WELCOME!
Our family
My name is Ethne Holt and I am a direct descendant of: DONALD and ISABEL SUTHERLAND (Isabel's maiden name: McLeod).
This website has been created to help descendants from our 'SUTHERLAND FAMILY' trace their family connections and by doing this, we hope it will lead us to tracking down any living Sutherland family who may be residing in Scotland UK; who would be instrumental in piecing together more of our Sutherland family history.
FACEBOOK PAGE:
Family History Info. (Sutherland & Dudek)
This website has been created to help descendants from our 'SUTHERLAND FAMILY' trace their family connections and by doing this, we hope it will lead us to tracking down any living Sutherland family who may be residing in Scotland UK; who would be instrumental in piecing together more of our Sutherland family history.
FACEBOOK PAGE:
Family History Info. (Sutherland & Dudek)
Where it all began.....
At front of Edinburgh Castle UK
My journey begins on 12 August 2010 while on holidays staying with family in Ireland when I flew to Edinburgh UK to track down our Great great great grandfather Donald Sutherland and his wife Isabel McLeod's 'Marriage Certificate'. I wanted to be sure we had some evidence to prove these ancestors where actual people and connected to our Sutherland family.
While visiting: 'SCOTLANDS PEOPLE CENTRE' (all Scottish Records are held here), after 40 minutes of research under Donald Sutherland's name on the computer with the help from an assistant, we miraculously found the 'Marriage Certificate' under Isabel McLeod's name.
http://www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/
Information entered at Scotlands People Centre to bring up Marriage Certificate
SURNAME: M*Leod FORENAME: I
YEAR RANGE: 1805 to 1805 COUNTY/CITY: Midlothian
DISTRICT: Edinburgh
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE: shows a full page, listing names of various people who married on this day - details are as follows and recorded 4th name down page:
(188) Edinburgh 29th July 1805 - Donald Sutherland Sergeant R.U.B Edinburgh Castle & Isabel McLeod College Church Parish daughter of the deceased Alexander McLeod Soldier 42' Reg.
I had the opportunity of visiting Edinburgh Castle soon after leaving 'Scotlands People Centre', which was a truly amazing experience for me as I felt so connected to our ancestor Donald Sutherland who served as a Sergeant R.U.B at the Edinburgh Castle.
Geneology - refer tab above: 'DANIEL SUTHERLAND' for our genealogy details
DONALD SUTHERLAND (DOB: 1773-1774? from Halkirk, Caithness) married ISABEL McLeod and had the following children:
Nathaniel - DOB: 18 May 1806 - (Died: 1 Aug 1883 in NZ)
Isabella - DOB: 19 July 1808 - (Died: 25 Aug 1889 in NZ)
Margaret - DOB: 23 March 1810 - (Died: we are looking into the possibility that she may have traveled to Canada )
Daniel (our ancestor) - DOB: 27 July 1812 - (Died: 18 April 1854 in NZ)
J0hn DOB: 2 Feb 1818 - (Died: 26 Aug 1865 in NZ)
While visiting: 'SCOTLANDS PEOPLE CENTRE' (all Scottish Records are held here), after 40 minutes of research under Donald Sutherland's name on the computer with the help from an assistant, we miraculously found the 'Marriage Certificate' under Isabel McLeod's name.
http://www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/
Information entered at Scotlands People Centre to bring up Marriage Certificate
SURNAME: M*Leod FORENAME: I
YEAR RANGE: 1805 to 1805 COUNTY/CITY: Midlothian
DISTRICT: Edinburgh
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE: shows a full page, listing names of various people who married on this day - details are as follows and recorded 4th name down page:
(188) Edinburgh 29th July 1805 - Donald Sutherland Sergeant R.U.B Edinburgh Castle & Isabel McLeod College Church Parish daughter of the deceased Alexander McLeod Soldier 42' Reg.
I had the opportunity of visiting Edinburgh Castle soon after leaving 'Scotlands People Centre', which was a truly amazing experience for me as I felt so connected to our ancestor Donald Sutherland who served as a Sergeant R.U.B at the Edinburgh Castle.
Geneology - refer tab above: 'DANIEL SUTHERLAND' for our genealogy details
DONALD SUTHERLAND (DOB: 1773-1774? from Halkirk, Caithness) married ISABEL McLeod and had the following children:
Nathaniel - DOB: 18 May 1806 - (Died: 1 Aug 1883 in NZ)
Isabella - DOB: 19 July 1808 - (Died: 25 Aug 1889 in NZ)
Margaret - DOB: 23 March 1810 - (Died: we are looking into the possibility that she may have traveled to Canada )
Daniel (our ancestor) - DOB: 27 July 1812 - (Died: 18 April 1854 in NZ)
J0hn DOB: 2 Feb 1818 - (Died: 26 Aug 1865 in NZ)
Tracking Family History
From Edinburgh, I drove 4 hours to a small town called Golspie and stayed at: 'The Golspie Inn', which is a 2 minute drive to 'Dunrobin Castle'. This is the castle my mother Yvonne Yelash (maiden name: Sutherland) often spoke to me about and where our Sutherland ancestors would often gather. Even today Sutherland's across the globe continue to gather at Dunrobin Castle for special events.
