Joseph F. Rutherford's wife was Mary Malcolm Fetzer, and they were married on December 30, 1891. See the January 1, 1892 Boonville Weekly Advertiser, page 1.
The couple had a son, Malcolm, born on November 10, 1892 and weighed twelve pounds. See the November 11, 1892 Boonville Advertiser, page 1.
JFR had an older sister named Mary Virginia Rutherford, who was born on October 18, 1859. She was a school teacher by profession and didn't get married until 1905, when she would have been 46. On November 8, 1905 she married Asa L. Ross. See RECORD OF MARRIAGES, Morgan County Missouri.
Back in 1988 when I began research for a biography of JFR, an ex-JW friend told me that JFR had an illegitimate daughter who was born in 1929. According to him the daughter was still alive in 1988 and lived in Ohio. This was a rumor and must be treated as such. But then in 1991 I had a telephone conversation with another exJW, who told a slightly different account. He said he would send me more information, but never did.
JFR's wife Mary, outlived him by 20 years, dying in 1962. In my files I have an exact date for Malcolm Rutherford's death. But at present don't have the time to dig for it. But he died sometime during the 1980s. I wrote the executor of his estate for information on Malcolm's papers, but never received a reply.
