Well Said.    No Offense from this desk.   Darryl --- On Thu, 12/9/10, B. Warner <bkwofc@i1.net> wrote: From: B. Warner <bkwofc@i1.net> Subject: Re: [MOSTFRAN] Sam Hildebrand [FROM LIST ADMINISTRATOR] To: mostfran@rootsweb.com Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010, 8:29 AM Ok folks - let's "zip" it and not start another Civil War on our mailing list! The Civil War was another time and another place.  If you all want to argue about it, you should take your arguments over to the Civil War mailing list.  We weren't there and can only "theorize" as to what went on in many instances, and it's obvious that one person's theory does not agree with another person's theory, and I'm not going to toss my theories in to add fuel to the fire.   Even Sam's supposed confession has not gone without controversy. In the words of Joe Friday - "All we want are the facts, just the facts, ma'am!"  Therefore, let's try to stick to facts on this list.  If you want to add stories (in the form of queries - such as "this is what I've been told") to make the conversation interesting, please feel free to do so because these stories are what make genealogy interesting and fun and there are, in many instances, facts woven into these stories.    However, unless you are ready to provide supporting documentation (not including newspaper articles, books, or the like) to support your facts, don't hold these stories out as being 100% factual. At this point, when it comes to Sam Hildebrand, many of the facts have ben added to, twisted and blurred over time.  Please don't cite the St. Francois County MoGenWeb site as a souce of facts.  All we've done is reprint what has been written.  We haven't done any exhaustive research of the facts and, therefore, are not claiming what we have posted is true. You can take what we've posted and do with it what you will - believe it or not believe it, agree with it or not agree with it.   No one knows the "true" story.  Handed-down family tales change from generation to generation (as we all know).  Details have probably been added to make the stories more dramatic and exciting to the listeners.  Several books have been written and even those are full of theories and do not agree with each other on what actually happened during his lifetime. "Sam" sightings were a common event according to old newspaper articles. Many of these supposed "sightings", due to the hysteria of the time, were probably not even Sam.  There are even newspaper articles of sightings of Sam years after he allegedly died - claiming that it's not really Sam that's buried in Hampton Cemetery in Elvins.  I have a file full of articles I haven't posted to the website yet because it's gotten to the point that it's almost like beating a "dead" dog.  I will post them, however, when I get time and send a message to the mailing list when I do.  They are interesting articles.  Please keep in mind, however, that all these theories and suppositions are why they refer to the story of his life as the "legend" of Sam Hildebrand.  Back in the day when Sam was roaming the countryside, many of his relatives (and even non-relatives with same last name) were changing the spelling of their names to disassociate themselves from him.  Thus, the many slightly different spelling variations of the name which appear on public records even to this day.  Nowadays, people are proud to have him as a part of their family tree.  My, my, see how times change? If you have something interesting to contribute, please feel free to do so, but don't set it forth as being fact unless you were there or have official documentation to back up your theories. Also, if you don't agree with something someone else posts, please do not attack them on the list for their beliefs.  Those attacks only detract from the purpose of this list.  Also, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, if you want to just say "Thank You" or some similar two or three word post, please do it off-line, not on the list! I hope I haven't offended anyone by this post as that was truly not my intention. B. Warner, List Administrator ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MOSTFRAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message