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As with Dick Cowan, Mr. Fleming felt the need to respond for my request for documentation, yet provided no documentation or evidence for his stated position on the decoys in question.  I will not spend a lot of time on all the content of our e-mails (however, if anyone wants copies, I will be only too happy to send copies to you).

I would just like to thank all the people who have read this blog and who have contacted me to express their appreciation for the research I have presented.  I have been told, "It is refreshing to see someone who cares so much about real history and not its myths.  Keep up the good work.  Looking forward to the next posting."; "Intelligent, insightful and humorous.";  "Thank you.  Best decoy stuff ever written."; "Love the blog.  I look forward to more education."; "Very interesting and much I had never heard before."

Dick Cowan's response regarding my request for documentation for Gelston as a carver (July 29, 2009 e-mail from Mr. Cowan):

Over a decade ago Joe Engers of Decoy Magazine and I had discussed the idea of me writing two articles; one on Obadiah Verity and the other on Thomas H. Gelston. After doing a small amount of research, I came to the usual dead ends and lack of documentation. I decided not to do the articles primarily due to the fact that I could not find anything new to add to the “stories” of the two supposed carvers, and I had not at that time done any serious research.

The origins of the names attributed to many of Long Island decoys and how they came into being the person most responsible for setting the stage for today’s “antique” decoy market would be a legendary collector, trader, dealer, and author William J Mackey Jr., a very familer name to most decoy collectors. Some stories of his exploits can be found in the September-October 1991 Decoy Magazine.