I acknowledge the ponderence of some decendents to alter history.. and or incorrectly place claim on a soldier that might not be the one they think it is.. been there found that too.. I generally use the data only at face value and use it as a means to look more specifically for the additional confirmation... ie: if the decendent says the person was in the 49th NC rather than the 49th Va as may be listed.. I use those to research both units to get a better feel of a more feasible possibility to reevaluate.. Similar to a common issue of people claiming their ancestor held Gen Lee's horse at Appomattox... all 147 of them... Then their disbelief and disappointment when I inform them after researching it... that their respective ancestor had been discharged in 1862 and was back home in Georgia when the war ended.. Same as the post-war aging veteran habit of calling one affectionately as "Captain" or "Colonel".. even though they were only a Private during the war... Confuses the heck out of decendants and their family passed down stories... Twice in the past year I had people that had paid for marking of graves and honoring same.. thought to be their ancestor... which I found it was a person of same or similar name.. but not the person they thought it was.. nor even actually related... So Im also used to dealing with amature genealogist and the common mistakes many make.
I was under the impression that the involved SCV folks had possession of the Oakwood burial roster in question themselves. Rather than you independently working on them. Acknowledged. I understand your intentions now and thats fine. I was not aware nor had seen this fact mentioned elsewhere. I look forward to its publication for it will plug a large gap in my records and files that I have long sought after. Chris Ferguson also contacted me when he was working on that publication since he learned that I had done years of work in Hollywood.. Majority of what I had gathered up and researched I had turned over copies of same to the guy what was currently working on marking the graves there... so was relayed to Chris via that route mostly. Chris did share parts of his draft data on certain individuals that I had been looking for.. research purposes only not for posting or publication.. since he was working to do that so I fully respected his intentions.
The data base that I have is not currently online nor has been published. I started doing this many years ago moreso for research.. and it just grew and grew... I frequently get people inquiring trying to locate the burial place of a soldier and if I have it I pass it on to them.. Ive never charged for any research or data I give out.. I do this as a love of history and to honor the respective soldiers themselves... I agree that the state of many of their final resting places is in poor neglected condition... Ive trod through woods and briars on many occasions seeking out and recording various small cemetery burials as well as the larger public ones... and as long as people such as ourselves continue our devotion and work so these soldiers are never forgotten..
Respects
Frederick