Shep's Place Family Tree

William was said to have been a Dissenting minister of Dunstable. Immediately prior to his death he had charge of the Dunstable and Houghton Regis Baptist Church which met at Thorn. The births of ten member of the family are noted in the records of that church between 1776 and 1788. The first two are spelled Butterfield, which suggests that William took charge between 10 July 1777 and 5 April 1778, after which time the spelling is Buttfield.

In 1778 William was the author of a book "Free Communion an Innovation"...The work is dedicated "To the Church of Christ assembling at Thorn" and was published in London where the British Library holds a copy consisting of forty-six pages plus a foreword of six pages.

It is uncertain whether William married, although a record has been found of the marriage at Dunstable on 21 February 1775 of Mary Parken ‎(nee Gutteridge)‎, a widow, to William Buttfield of Potsgrove. On the other hand, in the 1778 Letters of Administration, his mother was said to be the next of kin.