COMMENTS
I personally have not met Elmer D. Scalf. Be that as it may, in 1982 he
published an
outstanding book called Scalf Family History. For several
weeks I have attempted to
locate and speak with Elmer, to no avail. As with all significant works on the
Scalf
family, I desired to make his book, or at least excerpts of it available on this
web site.
On the evening of February 16, 2001, I tracked down Gene Scalf, the publisher of
Elmer's book. Gene is a great "brother" of the Scalf family and his
publishing Elmer's
book was no small task. Gene is in the process of moving his business from
California
to Colorado Springs. We agreed the beauty and orange groves of Orange County
have been ruined by concrete, asphalt, and endless housing.
Gene knows Elmer well, having spent many hours with him getting the book ready
for
publication. I had heard rumors that Elmer was working on a book for the Seals
family,
but Gene has had no contact with Elmer for some time and had no knowledge of
that.
He said Elmer had been bombarded with negative calls and messages of the nature:
"why isn't my name in the book", "you made a mistake..." and
such. Elmer apparently
became discouraged, retreated to Hawaii, and Gene thinks he is now in Mexico
"some
where".
I was looking at http://genforum.genealogy.com/scalf/ a bulletin board type forum on the Scalf family and some lady had typed in some genealogy into one of those new programs, which encourages you to post it to their site (and some turn around and sell you your own genealogy back to you). Well, there was an error and the lady was new to the whole process and did not know how to modify or erase the posting. Another lady got on her case big time and deliberately ran her completely out of genealogy probably forever -- look for it -- you can find it. Folks, this is tough work and I would like to remind you of the statements Henry P. Scalf's did so eloquently:
"The compilation and writing of a family history is often a thankless
task.
Critical readers who find errors have no conception of the monumental and
frustrating labor and time expended in probing for information, sorting out
relationships, procuring accurate spellings and dates. To all of you who read
or
just peruse this volume it is asked that you bear these things in mind. If a
kind judgment is rendered the author will feel well paid for his labor."
So, friends, we owe these people a debt of gratitude, not spiteful criticism. If
you
find an error, it is fine to constructively offer a note of correction. I would
be happy
to start sections here that contained addition or corrections to previous works.
In speaking with Gene Scalf about posting some of Elmer's book, Gene's said Elmer was a great guy and he did not think he would object, and to start posting the book with these caveats. Elmer, I have diligently tried to contact you for specific permission to display your work. If you are displease (or pleased), pleased let me know. Email me at bob@scalf-family.org or phone me at 865-932-0739.
Incidentally, the book is still available at a single copy price of $25. I think quantity discounts are available. If you would like to order the book, email me at the above address and I will check with the publisher where to send your order (since he is relocating).
It will take a while for me to scan / type Elmer's book and put it on here. I
am still
proofing Henry's book, but will do both tasks in parallel. If you see the index
and
desire a certain chapter moved up in sequence, let me know. If you have the
book,
and the capabilities to scan and do the OCR and proofing, feel free to join in
and
we will post the entire book sooner.
I hope we can contact other authors of books on the Scalf
family and gain permission
to offer their work here also.
Fred R. Scalf, Jr. "Bob"
February 11, 2001