Who were the parents of Samuel St. John?

Who were Samuel St. John's parents?

I thought I had this one answered a few years ago, thanks to James Noll Churchyard and the Salt Lake Institute.

Alexander Orline St. John, in The St. John Genealogy, had Samuel [b. 168_] as the son of Matthias St. John III [1662-1748] and Rachel Bouton [1667-1748]. This held, and still does in most trees and sources on the St. John family.

 James Noll Churchyard wrote an article, published on his website, Those Four Early Children of Matthias3 St. John: A Solution and a Challenge [2004] in part contending that Samuel was not the son of Matthias III, but Matthias II. He offered convincing arguments and evidence.

I was in contact with James at the time, sharing info and theories. I decided his article would make a good Problem Solving project. Digging through Fairfield Co., CT deeds, histories and various records, I came to the conclusion that Samuel was the son of Matthias II and Elizabeth [_______]   St. John, not Matthias III and Rachel Bouton. His estimated birth was altered from the 1680-1685 range to 1672-1677.

A third theory now exists, bringing Matthias St. John and Rachel Bouton back into the picture - in a manner of speaking.

The St. John Genealogy Website the third theory. A bit of background is called for here. This will be expanded upon in later posts, but here in a thumbnail sketch.

Thomas St. John of Highlight, Glamorgan, Wales moved his family to London in 1577. His wife was Jane Matthew. Thomas and Jane had nine children. Two, Christopher [1581-1629] and Matthew [1590/1-1671] were central figures to the theory.

Christopher was the father of Matthias I [1601-1669, who married Mary Tinker, Thomas [1613-1696]and Nicholas [1617-1689]. The three brothers went to America, Matthias and Nichols to Massachusetts, Thomas to Virginia. Matthew married Sarah [Hoyt?] and went to Massachusetts as well.

Matthew and Sarah had William [1629-1664], Elizabeth [b. 1631], Sarah [1633-1689], Matthias [1635-1712], Joyce [b. 1639], Walter [1643-bef 1703] and Toby [1646-1646].

Per theory, this Matthias was the husband of Rachel Bouton or Button, not Matthias III [1667-1748].
In addition, Sarah married John Gregory and Elizabeth was the wife of her cousin, Matthias II.

Matthias and Rachel were the parents of Samuel St. John. Samuel was born c1685.

The website cites an ancient genetic mutation in the St. John DNA that separates Matthew's line from Matthias' line. Also cited are several Norwalk deeds tying Matthew to son Matthias.

I need to sift through the copies of deeds that I used in Salt Lake to see if I copied the deeds used on the St. John site. For now, I'm trusting my research and the Churchyard research.