Married by Judge Rutherford

2022 marks the centenary of the famous 1922 Cedar Point, Ohio, convention in Watch Tower history. For one couple it would have been an extra special memory – it was where they got married.

Below is a page about the convention from the Sanddusky Star-Journal for Sepember 8, 1922.

Homing in on the article we can see that at least one wedding was planned for the event, with Judge Rutherford billed as officiating at the ceremony.

 The groom was Harry Charles Rouse (1891-1940). Harry was born in the Greater London area in the UK. At the age of 18 in 1909 he signed up for the Territorial Army in Britain, but it appears that in that same year he went to the United States. The 1930 census gives 1909 as the date for his arrival in America. At some point thereafter he became a Bible Student, because when he was called up for American military service on June 5, 1917, he claimed exemption on the grounds that he was a member of the International Bible Students Association.

The bride was Marjorie L Roe, who was born in America from Irish parents in 1894. We don’t know when she passed away, but she was still alive when her one daughter got married in 1951.

So Charles and Marjorie were married at the Cedar Point, Ohio, convention and the newspaper noted that Judge Rutherford officiated. However it also noted that for legal reasons of residency the civil ceremony had to take place elsewhere. This is why the official marriage registers show this was taken care of by a Justice of the Peace.

Harry and Marjorie were to have one child, a daughter, Marjorie Arlene Rouse (1928-2002). Marjorie Arlene was to marry a George Pratt Bray in 1951.

We do not know if Harry and Marjorie stayed as Bible Students. In the 1940 census, shortly before he died, Harry’s occupation is given as a masseur for the YMCA. When the daughter married in 1951 it was in a conventional church.

With thanks to Tom who sent the newspaper and started the trail.