Captain James “Jheemes” Rutherford

Reference RX1 — Roxburghshire, Scotland.

Name and Vital Dates

Ref# RX1
Gender: Male.
Full Name: Captain James Rutherford (also recorded as: Rutherfoord, Jheemes Ridderfort, Rotherforth, James Rodersort; loc. desc: of the Scots Brigade in Holland).
Titles: Captain in the Dutch Scots Brigade(Scottish Brigade in Holland); Officer of the States-General of the Netherlands.
Lifespan: Born circa 1605 at Nisbet Farm, Nether Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland; died before March 1668(Testament, Dative and Inventory recorded 9 March 1667/68 in Edinburgh).

Lineage: Born into the Nether Nisbet branch of the Littleheuch cadet, with brothers RX2 Samuel Rutherford, Rev. and RX3 George Rutherford, Rev.. Father of the “Four Brothers” of Ulster. See also the Pedigree chart.
Parentage: Youngest son of William Rutherford of Nether Nisbet and Margaret Jane Gibson.
Siblings: Younger brother of the Covenanter theologian RX2 Samuel Rutherford, Rev. and the non-conformist educator RX3 George Rutherford, Rev..

Spouse: Married Maragreta Gledstein (Margaret Gladstaines) on 24 November 1639 inside the garrison church at Fort Crèvecoeur near ’s-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant, following the publication of marriage banns in Woudrichem and ’s-Hertogenbosch
Issue (Children):
- M1 Samuel Rutherford, Rev.: Presbyterian minister who settled in County Monaghan, Ireland.
- DO1 John Rutherford, Rev. Captain: Combined clerical and military life, settling in County Down, Ireland (Newry).
- T1 Robert Rutherford of Oritor: Settled at Oritor, County Tyrone, Ireland.
- MO1 Moses Rutherford, Capt: Settled in County Monaghan or County Tyrone; fought alongside his brothers in the Williamite wars.

Continental Service: Left the volatile Anglo-Scottish borders as a young man to pursue a professional military career. He entered the service of the States-General of the Netherlands, joining the elite Scots Brigade—a legendary mercenary corps of Scottish soldiers fighting in the Thirty Years’ War and the Eighty Years’ War.
The Battle of Calloo (1638): Fought at the bloody Battle of Calloo against Spanish Imperial forces. He was captured on the battlefield and held securely as a high-status prisoner of war at Fort Lillo near Antwerp, before being ransomed or exchanged just prior to his 1639 wedding.
The Academic Mission (1649–1651): Because of his dual status as a respected Dutch officer and brother to Scotland’s premier theologian, the Dutch authorities twice sent Captain James across the North Sea to offer RX2 Samuel Rutherford, Rev. a prestigious Professorship of Divinity at the University of Utrecht.^[1]
High-Seas Capture (1651): During one of these sensitive diplomatic journeys, James’s ship was intercepted by an English Royalist cruiser. Plundered of all his belongings—including the official Dutch academic decrees—he was imprisoned at Leith until the Dutch States-General negotiated his release.^[1]
The Siege of Grave (1674): James served alongside the French at the Siege of Gravelines where he lost his leg. John Lauder describes it as a “tree leg”.

The Academic Mission (1649–1651): Because of his dual status as a respected Dutch officer and brother to Scotland’s premier theologian, the Dutch authorities twice sent Captain James across the North Sea to offer RX2 Samuel Rutherford, Rev. a prestigious Professorship of Divinity at the University of Utrecht.^[1]
High-Seas Capture (1651): During one of these sensitive diplomatic journeys, James’s ship was intercepted by an English Royalist cruiser. Plundered of all his belongings—including the official Dutch academic decrees—he was imprisoned at Leith until the Dutch States-General negotiated his release.^[1]

The Battle of Calloo (1638): Fought at the bloody Battle of Calloo against Spanish Imperial forces. He was captured on the battlefield and held securely as a high-status prisoner of war at Fort Lillo near Antwerp, before being ransomed or exchanged just prior to his 1639 wedding.

Demise: Died alone in Utrecht sometime before 1668 possibly 1666.
Succession: The formal 1668 Scottish testament of his two nieces Barbara (daughter of his brother RX3 George Rutherford, Rev.) and Agnes (daughter of his brother RX2 Samuel Rutherford, Rev.) legally settled his continental assets. It is believed his son Samuel was later driven by religious persecution to Ulster, where with his three brothers in military service they established the prominent “Four Brothers” lineage.

The Diaspora Pipeline: Captain James Rutherford is historically remembered as the critical bridge connecting the Scottish Border Rutherfords to the rest of the world By introducing a legacy of professional continental military training to his sons, he directly prepared the next generation to help the Williamite forces at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 whose victory altered the course of history

William Anderson, The Scottish Nation (London: A. Fullarton & Co., 1871), 3:395.