Where did Rutherford go to school?

by VM44 26 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Athanasius

  The Watchtower story that Rutherford's father opposed his pursuit of higher education and that young Joe had to take out a loan to hire replacement to work on his father's farm while he was away at school has no historical basis. True the senior Rutherford at the time was expanding his farm and adding a new well, but this work was completed before Joe went off to school. Though Rutherford never attended the University, he did attend a teachers college, or normal school as they were called in those days, for one year. Joe's older sisters were school teachers and no doubt they encouraged him in this field. Thus in March 1888 he was hired to teach elementry school in Syracuse, Missouri. He proved to be a popular teacher and well liked by the school board. Nevertheless, young Joe did not pursue a career in the field of public education.

  In November 1889 Joe took the examination for court stenographer in Morgan County and passed with flying colors. The law required applicants to be able to write 600 words in shorthand in five minutes. Rutherford wrote 600 words in three and one half minutes. He got the job and that was the beginning of his legal and political career.

  My book has an entire chapter on Rutherford's education and unlike the Watchtower history book, all my sources are footnoted and documented.

  So both the Watchtower and its critics are wrong regarding Rutherford's education. True he never attended university or law school, but he did have a year of higher education, a year that he used wisely to learn the skills that he would need in the fields of public education, politics, and religion.
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  M.J.

  Wow! This is good info. Is your book available yet? Did you know which school Rutherford went to? After reading about the normal schools established in Missouri:

  http://www.cmsu.edu/x85021.xml

  it appears that there was a private normal school about 40 miles away from Versailles, MO, in the city of Sedalia, named Central Normal School. The state run normal school closest to Rutherford's area is now known as Central Missouri State University, located about 70 miles from Versailles, MO, and was founded as the 2nd state normal school in 1871.

  Those are two good candidates.
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  VM44

  Athanasius,

  Very detailed info, thanks for posting that. You probably have more details about Rutherford's biography than anyone else on the planet today!

  I hope that you will finish your book and publish it soon, the careful research that you have done will make it _the_ historical reference work on Rutherford.

  --VM44
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  VM44

  I am still wondering about this Boonville Acadamy circa 1885-1890. I even called the Boonville library to inquire, but they did not have any information about such a school from that time period.

  Of course, I do not think I provided enough details about the school. It appears that there might have been more than one school in Boonville over the years that had the name "Academy".

  I was given the number for the "Friends of Historical Boonville" 660-882-7977 and was told that they might be able to track down the Academy Rutherford attended, but I think I will wait for Athanasisus' book to be published before I do more research in this area.

  --VM44
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  Farkel

  Hello, my friend,

  Thanks for the clarification. I knew that JFR did not have a college degree, but I did not know that he did attend some of the "higher education" classes that he later vilified for lesser souls than himself, i.e. his followers.

  : True he never attended university or law school, but he did have a year of higher education, a year that he used wisely to learn the skills that he would need in the fields of public education, politics, and religion.

  I would love to read your manuscript on JFR. You and I both have JFR as a common person-of-interest and we've spoken extensively with each other about this subject. We have Barb Anderson as the CTR expert and you (maybe Penton, also) as expert(s) on JFR. I have a professor friend who is an expert on matters JW and a well-published author who might like to see and evaluate your pre-publication manuscript.

  Unless you've already had your work published.

  You have my number, don't you? If not and you want to discuss this, PM me.

  Farkel
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  VM44

  I will be behind Farkel in line, as I too would like to read the manuscript! --VM44
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  VM44

  This is literally a case of "Publish or Perish"(*)! So please publish! :) --VM44
  

  (*) "Perish" in the sense that this valuable research, if never published, won't be available to researchers to put Rutherford in his proper context.