Rutherford College, North Carolina
John Rutherford Sr.
Upper Middle:
To the Memory of John Rutherford, Senr.
A Native of Bedford County Virginia
Born October 5th 1755
Died May 9th 1841Upper Right:
To the Memory of ?U??NNA RUTHERFORD
[broken] Departed This Life
[broken] 29th 183(1?)
in the [broken] ?4th Year of Her Age
A Native of Bedford County, VirginiaLower Left:
To the Memory of Nancy Rutherford
Who departed [broken] Oct 17 1868Lower Middle:
[Broken]
Jane R. Rutherford
who Departed this Life 24th January 1848Lower Right:
To the Memory of Cecilia Rutherford
who Departed this Life 28th July 1847The Black Rutherford graves:
In Memory of Hannah Rutherford
Was Born Nov 1st 1803
and Died March 25th 1834Amy S. Rutherford
Born Dec 4 1834
Died Sept 22 1898
Aged 63y 9m 18dIn Memory of Julius A. Rutherford Son of Silva Rutherford
Died Sept 17th, 1857 Age 4y 8m 12dTo the Memory of Moses Rutherford
A Faithful Servant
Died Feb 27 1860 Aged 63 YearsMemorial of Daniel Webster Rutherford
Born Sept 5 1836
Died June 4 1896 Aged 59 Yrs 9 mos
To the memory of John Rutherford Jr.
Born Oct 18th 1789
Died March 18, 1880
Moses Rutherford
Scottish Covenanters were enslaved by the English Anglicans and sent to the West Indies, Barbados and the Carolinas: "The accounts of their tragic hell ships makes painful reading. Hundreds of these godly men and women, shipped to be sold as slaves, perished in those terrible conditions through disease, and in fearful storms were drowned miserably, battened under hatches. From those who reached the plantations, black slaves heard the Gospel. And thus, white-skinned slave and black rejoiced in one common Lord."
Rutherford Cemetery Overview
The Myth of the “Southern Lost Cause”
At the 1860 Democratic Convention in Charleston, SC southern Democrats made one demand of the dominant political party of the era and that demand had nothing to do with states' rights. To the contrary, the south made an ultimatum at the convention insisting on an unprecedented expansion of federal power to defend the institution of slavery. This ultimatum split the Democratic Party and the Republicans won the White House in 1860 under the banner of Abraham Lincoln. Therefore, the view of the Civil War as a war about 'state's rights' and not 'slavery' is revisionist history at its worst. The confederacy's official "Statement of Secession," clearly stated that its number one and overriding reason for secession was the fact that the North would no longer support slavery. Northerners, like the British, were part of a growing international movement that recognized slavery for what it was, a cruel and evil system which was profoundly unchristian and flat wrong.
140 years later, neo-confederates have developed the southern romance of 'Gone with the Wind’. This romantic fantasy sees the south quite differently from the rest of the world. Admitting that the confederacy was wrong is not part of the fantasy. White southerners emerged from the Civil War thoroughly beaten but largely unrepentant. Anyone with eyes can see the impact of slavery, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement on American history, particularly in the south. When a ‘downtrodden group’ feels subjugated or oppressed, they always come up with ways to justify their wrong doings, the neo-confederates are no different. The myth of the “Southern Lost Cause” is a feeble over compensation for deep feelings of inferiority and guilt.
The myth stands against all history and logic. The Civil War was all about slavery and slavery was all about a bigger myth . race. No people on earth are more confused about the issues of race vs culture than North Americans.
Deuteronomy 23:15-16
“Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.”
“Lex, Rex” - Question XIII
by Rev. Samuel Rutherford Saint of the Covenanters.. Slavery of servants to lords or masters, such as were of old amongst the Jews, is not natural, but against nature.
.. Slavery should not have been in the world.
.. A man being created according to God's image, he is a sacred thing, and can no more, by nature's law, be sold and bought, than a religious and sacred thing dedicated to God.
.. Every man by nature is a freeman born, that is, by nature no man cometh out of the womb under any civil subjection to king, prince, or judge, to master, captain, conqueror, teacher, etc.
The Rutherfords were, as was common, intermarried Scots, African Americans and Cherokee. My 5x's great grandfather was black and most of his descendants live in North Carolina and Indiana today. Prior to the civil war, the Rutherfords both black and white, lived together in Burke County, NC without the stereotypical "racial problems". The family is actually tri-racial and, like the descendents of Thomas Jefferson, we are aware and proud of this legacy. Many African Americans didn't just take the surname of their European slave owner, but were actual family members.
In North Carolina the Rutherfords were part of a social movement which was later called "The Quaker Migration" even though they were not Quakers themselves. The Quaker migration was a massive protest against slavery. Some 50,000 North Carolinians left the state and moved to Ohio and Indiana in protest of slavery during the fifty years prior to the Civil War. My family was among them. As more and more restrictive laws concerning African Americans were passed, some Quakers, like Levi Coffin went beyond the Quaker meetings and began to illegally assist blacks fleeing the state. This was the beginning of the "Underground Railroad". Levi Coffin, who became known as the unofficial president of the Underground Railroad, used many freed African Americans, as well as white Americans to assist in moving escaping slaves along the lines from Carolina to Canada. It is interesting to find that future president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, offered free legal services to defend slaves in the Cincinnati courts. Rutherford B. Hayes was a Rutherford on his maternal side.
Leaving North Carolina meant my Rutherfords were faced with an unthinkable problem i.e. splitting up the family. Since most white North Carolinians did not sympathize with "the migrants" many took advantage of the migrant's attempts to sell their land and leave. Those families of mixed race like the Rutherfords had an additional problem - leaving was illegal and therefore impossible for those who looked black under the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. They would have to disguise themselves as slaves and thereby loose their Rutherford farmlands or stay as "free men". So the "black Rutherfords” stayed in Burke County, NC after their freedom and legal ownership of the Rutherford estates was formalized. The "white Rutherfords” sold what land they could and traded the rest for slaves. These slaves were near kin and friends of the Rutherfords, Hyatts, Birchfields, Dobsons and Leatherwoods of western North Carolina. These “black Rutherfords” came to Indiana with them where they were "given their freedom". This happened in the same way with many other family groups. The communities they founded in Ohio, Illinois and Indiana were the "Canada side stations" of the Underground Railroad. Interesting enough, there is a town called Rutherford College in NC and a town called Rutherford in Indiana. Our family still lives in both places.
Many of the Borders Clans in Scotland, such as the Rutherfords, Armstrongs, Kerrs and Scotts, were strongly opposed to slavery. The Rutherfords of North Carolina [Burke, Lincoln, Rutherford and Buncombe Counties] are not unique in that they were intermarried with Cherokee and black families. Those members of the Rutherford family who could not pass as white, although freemen, were not allowed to go north to Indiana. All of the Rutherford land holdings were transferred to their legal ownership and many of these properties are owned by black Rutherfords today. Local whites who supported slavery were aware of why the Rutherfords and others were leaving. Selling the land became impossible - there was a boycott. Instead of selling, many traded their land for slaves, who in turn, accompanied them north to freedom. They were the nucleus of the Indiana and Ohio Underground Railroad. These black communities still exist in southern Indiana - among them is a small town called Rutherford ..the family cemetery is called “Little Africa”.
