Yo Listers. What a nice idea Dorothy. I married a Dutchman and knew it, but would never have become involved in genealogy but for one of our oldest and most treasured friends, Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts. He and my husband, Philip Jansen Van Pelt were in the same infantry regiment during WWII. My Fritz was the company bugler and Sparky made Sergeant. We found him and his wife living in Colorado Springs soon after we married and moved here ourselves (1950). One Betty Doran, our first-found cousin and an early Van Pelt researcher ( the legal pad and No. 2 pencil brigade yet), in San Francisco wrote to "Sparky" in 1989 asking how he happened to use the name Van Pelt in his comic strip. Sparky forwarded the letter to us and we exchanged all the information we had with Betty and I was hooked. As far as I know the only material regarding The Reverend Peter and his brother Rev. Benjamin Van Pelt, ever, was gathered by Betty Doran and shared with me. Both Reverends Benjamin, were known friends of and visited by Francis Asbury when Peter preached in New York - in a little eight-sided log church. They migrated to Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Betty has a computer but refuses to use it and the last time she wrote me it was still on legal pad with a No. 2 pencil. She is even more elderly than we and I hope still with us. We also found that my father in law had left quite a lot of Van Pelt lore when he died. The most exciting was a batch of letters home from Cyrus Van Pelt during the Civil War. About Cyrus's letters: This small collection tells a heartbreaking story of a 43 year old man whose health was probably never robust, but one could only avoid conscription if one had the wherewithal to pay for a replacement. He served in the 51st Ohio Regiment; was wounded and later died of pneumonia in the Army Hospital in Nashville Tennessee. Cyrus tried to sound cheerful at first and gradually became more and more distressed as he struggled with the hardships of soldiering. The second to last letter was written by some hospital worker because he couldn't write and the last was the notice from the Chaplain. He left a young Mary Fuller Van Pelt with five small children. She tried to run the farm, but succombed herself soon after Cyrus. The children were scattered but managed to keep in touch but for one - we know nothing of William. When my kids insisted I must join the new century, I found the computer a very fine way to pursue our genealogy. From then on I've been helped beyond measure by all the great listers at Dutch Colonies, and you particularly Dortje Koenig. Lou Van Pelt in Colorado