Jack and Earlene, Here is a little bit more on Rufus Culler from the Civil War File: Rufus G Culler Claimed Residence in Wilkes County Worked as a Farmer Enlist Date Enlist Place Enlist Rank Enlist Age 24 September 1861 Wilkes County, NC Priv 20 Served North Carolina Enlisted F Co. 37th Inf Reg. NC Source: North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster Published 1993, [Ancestry.com, Civil War Database] Jeff Weaver has a web page for NC in the Civil War. http://members.aol.com/jweaver303/nc/nct.htm#inf . He may be able to assist you with further information on Rufus Culler. Here is his statement about "F Company, 37th Infantry" "The "Western Carolina Stars" were from Wilkes County. They enlisted on September 24, 1861, in Wilkesboro. They were mustered into state service on November 20, 1861, and assigned to the 37th Regiment of North Carolina Troops as Company F. Twenty-seven year old William M. Barber was elected their first Captain." NARA does not have pension files for Confederate soldiers. Pensions were granted to Confederate veterans and their widows and minor children by the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; these records are in the state archives or equivalent agency. NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Division of Archives and History 109 East Jones Street Raleigh, NC 27601-2807 Telephone: 919-733-7305 In 1867 North Carolina began granting pensions to Confederate veterans who were blinded or lost an arm or leg during their service. In 1885 the State began granting pensions to all other disabled indigent Confederate veterans or widows. I don't know what type of records NC will have but perhaps they will be able to give you a copy of the musterole which may have a description of your ancestor or other information about his parents or siblings. You probably already know this site by heart, but in case not, here is the link for NC State Archives, http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/ . It looks like they do have some Records for the Revolutionary Soldiers as well as Civil War. If you live in NC, you get a break on the cost of the research. My ancestors pension application had affidavits which included his place of birth and date, his wife's full maiden name and birth date and place and all of his children's names and birthdates. I hope the NC Archives or NARA will have something similar for you. Rootsweb "Books we Own", has several books on Wilkes, NC, at http://www.rootsweb.com/~bwo/ncar.html . Hopefully, information on your ancestors will be in at least one of those books. I am going to poke around some and see if I can turn up anything new on Hans, Susanna, and Jacob KÖLLER/CULLER, and will write about them later tonight or tomorrow. Somewhere, I once came across a Netherlands research site and perhaps they will have a passenger list. Do you know if anyone has checked the SC archives to see if they have passenger lists for arrivals in 1735? Sally Gustafson Santa Barbara, California sallyg@west.net "Remember the days of old, the years of many generations: ask thy father and he will shew thee: thy elders and they will tell thee."DEUTERONEMY., 32:7.