Alameda County Biographies

Marshall J. Rutherford

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
        Marshall J. Rutherford, a practicing attorney of Oakland, has won 
success at the bar and is numbered among the able representatives of the legal 
fraternity here. His birth occurred in Vallejo, Solano county, California, on 
the 14th of April, 1880, his parents being John and Mary Rutherford. The father 
came to California in 1861, settling in Vallejo, where he was employed as a 
locomotive engineer until 1885. In that year he came to Oakland and here resided 
until 1891, when he removed to Calistoga, Napa county, California. He was 
engaged as a locomotive engineer until 1902, but for the past eleven years has 
devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits.
        Marshall J. Rutherford attended the graded and high schools of Vallejo 
and Calistoga until 1899, when he came to Oakland and learned the machinist's 
trade, working at that occupation for four and a half years. During that period 
he continued his studies in the evening high school. Subsequently he went to 
Palo Alto, Santa Clara county, California, and there spent one year as a student 
in the Manzanita Hall Preparatory School for Boys, while later he attended The 
Lyceum, a preparatory school in San Francisco, for eight months. He next entered 
the University of the Pacific at San Jose and won the degree of B. A. in 
December, 1909. Having decided upon a professional career, he then matriculated 
in the law department of the University of California and in 1912 received the 
degree of D. J. The University of the Pacific likewise conferred upon him the 
honorary degree of Master of Arts. He was admitted to the bar in Oakland and has 
already built up an extensive and lucrative clientage. His is a natural 
discrimination as to legal ethics, and he is so thoroughly well read in the 
minutia of the law that he is able to base his arguments upon thorough knowledge 
of and familiarity with precedents, and to present a case upon its merits, never 
failing to recognize the main point at issue and never neglecting to give a 
thorough preparation.
        While obtaining his education Mr. Rutherford spent his vacation periods 
in travel, working his way to various places. His first trip was taken on the 
steamer Queen, plying between San Francisco and Vancouver, British Columbia, on 
which he spent five months as oiler. The next year he worked as oiler for three 
months on the steamer Korea, which sailed from San Francisco to China, Japan and 
Honolulu, and during the following year spent three months as deck engineer on 
the steamer Transport Buford, which sailed to Honolulu and Manila. During the 
next year he worked as oiler, water tender and machinist on the steamer 
Acapulco, which sailed to Mexico and Panama, and in the year following spent 
three months as machinist and junior engineer on the steamer Mongolia, which 
sailed to Honolulu, Japan and the island of Formosa.
        Mr. Rutherford gives his political allegiance to the republican party, 
while his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. Fraternally he is 
identified with the Woodmen of the World. Oakland is fortunate in having as a 
member of its legal profession a young man with the ability possessed by Mr. 
Rutherford. His professional knowledge is exhaustive and in his presence he is 
tactful, his ability winning him a greater degree of success than usually falls 
to the lot of an attorney of his age and experience.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 287