Biography found in "The History of Berrien County" 1906, page 977.

JOHN R. SUTHERLAND. In the death of John R. Sutherland Berrien county lost one of her most prominent and useful citizens, for he was numbered among the honored pioneers who aided in laying the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of the county. He was born in Broome county, New York, September 8, 1832, and was but seven years of age when brought by his parents to Michigan, the family home first being established in Kalamazoo county, near the city of that name. Four years later a removal was made to Berrien county, and when John R. had attained the age of eleven years the family located in Bainbridge township, which was his home for many years. After his marriage, October 5, 1856, Mr. Sutherland settled in Pipestone township, his first home being a little log house and his first farm consisted of eighty acres, to which he subsequently added another eighty-acre tract, but afterward sold forty acres of his farm. Wild was the region into which he came, and from that early period he was prominently identified with the history of southwestern Michigan, being closely connected with the progress and advancement of this section. He was a Democrat in his political affiliations, and fraternally was a member of the Masonic order. His death occurred on the 22nd of December, 1904. His was a long, useful, active and honorable life, and his name is indelibly inscribed on the pages of Berrien county’s history. His remains were buried in the Penyan cemetery in Bainbridge township.

Mrs. Sutherland, who bore the maiden name of Mary A. Shippy, was born in Jefferson county, New York, February 24, 1834, a daughter of William Shippy, also a native of that state, and who died when his daughter was but seven years old. Her mother, nee Lydia Ingraham, also a native of the Empire state, afterward married George Collis, and in 1848 came with her husband to Berrien county, Mrs. Sutherland being then fifteen years of age. After her marriage she located in Pipestone township, where since her husband’s death she has had the supervision of the old homestead farm of one hundred acres. For fifty eight years she has made her home within the borders of Berrien county, and during fifty hears of that time has resided in Pipestone township, so she has been a witness of almost its entire development and progress. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland, six sons and two daughters, namely: Ida, the wife of S. M. Clawson, whose history appears on other pages in this work; Edgar G., who died in California at the age of twenty-four years; Lissa, the wife of Theodore Hartsell, of Pipestone township; Nelson B., who married Clara Ely; John H., who married Vena Bakeman; Charles W., who married Maggie Rush; Ovid O., who married Katie Rush; and Aubrey D., who was drowned on the 4th of July, 1906, and who had married May Pearl. All of the children were born and reared in Pipestone township.