Robert Rutherford (1634–1724) of Essex County, Virginia

Group C Lineage

Descendants of R-FT105716 (est. 1639 CE) and R-FT104166 (est. 1684) in the FamilyTreeDNA Rutherford & Ruth** Surname project trace their genealogical family trees back to Robert Rutherford (1634–1724) of Essex County, Virginia.

The Parentage Debate

The conjecture over this part of the American Rutherford family tree is very relevant because there are well over 12,000 American family trees, on Ancestry alone, that record descent from Robert Rutherford (1634–1728). The debate concerns the Rutherford historians, William Kenneth Rutherford and Kenneth Rutherford Davis.

When William Kenneth Rutherford published his book Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family in 1969, it contained the following page showing Robert Rutherford’s lineage:

Robert is described as “probably” the son of Adam Rutherford of Hall and Janet Rutherford, and “probably” baptized on 6 May 1640 in Jedburgh Parish, Roxburghshire, Scotland. As mentioned above, many family trees are based on this information.

Kenneth Rutherford Davis took issue with this undocumented assumption that Robert was the son of Adam of Hall — which WKR had based on the flawed work of earlier Rutherford historian, Cockburn-Hood. Gary Rutherford Harding, who has done a lot of work on the Rutherfords, describes this episode on his website. And in his words:

By 1986 WKR did admit that Robert Rutherford of Essex County, VA was not the son of Adam Rutherford of Hall. Without directly retracting his 1969 materials, WKR asserted that Robert Rutherford was now “probably” the son of English emigrant John Rutherford. Please see WKR’s 1986 edition, volume 1, pages 140–141.

This 1969 WKR pedigree DOES NOT connect the Rutherfurds of Edgerston and the Rutherfords of Hunthill to Robert Rutherford of Essex County, VA — i.e. WKR’s 1969 assertion is incorrect!

In the revised 1986 edition of Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family WKR now states:

Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family, William Kenneth Rutherford, 1986 revised edition, page 141

“Robert Rutherford is probably the son of John Rutherford who came to Elizabeth City, Virginia in 1621.” There is no attempt to speculate as to who the father of John Rutherford is.

Summary

Although Kenneth Rutherford Davis does not categorically disprove WKR’s assumption that Robert Rutherford b. 1634 was the son of Adam Rutherford of Hall, his conviction that it was wrong, from historical and circumstantial evidence, was enough to convince WKR to withdraw the original pedigree from the 1977 and 1986 editions of his book and replace it with a revised version.

Conclusion

It is essential that there is more Y-DNA testing of selected English and Scottish Rutherford descendants to discover the true lineage of Robert Rutherford b. abt. 1634 in Virginia, USA.