was rutherford a real judge ?and was he married ?

by looloo 4 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  looloo

  was he raised a dub ? or did he see an openig for a power trip ?
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  TD

  was he raised a dub ? or did he see an openig for a power trip ?

  LIke everyone else in his age group, Rutherford was a convert. (He was born in 1869) He served as a substitute judge on several occasions, but did not formally hold that position. From today's perspective, it seems fairly obvious that he saw (And seized) an opening for a power trip.
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  blondie

  *** Proclaimers chap. 7 p. 89 Advertise the King and the Kingdom! (1919-1941) ***Brother Rutherford was survived by his wife, Mary, and their son, Malcolm. Because Sister Rutherford had poor health and found the winters in New York (where the Watch Tower Society’s headquarters were located) difficult to endure, she and Malcolm had been residing in southern California, where the climate was better for her health. Sister Rutherford died December 17, 1962, at the age of 93. Notice of her death, appearing in the Monrovia, California, DailyNews-Post, stated: "Until poor health confined her to her home, she took an active part in the ministerial work of Jehovah’s Witnesses."

  *** jv chap. 6 p. 67 A Time of Testing (1914-1918) ***

  J. F. Rutherford’s BackgroundJoseph Franklin Rutherford was born of Baptist parents on a farm in Morgan County, Missouri, U.S.A., on November 8, 1869. When Joseph was 16, his father consented to his attending college, provided that he pay his own way and that he pay for a hired laborer to take his place on the farm. A determined young man, Joseph secured a loan from a friend and managed to go to college while also studying law.

  After completing his academy education, Rutherford spent two years under the tutelage of Judge E. L. Edwards. By the time he was 20, he became the official court reporter for the courts of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit in Missouri. On May 5, 1892, his license to practice law in Missouri was granted. Rutherford later served for four years as public prosecutor for Boonville, Missouri. Still later, he served on occasion as a special judge in the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri. That is why he came to be known as "Judge" Rutherford.
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  blondie

  http://www.exjws.net/aboutrutherford.htm

  About "Judge" Rutherford

  Just as the Watchtower version of their history (Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom) states, J. F. Rutherford was born November 8, 1869. It further notes that he entered college when sixteen although not saying which college (there were several in the area), says he was under the tutelage of a Judge E.L. Edwards whom Missouri handbooks indicate had been a state supreme court justice. Consulting the history and other works shows that in 1889 when twenty years old he was made an official court reporter, and he obtained a license to practice law on May 5, 1892.
  
  His parents, according to the Catholic priest Rev Richard Felix who lived in the same Missouri county and wrote Rutherford Uncovered (Our Faith Press, Pilot Grove, MO) were "honest, hardworked, respected" people. They were James Calvin Rutherford and Lenora Strickland Rutherford who lived nearly fifty years on a small farm 3 ½ miles north of Versailles. They were active in a church less than a mile from the farm called the Freedom Baptist Church. The father died July 11, 1912. Rutherford's mother died October 9, 1926. There is no indication whether either parent left the Baptists and in fact both were buried in a small cemetery near their church. His mother was a pensioned blind invalid the last three years of her life and Rutherford preached at her funeral.
  
  Rutherford had seven siblings. His oldest brother was W.P. Rutherford who died in the West, possibly California, a few years before Felix's book was printed in 1937. Sisters who were deceased at that time were Mrs Flora Chism, Mrs Lena McDaniels and Mrs Anna Neville. Mrs Ella Newkirk of Tipton and Mrs Virginia Ross of Versailles were then alive as was a younger brother, James B. Rutherford who then lived in Kansas City. The Proclaimers history mentions that Rutherford's wife Mary died on or about December 17, 1962 in California where Rutherford sometimes wintered at the Beth Sarim mansion. A surviving son was Malcolm who it appears may still be alive though not on the West Coast. Mary was a practicing JW but no indication is given that Malcolm was.
  
  As said, Rutherford was sometimes an official Court Stenographer at Versailles (see Circuit Court Book 12, page 416) as well as in Boonville. (Book 19, page 181) The Cooper County Court record Book 19 on page 84 says he was familiar enough with legal forms and procedures that he was admitted to the Boonville bar on May 5, 1892 although not registered at any Law School accredited in Missouri. In the state when a Presiding Judge was absent the bar picked a local attorney to fill in as a substitute judge. This occurred fours times in his own case. Each time it was for only a day. Twice there were no trials that he presided over and on the other two occasions he presided over only minor trials. Therefore his sometimes being called "Judge" Rutherford is rather misleading.
  
