That was a nice posting you wrote about the SCV guys at Oakwood

Rarely do I look at any sites such as this but I have been watching this discussion between you and Frederick, while I prefer to stay out of these postings I think perhaps I can shed some light on some of the concerns I saw

At this time the Virginia SCV cannot post the records on line or anywhere else for that matter because they dont own the records, I do, this will change down the road and I am more than happy to assist them any way I can as they are doing a fantastic job dealing with the large number of problems at Oakwood.

For some history of this project, I started working these records 9 years ago and have over 10000 hours into it and yes you are right I work this almost every day, since I dont live in Virginia I have had to pay for my airfare,hotels, rental cars etc myself and have over 6000 dollars in expenses so no I am not going to let my work to be posted, not yet anyway. Chris Ferguson just had a book published on Hollywood and all I ask is for the same courtesy to have my work published, all proceeds from this Oakwood book will be given to the SCV to help them with their Oakwood Project. You were right when you said " nobody else wanted it" well now that so much has been done I get emails from people asking me to hand it over and thays just not going to happen.

So how can I help the SCV in the mean time, since I am starting to see the light at the end of this long tunnel I have agreed to furnish them with the accurate names and locations of the soldiers so they can order the stones but they understand my concern for the right to get published. Since they are only allowed to order 75 stones per month I will be done long before the bulk of my data becomes public, in the mean time when they get a request from a decendant I am always willing to help them.

Let me answer the concerns of accuracy, the need for a horde of historians to help, issues and long range plans.
As far as accuracy not one stone will be placed unless its 100% confirmed there is no "this should be or could be the soldier' so how is this done, I have a several sources of records that are crossed checked against each other which can correct the spellings, regiments and even help identify the correct states these men are from. the next step is to check and recheck the data, once this is completed a copy of the service record is pulled which then confirms ( in many cases ) the dates of death against the burial dates along with some other vital information then after this is double checked a short list of names is sent to a professinal historian who's job is to look for any possible discrepancy. from here a stone can be ordered and the SCV gets their 75 names and locations.

for assistance I have a several volunteers some SCV members some not who have the same goal as me, just to identify these men accurately, sometimes all they submit is 1 or 2 names some of them have come up with dozens of names..With over 11000 men to verify a large number of volunteers would be to a full time job in itself just to keep track of who is doing what, I should know thats my background, its better to not have to many people working over each other.

One issue that has come up time and again is that when some of our soldiers names have been posted I will get 5 emails from different people insisting its their ancestor by this I mean they will slightly change the spelling or change the regiments to fit their ancestors who they are so sure is buried at Oakwood, this is another good reason to wait on posting the list I dont have time to email back and forth on the same issue.

9 years ago when I started my projcet the group working on Oakwood was the Oakwood Trust, while it had some SCV members it wasnt an SCV project and the trust never planned on placing stones so now that the SCV has recently taken charge they have moved forward amazingly fast clearing so many roadblocks.

Long range : while I dont get involved with the ground plans at Oakwood and I cant speak for them I know the SCV has purchased a lot just outside the cemetery on which they plan on building an information center listing the men buried at Oakwood along with photos and letters from the soldiers, this information will also be on the internet. Currently they are working on the monument putting it back to its original condition this alone is 36000 dollars, 1700 feet of wrought iron fencing is in the works which must be pretty expensive, they have contracted at a cost of I think 25000 dollars a year for maintenance, the gazebo needs serious work, they have worked out the details of recieving and storing 75- 230 pound grave stones each and every month for years to come, then the task of placing those stones with all the equipment and supplies needed not including your notes of what they have had to and will be dealing with, yes they can use help so please don't be discouraged give them a hand I am sure they would appreciate it.

I hope this helps you
John

PS: Frederick I think its great you have done so much spending years locating graves and creating the database you mention can you tell me what the web address is so I may get some additional ideas.