Lineage:Rutherford

According to legend, the first of the Rutherfords was a peasant who guided the Scottish King Ruther across the Tweed just behind the present Rutherford Lodge, where their Chief still lives, and was given the adjoining land for this valuable service. It seems a pity to spoil a good story, but Scottish History knows of no "King Ruther". The ford, however, is genuine enough, and the peasant could well have taken Malcolm Canmore’s great-grandfather across it on his way to Carham, the victory that gave Scotland her present size and shape. It would have cost Malcolm II nothing to give him the land as his well-earned reward, especially as it still belonged to Ethelred the Redeless (or Unready) and the name itself could simply mean "cattle ford" or the somewhat redundant "river ford" (one does not normally ford anything else!). If so the Rutherfords are the second oldest landed family in the Borders after the Swintons, and like them of Anglo-Saxon origin.

• http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ferniehirst/8d.htm