Advice before editing this pre-1700 Crandall profile?

Question

I have information to contribute to the profile of James Crandall and his descendants, particularly the branch that married into the Hiscock family and moved to Michigan.

These are the sources I am using:

• "Elder John Crandall of Rhode Island and His Descendants", by John Cortland Crandall; New Woodstock, NY, 1949.

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

Comments

My name is James C. Crandall, ninth generation descendant of Elder John Crandall. I too have come across John Cortland Crandall's book and while it is a well written and interesting work I have seen warnings as to its accuracy on this very site on the page entitled John Crandall(1618-1676). I'm unable to post a link but here's the address

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crandall-3#Disproved_Parents_and_Other_Claims

Hope this is of some use to you, good luck with your research.

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Link appears to work now.

Answer 1

Hi Michael. Name sounded familiar from one of my family lines and I see  I'm a 7th great grand nephew of James Crandall.

I took a look at some of the book. There's a lot of information within it and it looks like much of it is well-sourced. Just make sure anything you find in the book is backed up by primary source documentation rather than someone's family history or a letter from granny 300 years later. When you cite the book as the source it would also help to give the primary source documentation that the book cites.

I've just become coordinator for the Rhode Island Project and hope to reinvigorate that project with some new Rhode Island efforts. Please think about joining the project: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Rhode_Island

Comments

Just an interesting note.  One of my collaborating sources for this book is a living person.  I am one of the 12th Great Granddaughters of John Crandall.

Answer 2

Thanks, James, the cautionary note is well-taken.  I've also discovered some internal inconsistencies in the John Cortland Crandall book, so working back to primary documents is critical.  Thanks for the link and the clarifying information.  Very helpful!