Personal: Born in Florida. Grew up in Indianapolis. U.S. Army 1964-67. Married 1970. Since 1967, I have lived near Syracuse in an area of Upstate New York for generations occupied by the Onondagas, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The land is now (under the law made by descendants of white Europeans who invaded) Onondaga County, NY. I try to balance my sense of remorse over how the Onondagas unfairly lost much of their land against my pride that one of my 4th-great-grandfathers settled in Onondaga County because he received bounty land for his Revolutionary War military service at Saratoga and as a batteauman along the Mohawk River. That particular Rev War ancestor was descended from numerous residents of the New Netherlands colony from which the British drove the Dutch in 1664 to turn New Amsterdam into New York -- as opposed to other Rev War ancestors of mine who were traitors to the English homeland of their forefathers. History is complicated, isn't it?

Academic and Professional: BSJ, MSJ, Northwestern Univ; PhD, Syracuse Univ; post-doctoral MSL, Yale Law School. Instructor, Defense Information School (DINFOS), 1964-1967; Professor, Syracuse Univ, 1967-2011; Professor Emeritus, S.I. Newhouse Endowed Chair, Syracuse Univ, 2011 to date.

Quote from the Find A Grave FAQs (rules): "Death certificates may be added." That quote is a cut-and-paste from an earlier version of the FAQs, apparently subsequently deleted. However, the principle is reaffirmed in 2021 "Common Questions" found in F.A.G.'s HELP section, where it specifically defines "Other" types of photos that may be added as, "A document or record related to person." If you're a trust-but-verify kind of person as I am, you'll want to look for yourself at https://support.findagrave.com/s/article/Types-of-Photos

If you send a message asking me to ignore F.A.G. rules because your personal preference happens not to agree with the rules ---- for example by asking me to delete an image that's within F.A.G.'s allowable images and relates directly to the person being memorialized ---- please state why you think I should disregard the rules (something more persuasive than "I prefer" or "I don't like"). And please be sure you're accepting messages so that I can reply after I've given your request the attention it deserves.

I try to make memorials as complete and accurate as possible, particularly when images of old records are in the public domain. Public records (marriage records, death records, etc.) -- just like tombstones and family bibles and "what my grandmother told me" -- sometimes contain errors. But we need to see the records if we're going to judge whether they are right or wrong. [If you doubt that seeing images of the original records is important, check out F.A.G. memorial 226471890 for John Stewart; you'll find two 1880 census images for the same family -- one showing him as age 34, "Days Works," born KY, and the other showing him as age 29, Butcher, born OH.] Even though some of us might be distressed that public records are revealing, there's a reason they are public, and wishing won't make them secret again, just as you can't "unring" a bell. Let's follow the F.A.G. rules.

"Trust but verify" is excellent advice, whether one is compiling a scholarly genealogy or just trying to honor a deceased person with _accurate_ information on F.A.G. But to "verify" (or, for that matter, disprove), one needs to see records openly. Arguing against openness with the records is an argument in favor of errors, and who wants that on F.A.G.?

Some F.A.G. contributors are troubled by the fact that truths are revealed by government records --- records that some family members might wish were "secret" or "private." But, as Thomas Hardy said in quoting St. Jerome, "If an offence come out of the truth, better is it that the offence come than that the truth be concealed."

Why the seal of The Dutch Settlers Society of Albany? As people increasingly have pointed out, many of us were taught in school that America was created by 13 English colonies. Too many people forget that the Dutch colony of New Netherlands existed for decades before the English took over in 1664 and renamed it New York. Most American universities have no "Dutch Department" to focus attention on the achievements of New Netherlands and its settlement at New Amsterdam (today's Manhattan). And, lest we forget, the Dutch themselves had been newcomers to the lands owned for many years before by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

An irony. Is it not ironic that we F.A.G. contributors (myself included) work so hard to honor the burial places of thousands of Americans, yet many of us (myself included) are proud descendants of European invaders who came across the Atlantic to land that wasn't theirs, and pushed the Indigenous People off the land -- and that included the sacred burial places of the ancestors of those Indigenous People? Consider this quotation from James Fenimore Cooper in his classic novel, Last of the Mohicans: "The Hurons drove him from the graves of his fathers, as they would chase the hunted buffalo." [Cooper was describing how one tribe of Indigenous People had pushed another tribe of Indigenous People off their ancestral land.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James Fenimore Cooper, in The Last of the Mohicans, writes of a character, one of the Indigenous People, a sage, who says, "The chlldren of Minquon are the justest white men." And Cooper added this footnote to the name Minquon: "William Penn was termed Minquon by the Delawares, and, as he never used violence or injustice in his dealings with them, his reputation for probity passed into a proverb. The American is justly proud of the origins of his nation, which is perhaps unequalled in the history of the world; but the Pennsylvanian and Jerseyman have more reason to value themselves in their ancestors than the natives of any other State, since no wrong was done the original owners of the soil."

