I know ... but you'll have to wait for the book.

I have a full subscription to ancestry.com, so I thought I'd try to find some more information.  Now according to this article (http://www. geocities.com/paulblizard/myears.html), Mary Rutherford died "on or about December 17, 1962 in California".  So the first logical thing to do was to check the California Death Index.  There I found the following listed:

So we now know a few new things we didn't know before.  One is that Rutherford's wife was born on 17 August 1869 in Missouri.  The other thing is that she resided specifically in Los Angeles, not San Diego (where Beth Sarim was located).  Missouri is the same state that "Judge" Rutherford hailed from, and interestingly his birthdate was 8 November 1869 (according to the article cited above), which made Mary a few months older than him, but basically they were the same age.

With the new information, I was able to refine my search to find more accurate information on Mary Rutherford.   Next I was able to check the 1930 census where I found her listing in the ennumeration list:

Now we know specifically that she lived in Monrovia, Los Angeles, (at least in 1930) and that she was the head of her own household.  That fits with the fact that she was separated from "Judge" Rutherford. 

The census next gives information on her home status.  It says that she owned her own house, her house was valued at $5000, and her house included a radio set.  Next, her marital condition was listed as "Married".  Then it says that her age when she was first married was 21.  This means that she married Rutherford in 1890.  By extension, we now know that J. F. Rutherford likewise married when he was the same age.  Next the census listed her father as having been born in Germany and her mother as having been born in France.  Next, when asked if she had an occupation, Mary replied, "None".  That is interesting.  What was the source of her income? 

Finally, the census gave her address.  She lived at 160 N. Primrose Avenue, Monrovia, Los Angeles, CA.

I downloaded a copy of the census page, if anyone wants it.

I could check more on her later, but that's what I have now.  The best thing, I think, is to find an obituary from 1962 that might give more details about her life.

 

I have varing stories about her and Rutherford's son.  I heard that she didn't live with him after he became president of the WTB&TS perhaps sooner.  Heard she died a faithful JW.  Don't know the son's name but he wanted nothing to do with the WTS or his Father from something I read or was told.  That he became a homeless person riding the train rails I think.  How much of this is true.  It was throught that Rutherford never spoke of his wife or saw her.  Why I don't know.  I bet the WTS supported her till her death though.  But this is all speculation based on what I have heard or read. 

Wouldn't it be great if someone could give us the scoop on all of them.

Ruth

Malcolm C. Rutherford was born on Nov. 10, 1892, and died on June 22, 1989, and lived in Arcadia, California-(Los Angelos).

That is allI have been able to dig up on him. Would love to find out more info.

All indications are that nobody could stand being around Rutherford!

There was talk even of some congregations (companies then) signing a "loyalty" oath to Brother Rutherford. This was during the time of the Moyle trial.

In 1929, 13 years into his reign, Beth Sarim was built, to get Rutherford away from Brooklyn, he was interferring too much in the operations!

What was it about him that he could have a following of a large number of witnesses, but those who worked with him and knew him wanted him to go away?

But still, no one would speak out or say anything against him, either then, or now.

Leolaia, that is some great research you did. I would like a copy of that census page.

--VM44

BeelzeDub....That info confirms what I independently found in the 1930 census, that Mary Rutherford was first married in 1890. VM...If you send me a PM with your email, I'll send the gif image as an attachment. ohiocowboy....Thanks for the lead...I should be able to find more info, especially if Malcolm was a professional.

Another interesting thing about the 1930 census is that her next-door neighbors, the Swains (Mr. Roy A. Swain and Mrs. Carolyn R. Swain, with 4 children), were from Missouri and New York. Roy himself was from Missouri and his wife Carolyn was born in New York, and the four children were born in New York. So, like J. F. Rutherford himself (and probably Mary), Roy Swain moved from Missouri to New York, and like Mary Rutherford moved to live in Monrovia, Los Angeles. I wonder if the Swains were friends of Mary or were fellow Bible Students. Anyone know anything about the Swains?

