My years of genealogy research have taught me never to make assumptions or go by guesswork about the identity of individuals from the past, the only sure way is to use official public records such as birth, marriage and death records or the Federal, State or City censuses.
A little digging has been interesting if frustrating, because as mentioned previously, I don't have access to US records. But I found a few details by luck.
There were several other Joseph F Rutherfords in the US during the lifetime of the Watchtower leader. One was born in the same year but died age 6. The list includes Joseph F Rutherfords who were born or lived in the following places: Des Moines, Iowa; Wyandotte, Kansas; Alabama; Texas; Illinois; Utah, Georgia and Missouri.
There are 12 pages of John F Rutherfords, including one born in 1866 in Green, Hickory, Missouri, a 2 hour drive from Boonville.
It's also necessary to be careful when searching official documents, as for example in the 1920 Federal census, Joseph Franklin Rutherford is listed as RUTHERFORD F. JOSEPH. Could be confusing.
See below copy of sheet 11a of the 1920 US census for the Borough of Brooklyn in Kings County, New York. (If you save the image to your PC, you can enlarge it).
![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
On line 1 is RUTHERFORD F. JOSEPH - born in Missouri, mother from Tennessee, father from Missouri.
Other details are that 'the residence' was owned freehold, he was the Head of the 'household', age 50, white, married, able to read and write, profession - Minister, Bible Society. He worked on his own account (i.e. not an employer or salary/wage worker). The rest of the 'household' are listed as boarders, from various countries but all white, working as ministers, clerks, stenographers, cooks, printers, an editor, a janitor, a typist, a writer and a few individuals with no job. There's a 12 year old schoolboy living there (poor thing!) with his parents. I presume there are further pages, but I only had access to this one. There were 92 dwellings and 252 families.
This establishes proof that the Watch Tower Rutherford was born around 1869 in Missouri. If someone with the right Ancestry subscription could look up other censuses to establish whether or not there was another J Rutherford with different parents, different date of birth, different occupation, who lived in Boonville, Missouri, it would help to determine the current question one way or another.
The WT Joseph Franklin's parents were James Calvin Rutherford and Lenora Strickland. They died in Pilot Grove, Cooper, Missouri, about a 20 minute drive from Boonville.