Gerald Faulkner Shepard, The Shepard Families of New England (1972), 2:32, in which Donald L. Jacobus, ed., discusses the possible Butler ancestry with reservations and thinks the Beaman ancestry is "probably correct." However, Mayflower supplemental paper #45936 Kansas 737, filed in 1967, approved by Historian-General Caroline Kardell, notes only that Rebecca was "possibly" a Beaman, with no supporting evidence This author finds more credibility in the Butler lineage, which was evidently assumed by Barbour in Early Hartford, 524-5 John's marriage to his step-mother's younger sister, only four years older than himself, would not be at all surprising. John Shepard certainly was acquainted with his stepmother's sister Rebecca Butler of Hartford. It is not even clear whether "Beaman" refers to the Springfield or the Saybrook family of that name, if either.
