Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Rutherford, Kate McGregor |
Born |
Apr. 18, 1897 |
Birthplace |
Bayside Farm, Sydenham Township |
Places of residence |
"Bayside Farm", Leith area, Lot 35, Concession A, Sydenham Township, Grey County Likely boarded in Owen Sound for highschool? Toronto (four years) Moved to Alberta and taught at Ryland, west of Hearst Taught at Fort William (now called Thunder Bay) Travelled to various places Angola, Africa |
Father |
Malcolm Rutherford (d. 1938) |
Mother |
Annie Rutherford (nee Mitchell) |
Nationality |
Canadian |
Education |
Leith School (S.S.#13 Sydenham) Owen Sound Collegiate Institute (O.S.C.I.) Toronto Normal School (teacher's training) University College Toronto (4 years) Church Training Schol |
Notes |
Circa 1960, Kate Rutherford came home to Canada on a furlough from her missionary work in Angola, Africa. She was serving with the United Church's Women's Missionary Society. Born in 1897, she grew up on a farm in Sydenham Township. She had two sisters and a brother. Her family's farm, known as "Bayside Farm", was started in the 1840s, by her grandparents, Thomas and Catherine Rutherford. Next door to their farm in the 1880s+ was Tom Thomson's family. Long before he became a famous artist, he used to sometimes help his neighbours with haying or hoeing the turnips. Kate's family family attended the Presbyterian church at Leith (later became the Leith United Church in the 1920s). There is a 1917 diary written by her sister Margaret in the Grey County Archives that sometimes mentions Kate. At that time, their brother Tom (Thomas J. Rutherford) was overseas serving with the 4th C.M.R. Their mother, Annie, also passed away that year. Kate went to the Toronto Normal School for her teacher's training and taught for two years at the Leith School. After her brother Tom returned from the Great War, she went to Toronto's University College for four years and then moved to Alberta to teach. She taught at Ryland, west of Hearst. She graduated from the College of Education and next taught at Fort William Collegiate & Vocational Institute (present-day Thunder Bay). She decided to enter the church training school. She had a commission service at the Leith Church on August 8, 1928. Then she travelled to Angola, in Africa (see p. 293 of HISTORY OF SYDENHAM VOLUME II for a description of her mission work. She died at Toronto in 1980, and is buried at the historic Leith Church Cemetery. |
Occupation |
Schoolteacher / Teacher United Church Missionary to Angola, Africa (Women's Missionary Society, W.M.S.) |
Publications |
"Kate Rutherford Back From Africa For Christmas", OWEN SOUND SUN-TIMES, December, 1960 (newspaper clipping includes an image of her with some souvenirs) Cathcart, Ruth, HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION (history of the Rutherford residence in Sydenham Township) Rutherford, Jaffray, SIX GENERATIONS: THE RUTHERFORDS AT BAYSIDE FARM, 2009. HISTORY OF SYDENHAM TOWNSHIP VOLUME II 1967-1988, pages 38, 57, 293 |
Relationships |
Brother: Brigadier Thomas J. Rutherford of Leith and Owen Sound Sister: Margaret (Maggie) Thomson Rutherford of Leith b. Aug. 31, 1894 Sister: Jessie Isabel Rutherford b. April 18, 1900 |
Role |
Teacher/Educato |
Spouse |
n/a |
Children |
n/a |
