Advice before editing this pre-1700 Campbell profile?

Question

I have information to contribute to the profile of John Campbell. This is what I can add:

• Birth and death locations as Glenorchy, Argyll, Scotland

These are the sources I am using:

• Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015. Ancestry.com. Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

• Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561-1910

• West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records; New Reference Number: WDP181/1/2/2

• Book: The heraldry of the Campbells : with notes on all the males of the family, descriptions of the arms. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Should I contact one of the pre-1700 projects or know about any style guidelines before proceeding? Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi Tamara, family trees are not reliable sources, and should not be used to source Pre-1700 profiles. The select marriages is that from Ancestry? If it is check the source for it. If it says it came from multiple user trees then it is not a reliable source. I am not sure about the other two without seeing them. Have you tried googling the titles they may be online?

Be careful using Ancestry sources. They do have digital parish records and some good sources that are hard to find anywhere else. Some of their sources are not really sources though.

This page on Pre-1700 Profiles will help a lot. It also explains a lot of different things about Pre-1700 profiles. I hope it helps.

Answer 2

With no location (although argyll is a good guess with Campbell) and no family I don’t know how you can begin to source this profile even if you had proper sources.

Comments

I couldn’t find any baptism records for John Campbell in Argyll from 1590-1595 at ScotlandsPeople. But I couldn’t even find any Johns either  so that’s probably just too early for records in Argyll.

Answer 3

Hello Tamara, unless you have a specific John Campbell from one of the main lines who is well sourced, I would leave this profile well alone. I have worked out who he is meant to be and will amend the profile which I suspect already exists and will need merged.

I have now identified it as John Campbell of Auchenryre, 3rd son of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy and his 1st wife Lady Jean/Janet Stewart from the Atholl family. I have added the parents, added a source and proposed a merge with his existing profile.