Rutherfordiana/Working Conclusion

At the moment, my working conclusion is that ultimately, the link to Rev. Samuel Rutherford and Rev. Joseph Alleine is derived from McPheeters.

McPheeters cites James Walker son of Katherine as his source.

But he does not say exactly what came from James. I'm willing to grant that its likely that James knew who his grandfather was, passed it on to McPheeters, and that McPheeters probably got that right when he identified him as John Rutherford. But deeper than that, I don't think you can give him a get out of jail free card. McPheeters didn't quote James, or cite a letter from him, etc. As a result we don't know what he learned from James. We specically don't know if what McPheeters had to say about the Alleine's and the Rev. Samuel Rutherford actually came from James. It might have been something that McPheeters figured out (rightly or wrongly) on his own.

McPheeters makes no mention of Isabella Alleine. So White's reference to Isabella presumably came from some other source, probably the Joel Walker Record. Joel wasn't descended from John Rutherford and Isabella Alleine, based on DNA evidence---so in this respect, his record is tainted. Since he didn't get his own connection to the family correct---why should we believe the "deep part" of what he tells us? (assume that his record indicated a connection to Isabella Alleine in the first place).