William Turner (W.T.) Rutherford was an early businessman of Huntsville. He was the son of Shelton and Hannah Romans and was born October 13, 1813 in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He came to Randolph County in 1831 with his parents, grandparents, and his siblings. His father Shelton Rutherford, son of Joseph Rutherford and Mary Shelton bought land near what is now Higbee, Missouri in 1835. Shelton died in 1844 leaving his children W.T., Joseph, Hayden L., Jesse, Mary Ann, Sarah Ellis, Hannah Rutherford Heatheman, and Shelton Jr. Three sons died in infancy. His mother Hannah had died in 1835. W.T.'s oldest brother Doctor Joseph Rutherford died in 1839 not long after being elected to the State Legislature. He was one of the earliest doctors in the county and formed a partnership with the Doctor Waller Head who was already here. Brother Hayden Lewis was born October 2, 1816 and married Cassandra Goggin on August 30, 1836. He purchased land in 1840 just a little outside of what is now Huntsville north of what is now Route C. He died December 22, 1858 and is buried in the Huntsville City Cemetery. Hayden operated a hotel in Huntsville and was a trustee of the Hudson Land Company. The Hudson Land Company founded Hudson, Missouri which was merged with Macon City to form the present city of Macon. His brother Jesse was born 24 March, 1819. He married twice, first to Sallie Adams, then to Mary Jane Herndon. Jesse and Sallie along with the Turner family founded the Huntsville Christian Church. Jesse died March 15, 1866. Shelton Rutherford was born November 18, 1820 and died June, 1907. He married Frances Dooley. Hannah was born September 28, 1825 and married Thomas L. Heathman. Thomas had his own farm, but worked for W.T. at times. Thomas and Hannah were the parents of State Representative William Thomas Heathman. Hannah died January 30, 1904. A first cousin of W.T.'s father, Eli owned land northeast of what is now Cairo, and apparently came with the family to Randolph County. A second cousin of W.T.'s father, Archibald Rutherford came to Randolph County about the same time, and purchased land north of what is now Route O west of Huntsville. He was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky in October of 1793, and was named for his father who served in the Revolutionary War under General George Washington as a teamster. His father had resided in Jessamine County, Kentucky near W.T.'s parents and grandparents. Archibald was a veteran of the War of 1812 and during the Civil War refused to take the loyalty oath and as such could no longer vote. He died June 7, 1883 at the age of 90. He was buried on his farm west of Huntsville in a family cemetery that is now unfortunately lost. That was William Turner Rutherford's family all of which had some impact on Huntsville as well themselves.
W.T. Rutherford married Phoebe Jane Dameron on July 19, 1839. Phoebe died when she was only 36. Following her death he married Rebecca Johnson, the widow of his brother Hayden. All of his children were by Phoebe. They had Joseph Sheldon (who died under a year old), Hayden Lewis, Cordelia Rutherford Lemley, Sarah Celinda (died young), Margaret Josephine (died young), William N., Laura Jane (died as an infant), Laura Alline Rutherford Hammett, James Dabney (died young), and Jennie Belle Rutherford Taylor. Phoebe died less than a year after Jennie Belle was born. His first land purchase in the county was made on November 23, 1836 and then he bought an adjacent tract of land on May 22, 1837. He bought more land in that area in 1840. This land was about ten miles north of Huntsville on the edge of Dark's Prairie just north of where the present hamlet of Darksville is. In 1843 he entered the tobacco business under the employ of his father in law Joseph C. Dameron. Following his father in law's death in 1846 he farmed for a couple of years on the Grand Prairie near what is now Cairo. He then moved to Huntsville in 1848 where he bought the large two story red brick house on North Main people in town now know as the Rutherford House. That same year he entered into partnership with Garth and Wisdom buying and selling tobacco. In 1855 he started his own tobacco business, and at one point he and his partner E.E. Samuel owned two of the three tobacco factories in Huntsville, and combined they shipped from two and a half to three million pounds of tobacco a year to markets in Europe. Between Rutherford and Samuel they sometimes employed upwards to 325 people. This made Huntsville at one point the second biggest tobacco market in the state. He served on the city council and as city treasurer, and was instrumental along with many others in helping with the first fair held in Huntsville in 1854. In 1870 he began coal mining as president and general manager of the Huntsville Coal and Mining Company. Along with J. M. Hammett, E. P. Kerby, John N. Taylor, G. W. Taylor and R. E. Lewis he served as the contractor for the construction of Randolph County's third courthouse completed in April of 1884. And he was an investor in the Fleming Rake Factory serving on its first board of directors as president.
William Turner Rutherford was so instrumental in the growth of Huntsville that the 1920 History of Randolph County Missouri by Alexander H. Waller states, "He was a prominent man of central Missouri and Randolph County and his life was closely identified with the growth and development of Huntsville." Very few could perhaps argue that. The only other group of men that may have come close would have been the Hammett family or perhaps the Austins who also contributed greatly to the early growth of Huntsville. Many of W.T.'s descendants still live in the area and are active in the Huntsville community so his impact is still being very much felt.