San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WALTER T. RUTHERFORD
A worthy citizen of San Joaquin
County, with whose agricultural and other interests he has been identified for
a great many years, is Walter T. Rutherford who, for the last four years has
been in charge of the field work of the Lodi branch of the Earl Fruit Company
in San Joaquin County. He was born in
Glasgow, Scotland, July 25, 1867, a son of John and Mary (Bowie) Rutherford,
both natives of Scotland, and where the father was superintendent of a large
estate until his death at the age of forty-eight years, the mother living to be
eight-two years old. There were eight
children in the family, seven of whom are living: Isabelle, Annie, Archie, Walter T., our
subject, John, William, Angus gave his life for his country during the World
War, and Mary.
Walter T. received his education in
the schools of his native country and when twenty years of age came to New
York, where he became a landscape gardener in the city parks of Buffalo and New
York for three years. In 1889 he left
New York for the west, traveling through New Mexico and Arizona and reaching
California he settled in Sacramento, where he followed farming and the breaking
of raw tule land; some for Arthur Thornton at New
Hope and for the Eppenger Company on Ryer Island; he also worked on Grand Isle and Staten
Island. He broke tule
land on Ryer Island when the levees were constructed
by Chinese with wheelbarrows.
The marriage of Mr. Rutherford,
November 28, 1906, at Sacramento, united him with Miss Jeannette A. Chase, born
at San Andreas, California, a daughter of Charles Lowe and Addie Jane (Hatch)
Chase, and is one of a family of eight children: Rule L.; Jennie, Mrs. M. J. Burke, resides in
Sacramento; Mrs. Elizabeth Morf resides in Sacramento;
Mrs. Florence A. Blodgett resides in Lodi; Charles Victor is at Mare island;
Daniel P. resides in Sacramento; Mrs. Jeanette A. Rutherford; Wilbur Richard is
a printer residing in Seattle, Washington.
Mrs. Rutherford’s parents were natives of the same town in Maine and
descendants of old Colonial stock. Mrs.
Rutherford’s maternal grandfather, Mark Hatch, came to California in 1849
during the gold excitement and engaged in mining near Jenny Lind, and there built
the first house. Mrs. Rutherford’s maternal
grandmother died in Maine and as the grandfather was already in California, the
children were obliged to come to California to be with their father, so in 1862
Addie Hatch, Mrs. Rutherford’s mother, brought five brothers and sisters to
California via the Isthmus route to the home in Jenny Lind which the father had
prepared; Mark Hatch also planted the first peach orchard at Jenny Lind.
Charles Lowe Chase came to
California via the Isthmus route in 1852 and settled first at San Jose, then to
the mines of Calaveras and El Dorado counties; he cast his first vote in 1856
at Murphys, Calaveras County; later he engaged in the
lumber business at Willow Creek and was known as the champion shingle splitter;
he also owned mines at Chee-Chee Flat, called the Mountain
Ranch, and here the mother taught one of the first schools of the
district. He passed away in 1905 at the
age of seventy-two and the mother was sixty-three years old when she died in
1906. Mrs. Rutherford was educated in
the grammar schools of Lodi and Stockton, and then entered the Stockton high
school from which she was graduated; then entered the University of California,
graduating in 1903. She specialized in
natural science. After graduating from
the University of California, she taught school for two years in the Alpine District
of San Joaquin County, one year at New Hope and one year in the Stockton
schools; she was then obliged to make a trip to Maine to settle her father’s
estate and soon after her return was married to Mr. Rutherford.
Soon after their marriage they
removed to New Hope where they purchased 100 acres of what is known as the
Pocket of the Mokelumne River and on this ranch Mr.
Rutherford conducted a dairy for six years; leveled the ground for gravity
irrigation and built a comfortable bungalow.
When the Western Pacific Railroad was built through his section of the
county, he did the grading work for the tracks through Thornton. Two years ago, Mr. Rutherford sold his ranch
and purchased a home at 201 North Church Street, Lodi, where he and his wife
now reside. Mr. Rutherford was a school
trustee of the Ray School District and is a member of Franklin Lodge at
Cortland, California, and also a member of Lodi Chapter, O. E. S., of which Mrs.
Rutherford is matron. Mrs. Rutherford
has been a member of the Eastern Star for twenty-four years; she is also a
member of the Lodi Woman’s Club and the N. D. G. W., of Lodi. Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford are both ardent
Republicans and members of the Congregational Church of Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
657. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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