Joseph Franklin Rutherford
Joseph Franklin Rutherford (November 8, 1869- January 8 1942), sometimes known as Judge Rutherford, is best known as the second president of the Watch Tower Society, the legal organization used by Jehovah's Witnesses. He was preceded by Charles Taze Russell.Rutherford was born to a farm family in Morgan County, Missouri, his parents being Baptists. His father opposed his interests in law studies,but allowed him in the end to go to college. After completing his education, he worked as a court reporter and was admitted to the bar at Boonville, Missouri. Still later he became a special - or substitute - judge in the same Fourteenth Judicial District of Missouri. Hence, he was often referred to as "Judge Rutherford".
He became interested in the teachings of The Bible Students in 1894, after he and his wife had seen three of the books of Russell's work Millennial Dawn. He was baptized as a Bible Student in 1906, and in 1907 he became their juridical councelor. He served as a travelling overseer in the following years. He was elected President of the Watch Tower Society in 1916, after Russell's death.
In 1918 he served a year's imprisonment together with seven other men in Atlanta, Georgia, for opposing Selective Draft Act and the Espionage Law, charges that were later dismissed.
His writings were widely distributed among Witnesses in the United States and abroad. In 1931 at a convention, Rutherford delivered a talk proposing the adoption of a new name for the group, known as International Bible Students or Bible Students. They all adopted the name of Jehovah's Witnesses there.
J.F. Rutherford served as President of the Watch Tower Society until his death in 1942 in San Diego, California.