It is not intended to slam the Judge.
Rutherford wasn't a judge. He occasionally stood in when the judge was unavailable. By the same standard that 'Judge' Rutherford is so called, a great many lawyers of the time could call them selves 'Judges'.
i found this article online when i was researching information on another post and i am only posting it as an historical item of interest.
it is not intended to slam the judge.. .
i apologize if this has been posted and discussed before..
It is not intended to slam the Judge.
Rutherford wasn't a judge. He occasionally stood in when the judge was unavailable. By the same standard that 'Judge' Rutherford is so called, a great many lawyers of the time could call them selves 'Judges'.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
ILoveTTATT2:
Here's another time where he appeared in the same newspaper.
http://truthhistory.blogspot.mx/2012/12/j-f-rutherfords-first-book.html
I am aware of that reference. Not sure how it establishes mentions of him often as was suggested.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
Athanasius:
Despite the evidence, and there is much more, Watchtower apologists will no doubt argue that perhaps there were two Joseph Franklin Rutherfords living in Boonville and the one who belonged to the Knights of Pythias was not their guy.
Your source might be suitable (a screenshot would be nice given the rapid desire for the claim to be true) for passing mention that Rutherford was a member. If the citation is genuine, it's quite strange indeed that it would not have been provided first instead of more ambiguous references. It does not meet the standards for citing it in Wikipedia - need a source that unambiguously identifies him (specifically) to be a member, not a passing mention of a name. Ideally, this would be source discussing Joseph Rutherford.
It's still not clear why Watchtower apologists should want it to be false, or why some here so badly want it to be true, since it would indicate nothing about any later allegiance to the group. JW literature is full of 'life stories' of people who used to be members of some other group.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
Jeffro.........If you choose to ignore the evidence and not do your own research, that is your business. Don't belittle others on this post that are making the effort. When you actually take the time to read all the articles online, form your own reasoned out conclusion and create an intelligent rebuttal, only then will I give any of your postings credence.
Oh no. Some random person on the Internet won't give me 'credence'. Woe is me. I've read what's available online on the matter. Haven't seen a single original source that says Joseph Rutherford was a member of the Knights of Pythias (nor any reason why it would merit repeated exclamations of "wow"). But feel free to provide a link.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
sparky1:
Jeffro...............you are in over your head. Just accept that and move on. I have examined lots of newspapers from that era online. J.F. Rutherford , the lawyer was some sort of local celebrity. The 'preponderance of evidence' suggests (notice that I didn't say proves) that more likely than not, ILoveTTATT2 is probably making a correct assumption.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. There is hardly a 'preponderance of evidence'. There is an assertion that something might be the case because someone has the same initials as someone else. Nothing more has been established.
Rutherford was a lawyer (was never officially a judge), and that could well have afforded him some celebrity in a small town, but that does not make him a member of the Knights of Pythias. It is not impossible (or significant) that he might have been a member (or a guest speaker by virtue of his 'celebrity') at some point, but it seems quite odd that no such explicit statement seems to exist in any of this supposed 'preponderance of evidence'.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
slimboyfat:
The Boonville Advertiser mentioned Joseph Rutherford often.
For example?
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
Jeffro:
It is entirely possible that is someone else. There is no basis for asserting that a different J. F. Rutherford visited from elsewhere, not that there were more than one J. F. Rutherford in the town itself.
Well... those sentences were badly botched, and in a manner that confused the meaning. Sigh. Was in a hurry.
It is entirely possible that it was someone else. There is no basis for asserting that a different J. F. Rutherford did not visit from elsewhere, or that there could not be more than one J. F. Rutherford in the town itself.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
slimboyfat:
I guess it's remotely possible that it is someone else, or that some other kind of mistake is involved (newspapers are known to make mistakes) but that doesn't make it likely.
It is entirely possible that is someone else. There is no basis for asserting that a different J. F. Rutherford visited from elsewhere, not that there were more than one J. F. Rutherford in the town itself. Further, John F. Rutherford was a prominent figure in various lumber companies, being the president of at least two, and those lumber companies had strong ties with, and many members in, the Knights of Pythias. Being a member of both the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen, it would not be in the slightest bit surprising for him to be both a toastmaster at Knights of Pythias events, nor to speak on behalf of the Woodmen, both as indicated in the available sources.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
slimboyfat:
More to the point it seems to be entirely in character.
Fraternal groups were quite popular at the time, and it if were him (which has not been established), it would be entirely unremarkable.
It is still not remotely clear why this potential 'discovery' merited multiple 'wows' and other 'excitement' in the initial post and some of the subsequent responses, since early membership of some group does not indicate any allegiance to or affiliation with that group later.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
Athanasius:
The editors of the local newspapers, Boonville Advertiser, Missouri Democrat, and the Central Missouri Republican, were aware that there would have been confusion if there were two Rutherfords in Boonville with the same initials, and would have taken steps to avoid this by using the person's full name or listing his occupation.
That, of course, is just your assumption.
Moreover JFR was not always referred to in the local papers as J. F. Rutherford. Sometimes as Joe Rutherford, attorney Rutherford, Joe F. Rutherford, and once as "Battling Joe" during the 1892 Presidential campaign.
The fact that Joseph was sometimes referred to as things other than J. F. Rutherford has no bearing on anything unless one of those more specific references says anything about membership of the Knights of Pythias.