JOHN B. RUTHERFORD. Of the enterprising and successful farmers who have sought homes in Delaware county in recent years, mention may be made of John B. Rutherford, residing four miles north of Manchester, in Dela­ware township. Mr. Rutherford came to the county in 1872, and during all the intervening years since that date, he has been identified, in a general way, with the best interests, material and social, of the community where he resides, and it is doubtful if any man in his township can make a better showing, so far as his individual fortunes are concerned, than he can for the time that he has lived here. He is an integral part of Delaware county's splendid citizenship, and his name properly belongs in this list of her worthy people.

Mr. Rutherford is a native of Ohio, but comes of mixed strains of ancient Scotch and English stock, by way of New En­gland. His father was of Scotch extrac­tion, his mother of English. They were both born in Vermont, as were also their parents, and even their grandparents. The first ancestor of the name of Ruther­ford who settled on this side of the waters was, as family tradition has it, the great-­grandfather of our subject, who probably came to America in colonial times. He settled in New England, and the line, as extending down from him, is— Andrew, then his son, Ira, and then our subject. The mother  bore  the  maiden  name of Barnum—Emaline S., her Christian name —being a daughter of John Barnum, who was a first cousin of the famous show­man, P. T. Barnum.    Ira Rutherford and Emaline S. Barnum were married in their native State of Vermont, and there began their wedded life, moving, however, at an early date to Ohio, settling in Cuyahoga county, where, in 1852, the mother died at the age of  forty-nine, followed  four years later  by   the  father, aged   sixty. These were engaged in the peaceful pur­suits of   agriculture  all  their lives, dis­charging their duties faithfully as citizens, neighbors, friends and  parents, and lay­ing down  their  burdens at the ends of their journeys  in the serene and happy consciousness of having lived up to the measure   of   their   endowments,   owing ought to none.   They were the parents of ten children, only three of whom are now surviving, the subject of this sketch, and an older brother and sister.    The brother, Horatio, resides in Lake county,  Ohio, and is a farmer, having followed the pur­suits in which he was trained in youth. The sister, Caroline M., now wife of  A. G. Thompson, resides at Cleveland, Ohio. The deceased brothers and sisters are — Herman, Electa, Harriet, Henry, Lydia, Arlen and Truman.

John B. was the youngest of the family. He was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, January 31, 1842. He was reared there, and with the exception of temporary absence, always resided there until coming to this state in 1879. In earlier years he was variously engaged and with varying de­grees of success. He was brought up on the farm and in his youth followed farming pursuits. He received a good common-school education and finished with a higher course in the graded schools of May field in his native county. With that restlessness characteristic of youth, he quit the farm at the age of twenty, and, more possibly with a desire of seeing the world than of accumulating a fortune, he engaged with Noyer Bros., of Cleveland, Ohio, in the capacity of what might be called a traveling salesman, the duties of which position consisted in peddling hard­ware and tinware through the country. Quitting this after the expiration of a year, he returned to the farm, but could not tie himself to the exacting duties of farm life successfully, and after working a few months at the carpenter's trade, went again on the road as foreman and salesman for George A. Baker, represent­ing the Cleveland Lightning Rod Com­pany. Like most men, who once engage in any kind of road business, Mr. Ruther­ford did not find it easy to settle down to the prosaic duties of life. After quit­ting the Cleveland Lightning Rod Com­pany, and another year spent on the farm, he went again on the road representing a firm of Galesburg, Ill., handling Osage orange hedging. He was at this only about a year. Having married a short time previously, he settled in his native place and engaged in cheese-making, so continuing for a period of eight years. He then farmed in Summit county for three years and in 1879 came to Iowa, and settled in this county, as already noted. On coming to this county, Mr. Ruther­ford purchased a tract of land consisting of one hundred and twenty acres lying in Delaware township, four miles north of Manchester, where he has resided since, and where he has been actively engaged in farming. Mr. Rutherford has made money since coming here, as he has deserved to. It has come to him in a legitimate channel, being the result of patient industry and economical management. He has a pleas­ant home and is surrounded with all the comforts and conveniences of farm life. He has been too busy looking after his own affairs to permit of his giving much time and attention to matters pertaining to the public. Besides, he has no desire to figure in his community as a local head­light, political or otherwise. He votes as all good citizens should, and in politics he is a republican. He cast his political for­tunes with the great war party on its or­ganization, casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and he has maintained a steady allegiance to that party since. He exhibits a commendable interest in all matters relating to the wel­fare of his locality, standing at all times for the enforcement of the law and the observance of good government. He believes in maintaining the best educa­tional facilities possible for the youth of the land, having received a reasonably good training himself when young, and knowing from experience the value of it. Living some distance from town his posi­tion will hardly permit of his taking an active part in the different beneficial orders. Still, he has not wholly neglected such things, being a zealous member of the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic fraternity, and a stanch supporter of the broad and benevolent purposes of each of these organizations. He and his excellent wife are both members of the Methodist church, and in accordance with their means are liberal contributors to all chari­table purposes.

Mr. Rutherford was married while residing in his native county, on Decem­ber 14, 1865, the lady whom he took to wife being Miss Helen A. Gates, a native of Mayfield, Ohio, and a daughter of Charles Gates, long a resident of that place. The result of this union has been two children, both girls—Mabel V. and Myrtle G., around whom now naturally cluster the chief interests of their parents' lives.

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