Son of Jo­el and Mar­tha Cor­nel­i­us, Ru­fus mar­ried Ma­con Bur­le­son in 1895, in El­lis Coun­ty, Tex­as, and had sev­en sons. He lat­er worked in the mu­sic pub­lish­ing bus­i­ness. At one time, he was an of­fi­cer of the East­ern Ell­is Coun­ty Aux­il­i­a­ry Sing­ing Con­ven­tion. His works in­clude:

• Paeans of Praise, with An­tho­ny Sho­wal­ter et al. (Dal­ton, Georg­ia: The A. J. Sho­wal­ter Com­pa­ny, 1905
• Harvest of Light, 1913
• Calvary Hymns (Fort Worth, Tex­as: 1915)
• Heart Mel­o­dies (Fort Worth, Tex­as: 1926)

1. O I Want to See Him