A Brief History of the Rutherfurd Family

The motto of the Rutherfords of one of the clans is Nec sorte nec fato, represented as "Nor by fate nor by chance."[4]
https://www.houseofnames.com/rutherford-family-crest

  • Daniel Rutherford (1749-1819), Scottish chemist and physician who discovered nitrogen, born at Edinburgh.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_(surname)PeopleEdit
 
  • John Rutherfurd (1760–1840), American politician and land surveyor
  • Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816–1892), American lawyer, astronomer, astrophotographer
  • Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd (1891–1948),  long-time friend of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • Helena Rutherfurd Ely (1858-1920), American author, amateur gardener and founding member of the Garden Club of America
  • Mary Rutherfurd Jay (1872–1953), great, great granddaughter of Founding Father John Jay, one of America's earliest landscape architects and an advocate of horticultural education and careers for women

Picture
 
Morris painted by John Wollaston (c. 1750)
New York State Senator
from the Southern District
In office
July 1, 1783 – June 30, 1790
In office
September 9, 1777 – July 1, 1781
Member of the Continental
Congress from New York
In office
1775-1777
Member of the New York
Provincial Congress
In office
1775-1777
Personal details
BornApril 8, 1726
Morrisania, presently part of Bronx County, New York
Died January 22, 1798 (aged 71)
Morrisania, New York
Political party Federalist
Spouse(s)Mary Walton (m. 1749)
Children10, including Richard
Parents Lewis Morris
Katrintje Staats
Relatives Staats Long Morris (brother)
Richard Morris (brother)
Gouverneur Morris (half-brother)
Robert Hunter Morris (uncle)
Lewis Morris (grandfather)
John Rutherfurd (son-in-law)
Alma mater Yale College
Known Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Descendants: Through his eldest son, Lewis V. Morris, he was grandfather to Lewis Morris (1785–1863) and Sabina Elliott Morris (1789–1857). Lewis Morris (b. 1785) was the father of Charles Manigault Morris (1820–1895), a Confederate Officer. Sabina married her first cousin, Robert Walter Rutherfurd (1788–1852), the son of John Rutherfurd and Helena Morris, and was the mother of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816–1892), a pioneering astrophotographer who took the first telescopic photographs of the moon and sun, as well as many stars and planets

John Rutherfurd
United States Senator
from New Jersey
In office
March 4, 1791 – December 5, 1798
Preceded by Jonathan Elmer
Succeeded by Franklin Davenport
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
In office
1789–1790
Personal details
Born September 20, 1760
New York City, New York
Died February 23, 1840 (aged 79)New Jersey
Political party Federalist
Spouse(s)Helena Morris
(m. 1782; his death 1840)
Relations Lewis Morris (father-in-law)
Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (grandson)
Parents Walter Rutherfurd
Mary Alexander
Picture
Moon, New York, 6 March 1865 – Lewis M. Rutherfurd

Lewis Morris Rutherfurd ~ Earliest Photo's of the Moon, New York, 6 March 1865

Rutherfurd was born in Morrisania, New York to Robert Walter Rutherfurd (1788–1852) and Sabina Morris (1789–1857) of Morrisania. He was the grandson of U.S. Senator John Rutherfurd from 1791 to 1798,[2] and great-grandson of Lewis Morris, the Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
In 1849, Rutherfurd abandoned his study of law to dedicate his pursuits  toward science, particularly astronomy. He performed pioneering work in spectral analysis, and experimented with celestial photography. He invented instruments for his studies, including the micrometer for measuring photographs, a machine for producing improved ruled diffraction gratings, and the first telescope designed specifically for astrophotography.[4]
Using his instrumentation, Rutherfurd produced a quality collection of photographs of the Sun, Moon, and planets, as well as star clusters and stars down to the fifth magnitude. In 1862, he began making spectroscopic studies using his new diffraction grating. He noticed distinct categories of spectral classes of stars, which Angelo Secchi expanded upon in 1867 to list a set of four stellar classes.[6]
Rutherfurd served as a trustee of the Columbia University from 1858 until 1884, and donated his photographs to that institution.[4]
In 1873, then President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Rutherfurd one of the scientific commission to attend the Vienna Exposition, however, he declined the honor due to previous business engagements in the United States. In 1884, he was named by President Chester A. Arthur as one of the delegates to the International Meridian Conference which met in Washington in October, 1885.[2]
He was one of the original members of the National Academy of Sciences created in 1863, and was an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society.[2]


Rutherfurd Observatory is the astronomical facility maintained by Columbia University named after Lewis Morris Rutherfurd. Initially, Rutherfurd housed its telescopes and equipment in midtown Manhattan and later on the Stuyvesant Estate. When the Morningside campus was built, telescopes were kept in a "transit building" where the Interdisciplinary Science Building now stands.