  Rutherford was cited for contempt of court on at least three occasions. Proof of this is found in Morgan County Book 13, page 251 for August 8, 1894 and Cooper County Book 2, page 376 on May 15,1895. His worst known impropriety in law during the Missouri years was recorded in Permanent File #5113 of the Cooper County Circuit Court dated February 4, 1896 and involved a case heard by Judge Dorsey W. Shackleford. Rutherford was representing the National Cash Register Company against David Nicholson of Boonville.
  
  After Nicholson had levied a writ of attachment on a cash register machine that had been used at the saloon of Charley Merstetter, a deputy constable named Wright went to seize the machine but Rutherford met him at the saloon, held papers before Wright and told him that if Wright would go to see William Muir Williams the attorney representing Nicholson and who later became a state supreme court judge, then Williams would confirm that Rutherford held possession of the machine. Wright left the machine to speak with attorney Williams and upon returning found that machine gone. Rutherford then lied that the machine had been sent on to Sedalia, Missouri, for deputy Wright found it "concealed" in a second office of Rutherford beneath some papers.
  
  The court ruled against the National Cash Register Company which had the case appealed but it lost on appeal too as is shown by examination of Missouri Appeal Reports Volume 68, page 441 c.p.447. And of course, the Watchtower history, Proclaimers, never even hints at this early scandal.

  Another point deserving further inquiry is whether or not Rutherford was a prosecuting attorney in the strict sense of the title. Missouri state handbooks are also called "the Blue Books" and when those are examined for the years 1893 through 1902 they show that the Cooper County prosecuting attorneys were Ernest R Hayden, C.D. Corum and Ernest Chambers. This not entirely rules out his having substituted in such a function and acting in a prosecutorial or pugnacious manner; hence the issue is still unclear and for other researchers to resolve. During Rutherford's years in Missouri as well as today in 1999, if one is a county's prosecuting attorney then this means he has been elected as such for a two year term. Cooper County's elected officials during the Rutherford years were most all Democrats.
  
  Another interesting issue is that the Proclaimers book notes that Rutherford was first contacted in 1894 when he was twenty-four by two traveling peddlers of for the Watchtower Society who were then called colporteurs. He bought some of their books and wrote an appreciative letter to the Society and yet he was not baptized a JW until twelve years later in 1906 at age 36. Then a mere one year later he went off to the Society's headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, to serve as legal counselor. Proclaimers notes that he was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar in May 1909. After the death of the Society's founding President Charles Taze Russell on October 31, 1916, a Halloween, Rutherford became the next President, wrestled power from opposing board members, deleted all democratically-elected elders. Membership plunged until he compelled those who remained to recruit extensively from door-to-door. His death occurred January 8, 1942 in San Diego.
  
  One work in particular stands out from his early years in Missouri, and it may well have foreshadowed his later taking control of the Society which, beyond the fact that it served as a promoter of religious ideas, was and is even more concretely a publishing firm for religious materials. He compiled a 128-page work called "Laws Of Missouri. Compilation of the Laws and Legal Forms for the Convenience of Farmers and Mechanics Merchants And Bankers. Business Manual" which was printed by Stahl & Stahl. A date is not included on his work but the publishers' preface states that he was then "one of the leading members of the Boonville bar." The book was well-organized and roughly half of it consisted of advertisements from Boonville merchants. This must have realized quite a profit and showed him that there was much money in publishing. Today the book is a genuine collectors' item seldom seen even within Missouri.
  
  Rutherford's actual burial site is officially given as on the East Coast but this too is uncertain. Another mystery is whether he was also a Mason, which is not an insignificant issue at all in view of the fact that much evidence exists that the Watchtower Society's first President, founder CT Russell, was also a Mason. Therefore this writer concludes by express hope that other persons who have access to directories listing the Masons in Missouri will pursue this additional mystery as I myself am no longer able to return to my sources and hereby express sincere appreciation to Randy Watters for publishing what I was able to find out.

  contributed
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  FairMind

  It is interesting to note that according to Wikipedia the Judge was not very well loved.

  Death

  About age 70, he went through several medical treatments for intestinal cancer. He went through more than one operation in 1941, but never fully recovered. He died in San Diego, California on January 8th, 1942 at the age of 72. His funeral was attended by four people, none of whom were related to him.

  It is not just that his wife and son didn’t attend his funeral but neither did many of the brothers from Bethel. Says a lot about the man doesn’t it?