MS, PrMS, PR, TS

Correspondence, legal documents, military forms, receipts, promissory notes, and other items comprise Joseph Robinson Rutherford's papers.

The papers pertain to family concerns; Company "A", Arkansas Home Guard Militia; carming, the sale of Seth Thomas clocks, and other business interests.

Upon moving from Tennessee to Benton County, Arkansas in 1851, Joseph Robinson Rutherford began a varied career as farmer, businessman, politician and U.S. army captain.

The family records, including correspondence and wills, record the struggles of frontier life in northwest Arkansas. Although the correspondence is mainly concerned with the health of family members and community news, some reference is made to farming, clock selling and other business ventures.

Upon the deaths of Albert G. Rice and Wesley Pearce in 1852, Rutherford was commissioned to close out the clock selling business of the Rice, Fitzgerald and Pearce Company. In addition, Rutherford was named executor of his brother-in-law Wesley Pearce's estate. Many documents relating to Seth Thomas clocks and other business transactions, 1839-1852, came into Rutherford's possession. Correspondence, statements of account, receipts, promissory notes and contracts record the number of clocks ordered and sold, as well as shipping routes for a flourishing frontier enterprise.

A Whig turned Republican, Rutherford joined the union forces at the beginning of the Civil War. Under the command of Colonel M. LaRue Harrison, Rutherford established a home defense colony for the protection and sustenance of area civilians. Known as Company "A", Arkansas Home Guard Militia, the colony was built at Union Valley, Washington County, Arkansas. One of several documents from this period is a roster of colony residents, most of them widows with small children, described by Rutherford as being "destitute both of money and provisions."

After the war, Rutherford became actively involved in reconstruction of the state. Correspondence between Rutherford and his nephew, Benton County Representative (1870-1874) Frank Owen, document state legislative action and Republican party activities and sentiment.

Rutherford continued farming and other enterprises from 1865 until his death in about 1904. He bought and sold land in northwest Arkansas. As indicated by statements of account, receipts, notes and contracts, Rutherford ran a grocery store and postoffice in Cincinnati, Arkansas, and later Trident, Arkansas.

This collection of 324 items provides a clear picture of the family life, politics and economy of a prominent Benton County family from early statehood through the Civil War and Reconstruction periods in Arkansas.

Selected Correspondents

Family:

Joseph Robinson Rutherford

Louisa Eveline Pearce Rutherford (wife)

Alfred Pearce (LPR's brother)

Daniel Pearce (LPR's brother)

Wesley Pearce (LPR's brother)

Mary Ann Pearce McCasland (LPR's sister)

Civil War and Reconstruction:

Albert Webb Bishop (Adjutant General of Arkansas)

Lafayette Gregg

Jesse Frank Owen (JRR's nephew and 7th District Representative to the Arkansas Congress, 1868-1874). "John Francis, called Frank"

George A. Purdy (Post Adjutant, Fayetteville)

David Walker

William Woodbridge (Provost Marshall, Fayetteville)

Business:

Joseph B. Fitzgerald (Partner of Wesley Pearce in the Rice, Fitzgerald and Pearce Clock Company)

Albert G. Rice (Partner of Wesley Pearce in the Rice, Fitzgerald and Pearce Clock Company.

Seth Thomas

David Walker

Correspondence, legal documents, military forms, receipts, promissory notes, and other items pertaining to Joseph Robinson Rutherford (1826-1904) of Benton County. Rutherford was born in Hiawassee Purchase, Tennessee, and served in the United States Army during the Mexican War. After moving to Arkansas in 1851, he engaged in farming and was involved in the settlement of a Seth Thomas clock business. Rutherford lost his first wife after the outbreak of hostilities in 1861 and subsequently enlisted in the Federal army. Commissioned as captain of Company A, Arkansas Home Guard Militia, Rutherford established an agricultural colony for destitute Unionist families on Excelsior Farm, a large tract of land near Prairie Grove (Washington County), which was owned by William Wilson, a Southern sympathizer. Captain Rutherford renamed the farm "Union Valley" and administered the colony until July 1865, when William Wilson engaged Fayetteville (Washington County) attorney Lafayette Gregg to sue for repossession of his property. After the war Rutherford became actively involved with the Reconstruction efforts in northwest Arkansas and with the policies of the Republican Party. The collection includes correspondence, military orders, and requisition forms dealing with the administration of the Union Valley farm, including exchanges with military authorities stationed at Fayetteville in 1864 and 1865. The earliest Civil War letter, dated September 4-6, 1862, is from George Gardier Bosworth, serving on the Union gunboat Mound City at Helena (Phillips County). Apparently unrelated to Rutherford, Bosworth wrote to an unidentified northwest Arkansas resident and detailed his escape from the area to Union lines near St. Louis and operations with his gunboat on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers near Vicksburg.