Any advice before adding of this pre-1700 Cleburn profile?

Question

I can add a father to the profile of John Clayburn Sr.. This is who I can add:

• Edward Cleburn

These are the sources I am using:

• Angela Claire Clyburn, Cliburne: The Story of an American Pioneer Family, (ACC & FLC, 2001), p. 9

https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/549740-cliburne-the-story-of-an-american-pioneer-family

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

Comments

These are additional clyburns from the Angela Claire Clyburn book from my branch of the tree I would like to research and create profiles for:

Gyles Cliburne -- p. 1 -- b. ~1550 Kendall, Westmorland, England -- d. *

John Cliburne -- p. 2 -- b.~ Sept. 1580 Hutton, Kendall, Westmorland, England -- d. 1662 Cliburn Parish, Westmorland, England

Edward Cliburne -- p. 5 -- b. ~March 3, 1621/1622 Cliburn Parish, Westmorland, England -- d. ~1650 Henrico Co., VA

Edward Cleburn -- p. 9 -- b. ~1650 Henrico Co., VA -- d. 1683 Henrico Co., VA

Answer 1

It doesn't look like there are any reliable sources for this person or their family. (See Category:Reliable Sources for Pre-1700 to see what is required for pre-1700.)

I ran some quick Internet searches for the book you are citing (also for the publisher), and I found no information about the book or publisher. Sorry to say, but that gives me no confidence... Maybe you know more...

Please don't create any more profiles for this family group until there is some reliable evidence for the content.

Comments

The book does exist. For the second edition in 2004, see

https://search.worldcat.org/title/Cliburne-:-the-story-of-an-American-pioneer-family/oclc/70676468

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I followed the link from that page to other works by the author, and I found a couple of supplements to the Cliburne book that are free to view online, including https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/474457/

It looks like the author was a reasonably serious researcher. (I refer to her in the past tense because I did find her obituary when I did my earlier searching.) She identified many of the sources where she got her information, but many "facts" are stated without indicating where they came from, and often the sources she mentions are identified by title without the publication details we typically need to locate an item. From what I saw, I think the book could be a good basis for profiles, but an effort needs to be be made to confirm the information against primary sources (which should be cited) -- and it's definitely not sufficient to list a book title as the only source for a profile.

When working with secondary sources like these, I've noticed that members may see statements like "John Doe was born about 1660" in the book and want to cite the book as an authority for the birth date. That sort of "fact" should not be treated as an authoritative fact; it is far better presented with an indication that it was a particular person's estimate and is "based on" (or "consistent with") the date of the person's marriage, or the date of a deed, or whatever confirmed facts support the estimate.

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The Edward Cleburn mentioned in the question is Person 4 of the addendum at https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/549740/ . It looks like there is very little solid information about him, but there is somewhat more documentation for earlier generations, as well as for his descendants.