Longstreet Recent Longstreet Findagrave edits - vandalism or revelation?

Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Location
Germany
Hey folks,

I just scrolled over the findagrave-entry of our dear general and found something suspicious - a new child appeared on the list of children.

Now it says that Longstreet fathered a boy named Herman F. Hanson in 1869 ... with a Danish immigrant named Andrew M. Hanson. Apparently no woman involved (though Andrew Hanson´s entry says he was married and had a child with her two years earlier.

So without giving it too much thought either we have a case of vandalism or I expect a new book to be on the market making waves right now.

Likewise there are several strange things in the biographic text which I´m not sure were there before ... like the Mexican-American War of 1845-1846, several over-generalizations, wrong facts like the wrong entry-rank and the move of the entire corps to the west etc. etc.

So, do we have any members who are findagrave-members as well? Could anyone of those take a look into said last edits? Ways to report/revert those?
 
I know I do not like of the website at all. It doesn't work as well and looks clunky and overdone. The first time I saw it I did not like it. It looks terrible. Not user friendly. Not long before it will be a pay site. I do not care for Ancestry r their messed up DNA test. I think someone is adding **** to it like they do to Wikipedia.
 
So, do we have any members who are findagrave-members as well? Could anyone of those take a look into said last edits? Ways to report/revert those?
Great find! Made me grin broadly!!
I'm a member and I just had a look, but at least on the phone I could not see when the entry for James Longstreet or that guy Hansom was changed.
I think it must clearly be a mistake, two men fathering a child without a woman involved - that's not even possible for our good general.
But it's a funny, bizarre, probably short-lived sight to see! @War Horse and @Eleanor Rose have a broad grin at this:
https://old.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=642

Btw, I don't like the new Find-a-Grave, so I will cling as long as possible to the old version!
 
The person who manages the memorial for Herman Hanson is the culprit. Only those who manage a memorial can edit although anybody can add a photo. Also, one cannot add children, only parents and spouses. When somebody adds a parent link to a memorial then the linked child shows up on the parent's memorial. If you look closely you'll see text on the memorial's child listing saying they are "calculated relationships" which I've always thought an awkward label but it just means somebody linked the parents to the children and it might not actually be correct.

So, unfortunately, the only way to remove Herman is if the owner of his memorial changes his parent links. FindAGrave itself will sometimes make edits of reported errors (e.g. duplicates) but I doubt they'd fix this one as they don't want to get into trying to figure out if a relationship is correct; too much time. Also, the offending party could just re-link. They might, though, as this is a famous person. We'll see I guess.

As to the new FindAGrave - I don't like it at all. They screwed with Ancestry a few years ago, too, but they've really made FindAGrave a mess. I suppose they think it somehow works better with cell phones and such (abandoning all us desktop folks) but I don't see how. Instead of everything being easily reached from several well-linked screens it's now pages of stuff you have to click all over the place to find and some options that I use a lot (e.g. being able to post a problem notice on photo requests) seem to have been eliminated. It's also cluttered with large images which don't serve any functional purpose. Bah.
 
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Well...You ought to see what they do to Forrest periodically! :eek:

Not a fan of either Ancestry or Find a Grave. Especially when you find your own grave and you're pretty sure you aren't in it! (Made some good cinnamon buns today - must have gotten the recipe from Granny while I was on the other side.) I could not contact whoever claimed to be managing my grave site and it was, in short, a mess. I thought only Social Security could kill you off that way and, possibly, resurrect you later. Hmm...I stand corrected. Tribe Enrollment is even better at it!
 
The person who manages the memorial for Herman Hanson is the culprit. ...

The manager of that page, though I don´t know if he made said edits, is a guy name ... larry. Is there any way to see who made specific edits? Or could somebody contact Larry via the inbuilt message feature (I can´t as I´m no member)?
 
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The creator of that page, though I don´t know if he made said edits, is a guy name ... larry. Is there any way to see who made specific edits? Or could somebody contact Larry via the inbuilt message feature (I can´t as I´m no member)?

The manager of the memorial for the alleged child is the only one who can link a parent. So, it was larry who made the link. As to specific edits, only the manager of the memorial can change things like name, dates, bio but anybody can add photos or link a spouse or parent. Thus, if something other than parental or spousal links has been edited then it's the manger of the memorial who did it.

If larry has his messages option turned on (some turn theirs off) any member can send him a message. Some people also post their email address although that seems to be less common these days. Now, if larry ever bothers to read, much less answer, his messages is just blind luck. There's all sorts of players on FindAGrave; some very helpful and careful, others who are not. I might go see if I can message him.

Edit: message left. I also sent an email to the edit people at FindAGrave (as they manage the general's memorial and have the power to make any change they want). We'll see.
 
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Well...You ought to see what they do to Forrest periodically! :eek:

Not a fan of either Ancestry or Find a Grave. Especially when you find your own grave and you're pretty sure you aren't in it! (Made some good cinnamon buns today - must have gotten the recipe from Granny while I was on the other side.) I could not contact whoever claimed to be managing my grave site and it was, in short, a mess. I thought only Social Security could kill you off that way and, possibly, resurrect you later. Hmm...I stand corrected. Tribe Enrollment is even better at it!

Oops @diane, that sounds spooky!!
Only thing I can think of being a consolation is that we have a saying that those who are said dead live longest.

Edit: message left. I also sent an email to the edit people at FindAGrave (as they manage the general's memorial and have the power to make any change they want). We'll see.

Thank you Otto, that's great! I only joined to be able to put "flowers" on someone's grave but have not done much research there.
And I could not agree more on your thoughts about the new Find a Grave. It's not even an enhancement on the phone. I think it might be changed to attract the robots again... yes, bah!
 
I am member of Find A Grave. I don't like the changes either. It is so much harder to navigate. I have added many memorials but I verify all my facts. If I don't know a certain date for sure I leave it blank. You have to be careful as many don't do their research on there. It has been good in the past for me starting research. I than make sure information is correct.

I would have written the person who started Longstreet's memorial but glad John Winn did. Hope he gets back. many I write always get back to me. Also many have transferred my relatives to me. I then add to the memorials with all information I have on them.
 
Update:

Today I got a message from "larry" who said he'd removed James from his memorial. He said he didn't know exactly how it had happened but speculated that somebody sent him a suggested edit and he just approved it without looking (which he said he often does as he doesn't want to get into trying to verify facts; something I'd do every time).

Anyway, the "new" child is now removed from the general's memorial.
 
Update:

Today I got a message from "larry" who said he'd removed James from his memorial. He said he didn't know exactly how it had happened but speculated that somebody sent him a suggested edit and he just approved it without looking (which he said he often does as he doesn't want to get into trying to verify facts; something I'd do every time).

Anyway, the "new" child is now removed from the general's memorial.

Thanks a lot. Apparently the entry of Heman F. Hanson has been deleted altogether.
 
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