Personal: Born in Florida. Grew up in Indianapolis. U.S. Army 1964-67. Married 1970. Since 1967, I have lived near Syracuse in an area of Upstate New York for generations occupied by the Onondagas, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The land is now (under the law made by descendants of white Europeans who invaded) Onondaga County, NY. I try to balance my sense of remorse over how the Onondagas unfairly lost much of their land against my pride that one of my 4th-great-grandfathers settled in Onondaga County because he received bounty land for his Revolutionary War military service at Saratoga and as a batteauman along the Mohawk River. That particular Rev War ancestor was descended from numerous residents of the New Netherlands colony from which the British drove the Dutch in 1664 to turn New Amsterdam into New York -- as opposed to other Rev War ancestors of mine who were traitors to the English homeland of their forefathers. History is complicated, isn't it?

Academic and Professional: BSJ, MSJ, Northwestern Univ; PhD, Syracuse Univ; post-doctoral MSL, Yale Law School. Instructor, Defense Information School (DINFOS), 1964-1967; Professor, Syracuse Univ, 1967-2011; Professor Emeritus, S.I. Newhouse Endowed Chair, Syracuse Univ, 2011 to date.

Quote from the Find A Grave FAQs (rules): "Death certificates may be added." That quote is a cut-and-paste from an earlier version of the FAQs, apparently subsequently deleted. However, the principle is reaffirmed in 2021 "Common Questions" found in F.A.G.'s HELP section, where it specifically defines "Other" types of photos that may be added as, "A document or record related to person." If you're a trust-but-verify kind of person as I am, you'll want to look for yourself at https://support.findagrave.com/s/article/Types-of-Photos

If you send a message asking me to ignore F.A.G. rules because your personal preference happens not to agree with the rules ---- for example by asking me to delete an image that's within F.A.G.'s allowable images and relates directly to the person being memorialized ---- please state why you think I should disregard the rules (something more persuasive than "I prefer" or "I don't like"). And please be sure you're accepting messages so that I can reply after I've given your request the attention it deserves.

I try to make memorials as complete and accurate as possible, particularly when images of old records are in the public domain. Public records (marriage records, death records, etc.) -- just like tombstones and family bibles and "what my grandmother told me" -- sometimes contain errors. But we need to see the records if we're going to judge whether they are right or wrong. [If you doubt that seeing images of the original records is important, check out F.A.G. memorial 226471890 for John Stewart; you'll find two 1880 census images for the same family -- one showing him as age 34, "Days Works," born KY, and the other showing him as age 29, Butcher, born OH.] Even though some of us might be distressed that public records are revealing, there's a reason they are public, and wishing won't make them secret again, just as you can't "unring" a bell. Let's follow the F.A.G. rules.

"Trust but verify" is excellent advice, whether one is compiling a scholarly genealogy or just trying to honor a deceased person with _accurate_ information on F.A.G. But to "verify" (or, for that matter, disprove), one needs to see records openly. Arguing against openness with the records is an argument in favor of errors, and who wants that on F.A.G.?

Some F.A.G. contributors are troubled by the fact that truths are revealed by government records --- records that some family members might wish were "secret" or "private." But, as Thomas Hardy said in quoting St. Jerome, "If an offence come out of the truth, better is it that the offence come than that the truth be concealed."

Why the seal of The Dutch Settlers Society of Albany? As people increasingly have pointed out, many of us were taught in school that America was created by 13 English colonies. Too many people forget that the Dutch colony of New Netherlands existed for decades before the English took over in 1664 and renamed it New York. Most American universities have no "Dutch Department" to focus attention on the achievements of New Netherlands and its settlement at New Amsterdam (today's Manhattan). And, lest we forget, the Dutch themselves had been newcomers to the lands owned for many years before by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

An irony. Is it not ironic that we F.A.G. contributors (myself included) work so hard to honor the burial places of thousands of Americans, yet many of us (myself included) are proud descendants of European invaders who came across the Atlantic to land that wasn't theirs, and pushed the Indigenous People off the land -- and that included the sacred burial places of the ancestors of those Indigenous People? Consider this quotation from James Fenimore Cooper in his classic novel, Last of the Mohicans: "The Hurons drove him from the graves of his fathers, as they would chase the hunted buffalo." [Cooper was describing how one tribe of Indigenous People had pushed another tribe of Indigenous People off their ancestral land.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James Fenimore Cooper, in The Last of the Mohicans, writes of a character, one of the Indigenous People, a sage, who says, "The chlldren of Minquon are the justest white men." And Cooper added this footnote to the name Minquon: "William Penn was termed Minquon by the Delawares, and, as he never used violence or injustice in his dealings with them, his reputation for probity passed into a proverb. The American is justly proud of the origins of his nation, which is perhaps unequalled in the history of the world; but the Pennsylvanian and Jerseyman have more reason to value themselves in their ancestors than the natives of any other State, since no wrong was done the original owners of the soil."