Joseph F Rutherford's date of birth

Official records for births, marriages and deaths are somewhat hit and miss in 19^th century America, depending where you lived. This resulted in Joseph F Rutherford having to supply an extra document for a 1920 passport application. This was a letter signed by his 77 year old mother to give his true date of birth, since it had not been officially registered at the time. The recognized date came from the family Bible.

Previous surviving passport applications for JFR for 1910 and 1913 had not required this “proof.”