Dear Listers, I have sent the following message to the Gentry rootsweb list, but this info is applicable to any search you are conducting for a Rev War ancestor. Pass the info along to your friends. Dear Gentry searchers, After much mucking around on the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) at <A HREF="www.familysearch.org"> www.familysearch.org</A>, I found the *probable* film number for the Rev War pension record for Meshack Gentry. (Do you think it is cataloged under Revolutionary War pensions? Wrong!) I say *probable* film number because Gentry's name, if he did get a pension, falls between the surnames of Geesler (John) and Geohegan (Anthony). The film number you want for Gentry is *probably* 971061. It will cost you in the neighborhood of about $3.00 plus some probable shipping charges, etc. to borrow the film from Salt Lake City for about three weeks through your LDS center--and a few public libraries which have agreements with Salt Lake City. It takes weeks for some of these films to get to your LDS center, but the wait is probably cheaper than ordering a costly pension record from NARA (National Archives). You may still want to order the record from NARA, but do a preview first. Be mindful that there are nearly 3,000 reels of film pertaining to the Rev War pension records of servicemen and their widows, an act passed by Congress ca 1832. There were other pension acts, but I assume the pension you are referring to for Gentry is under the act of 1832. Now--if you are near an LDS center, telephone and found out the days and hours of opening. Call the church on a Sunday, when someone is probably around to answer the phone, if you don't get an answer on a weekday. If it is a widow's pension, there is LOTS of genealogical information in the pension record. And you will want to acquire the pension in that case. If you want to view the online FHL catalog for these pension records, use this topic: United States, Veterans Administration And be patient--the list is long for nearly 3,000 reels of film. (Don't print out the list, unless you have a ream of paper.) For those of you near large libraries, city or county or State or University, try to find an online catalog for any or all those libraries, and call up the author Virgil D. White. Mr. White loves to compile indexes of all kinds of US military pensions, and if you see his books on shelves at your library, you certainly want to take a look. I had a missing German ancestor, whom, rumor had it, was in the US Army and floated around the country, apparently abandoning wife and four children. I picked up one of Virgil D. White's indexes of Old War pension claims, and found two men by that surname. At that time, the photocopies from NARA were less expensive, and I ordered both of the pensions. Lo, and behold, one of them was my missing ancestor, who had joined the US Army ca 1852 in New Orleans (Army register on film). And the pension file was full of information--divorce from first wife, death certificate for first wife, affidavit of second husband of first wife, etc. A gold mine!!! (I sent the other pension record to a State genealogical society, and they were happy to add it to their Archives--probably in a vertical file as loose papers seem to be called by Librarians.) But, there are NO guarantees in genealogy. You may not be so lucky! Happy hunting! E.W.Wallace interested in the Gentrys and Harrises of Albemarle Co., VA & Madison Co., KY