I also found Mary's listing in the 1920 census. The copy is less legible so I can't read the age very accurately but it doesn't give her middle initial, but the listing does indicate the father as German and the mother as French, so I think it is the same person. In this earlier census, her address is given as something like 1256 N. Eastlake Avenue, but the copy is so illegible it is hard to tell what the numbers are supposed to be. But it is pretty clear that the address is "Eastlake" and not "Primrose". Might have the street changed its name?

On edit: I found Roy A. Swain's obituary here.  It says that he died in 1939 at his home in Monrovia, and that he married Miss Carolyn G. Yost in New York City in 1906.  Anyway, it looks like they were probably not associated with the Watchtower.....it says that the Swains left New York in 1908 to Newton Falls where Mr. Swain had a position with the Newton Falls Paper Co., and then moved to Los Angeles by 1910 to become superintendent of the Cylinder Paper Co., only to then move to Illinois and then back to California in 1916.  Since 1921 he was the West Coast representative for the L. L. Brown Paper Co.  Nothing about his religion, but it looks like he moved around because of business.  I wonder where the WTS got their paper from, but anyway it looks like the Swain's association with Missouri and New York might be a coincidence....

 

Fascinating info, Leolaia.

I just love how the WTS, obscures that fact in their history book by calling him a "Special Judge"  What exactly is a "Special Judge"?  Does that mean he got to wear one of those funny looking helmets?

Okay, I found a listing in the 1910 census for a "Mary Rutherford" born in 1869, living in the Los Angeles area (i.e. Long Beach), but I have no idea if it is the same person because there is no index for the 1910 census to the actual individual entries:

I also checked the 1880 census for Missouri and found the entry on the Fetzers. Mary's father is listed as John Fetzer, aged 55 (thus born in 1825). John Fetzer's occupation is listed as "physician," and his place of birth is stated as Westerberg, Germany. This neatly confirms what the later California census data stated, that Mary Rutherford's father was a native of Germany. John Fetzer's wife was listed as Mary Fetzer, aged 44, with her occupation stated as "keeping house". Mary's birthplace is given as Hannover, Germany. Interestingly, Mary declared in later censuses that her mother was from France. I'm not sure if this is accounted for by a post-WWI change in borders and if Hanover at one point was part of Belgium. The single child of the Fetzers was named as "Mary Fetzer," who was born in Missouri and whose age was given as 11. The Fetzers also had a live-in servant named Hannah Prigg, aged 18, and they all lived in Rolla, Phelps, Missouri.

Meanwhile, I found a listing for "Joseph Rutherford," aged 11, resident of Haw Creek, Morgan, Missouri. Looks like he grew up in a big family. His father is listed as James Rutherford, aged 43, whose occupation was listed as "farmer". James Rutherford was born in Michner, Tennessee. Joseph's mother was named "Lanora Rutherford," aged 37, who was born in Senneku, Tennessee. Her occupation was "keeping house". They had 7 children (!). The oldest child was Virginia (sp.?), aged 20, who was employed as a school teacher. The next two oldest children were also girls, Anna (aged 19) and Salena (aged 17). Hmmm, does it sound like the Rutherfords were trying hard to have a son? The next oldest children were William, aged 15, and Florence, aged 13. Then, finally, do we come to Joseph, aged 11. But he wasn't the youngest child. Well, for much of his young life he was, but the Rutherfords had one last son, Berkie (sp?), who was aged 4 at the time of the census. No other occupation was given for the other children, except for William who was stated as "works on farm".

I have copies of each of these censuses.

On edit: The 1870 census lists a "Mary Fetzer" from Hannover, Germany living in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri. Cooper is the county that BeelzeDub gave as where little Mary was raised. It looks like it might be more accurate to say that Mary was born in Cooper county and then moved before the age of 11 to Rolla in Phelps County. The 1870 census also states that mother Mary was married to a physician named John Fetzer who was born in Wirtemberg, Germany. John Fetzer appears to have been somewhat wealthy; the value of his real estate was $15,000 and the value of his personal estate was $300. Mary Rutherford also appears to have had several siblings, such as Anna (aged 16), a brother F. (aged 15), a sister M. (aged 10/12), and a brother R. (aged 4). Little Mary would've been an infant at the time of this census so she wasn't counted.