother of R.M. born as their mother died in 1862, or... I think more likely... a son of George W., though as yet I have found no record that George W. Sellars married... and if he did, why would Elijah's wife been the one to claim his Confederate Army back pay? There are so many questions... so few answers. It was Alford who brought R.M. back in touch with his sisters who lived in DeKalb County, and one of them, Martha A. ("Matt") Veal and her daughter Lizzie appear in a family photo of the R.M. Sellars family taken in 1916. Associated with Alford Sellars are the names Carrie, "Joe", Cedaroe and Uranus Sellars. I have been able to find Cedaroe in a small town near Atlanta, where he worked for the railroad, and Uranus worked for the railroad in the Anniston, Alabama, area. The Veals and R.M. both seem to have had railroad connections... One of R.M.'s mills was a sawmill that specialized in cutting railroad ties. I haven't found "Joe". This could be him that you are asking about... and as to him not saying much about his family, I think that everything I've said before this could be a very good explanation of that. Am I certain that "my" Joe is "your" Joseph Cullen...? Absolutely not. But I would like to know more if you've got anymore, and I would particularly like to see any photos you may have. You can see *some* of the information that I have collected about the Sellers/Sellars family in connection with Confederate military service at: http://pone.com/ts/rw000.htm and several photos of R. M. Sellars are included. RW pgintpfl@yahoo.com wrote: >This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > >Surnames: Sellars/Wilder >Classification: Query > >Message Board URL: > >http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5R.2ADI/35.444.445.651.657.656.661.666.1 > >Message Board Post: > >Can you help me? I had a great uncle from I believe Pelham or Cairo,GA . He married my Grandfathers sister Eula Wilder. He never mentioned any family what so ever.We were never sure what nationally he was but was dark complected. His name was Joseph Cullen Sellars. They had 1 son who was a JR. I am lost and need help please. I think they were married in Pensacola,Fl but not sure. > >