John Rutherford and his con flab e dab e dozie family tree

SOME DEBATE
ON JOHN RUTHERFORD’S
ANCESTRY
ALAN RUTHERFORD, WITH MUCH HELP AND EGGING-ON ...
I remember my dad instilling ‘name-pride’ in us kids, saying ‘remember you are a
Rutherford, son’ and it was quite nice to have that belonging feeling … but in later
years I have come to question this familial-pride thing … its interesting to know your
forebears, but also a proud nonsense.
Within our ‘Rutherford’ line, the main bone of contention seems to revolve around our
great grandfather JOHN RUTHERFORD (senior), father of George, James and John
(referred to as the 3 brothers, or 3 step-sons). The second John (one of the 3 brothers),
John Rutherford (junior) is our grandfather.
1
One theory, is that John senior was the son of single-parent Marion Rutherford: where
at 6 years old, his surname is Pickie (in1851), but by 1861 it becomes Rutherford
(see census images on pages 14-15). If he had remained John Pickie ... well, a whole
branch of Rutherfords that have decended from his line could have been surnamed
Pickie? I mentioned this to Carol Callender(a cousin),
‘From our cousin James, I have Marion Rutherford (single parent) as being our greatgreat-grandmother,
and her son, John (Pickie) Rutherford, our great-grandfather, was
actually named ‘John Pickie’ in 1851 census ... which could have meant that all of
us ‘glorious Rutherfords’ decended from him might have had to run the gauntlet at
school with the nickname ‘nose-pickie’ ... wonderful stuff!’
OCTOBER 2016