While at the Golspie Inn, I stumbled across some Scottish History from a booklet, where I learned the background behind what is known as: 'THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES IN SCOTLAND', which is the reason why so many Scottish people along with some of our ancestors were driven from out of their homeland Scotland to setup a new life in New Zealand - refer the following links to find out more:
HIGHLAND CLEARANCE: www.scottishweb.net/articles/34/2/The-Highland-Clearances-In-Scotland/Page2.html
GOLSPIE INN: http://www.sutherland-business.co.uk/business.php?id=230
While at the Golspie Inn, I stumbled across some Scottish History from a booklet, where I learned the background behind what is known as: 'THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES IN SCOTLAND', which is the reason why so many Scottish people along with some of our ancestors were driven from out of their homeland Scotland to setup a new life in New Zealand - refer the following links to find out more:
HIGHLAND CLEARANCE: www.scottishweb.net/articles/34/2/The-Highland-Clearances-In-Scotland/Page2.html
GOLSPIE INN: http://www.sutherland-business.co.uk/business.php?id=230
Possible 'Sutherland' Connection
While staying at the Golspie Inn, I had an amazing experience where I bumped into a gentleman while heading outside the Inn to re-park my car whose name is: Ramsay Sutherland and he was also doing research on his family history. Ramsey who I am sitting next to could be a relative, he is pictured here with his wife Bea on the far right and they used to own the Golspie Inn formerly known as 'Sutherland Arms'.
Next to Ramsay is his sister they currently live in Aberdeen UK. We are still researching further to see if there maybe some family connection.
Next to Ramsay is his sister they currently live in Aberdeen UK. We are still researching further to see if there maybe some family connection.
Family Research Begins
At front of Donrobin Castle, Golspie UK
When we came home from our holiday, I felt impressed to go through my copy of the 'Jane Barque Ship List' to reconfirm details of our Sutherland ancestors, who during this tragic time were forced from their homeland to travel by ship to New Zealand. The ship left England on 28 November 1840, made Port Nicholson on 24 May 1841 - refer web link below.
It is from there that I picked up on only 4 of Donald and Isabel's 5 children being listed on this Ship List, it appears Margaret Sutherland may have remained behind with her parents in Edinburgh or Scotland.
JANE BARQUE SHIP LIST: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/Jane.htm
It was early 2011 when an earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand. My mother Yvonne was extremely worried for the safety of family living there so she tried contacting family via phone only to find that the phone lines were down. I felt strongly to try and locate these family members via Facebook and was fortunate enough to track some of our Sutherland relatives. From here, I kept in close touch with a newly found 1st cousin Eruera Sutherland who has a lot of knowledge relating to our Sutherland Family History and who has been a huge help in confirming with me many missing pieces of our family history. It is from here I setup a 'SUTHERLAND FAMILY HISTORY Discussion Group in Facebook allowing family to share information or ask questions relating to our Sutherland Family History which to date has been extremely successful.
April 2011, while setting up an online SUTHERLAND FAMILY TREE in 'My Heritage', with help from our Sutherland family they updated their individual family lines. I soon discovered there was a: 'SMART MATCH OPTION' - simply meaning people in 'My Heritage' have the exact or similar Family Tree details which matches your information. I managed to track down the Site Manager of this Family Tree whose name is: Phillipa Nidd and learned that her husband Alister Transom's direct ancestor is: NATHANIEL SUTHERLAND the brother of our ancestor DANIEL SUTHERLAND.
The link below is a Blog Page which Phillipa Nidd created providing Family History information relating to NATHANIEL SUTHERLAND:
http://niddfamily.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/alisters-tree.html?showComment=1336041209057#c5959472574688876897
It is from there that I picked up on only 4 of Donald and Isabel's 5 children being listed on this Ship List, it appears Margaret Sutherland may have remained behind with her parents in Edinburgh or Scotland.
JANE BARQUE SHIP LIST: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/Jane.htm
It was early 2011 when an earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand. My mother Yvonne was extremely worried for the safety of family living there so she tried contacting family via phone only to find that the phone lines were down. I felt strongly to try and locate these family members via Facebook and was fortunate enough to track some of our Sutherland relatives. From here, I kept in close touch with a newly found 1st cousin Eruera Sutherland who has a lot of knowledge relating to our Sutherland Family History and who has been a huge help in confirming with me many missing pieces of our family history. It is from here I setup a 'SUTHERLAND FAMILY HISTORY Discussion Group in Facebook allowing family to share information or ask questions relating to our Sutherland Family History which to date has been extremely successful.
April 2011, while setting up an online SUTHERLAND FAMILY TREE in 'My Heritage', with help from our Sutherland family they updated their individual family lines. I soon discovered there was a: 'SMART MATCH OPTION' - simply meaning people in 'My Heritage' have the exact or similar Family Tree details which matches your information. I managed to track down the Site Manager of this Family Tree whose name is: Phillipa Nidd and learned that her husband Alister Transom's direct ancestor is: NATHANIEL SUTHERLAND the brother of our ancestor DANIEL SUTHERLAND.
The link below is a Blog Page which Phillipa Nidd created providing Family History information relating to NATHANIEL SUTHERLAND:
http://niddfamily.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/alisters-tree.html?showComment=1336041209057#c5959472574688876897
Conclusion
Dornoch countryside
Looking back to when I first worked on our 'Sutherland Family History' and given the little amount of information and knowledge provided and then connecting with cousin Eruera Sutherland along with our ancestor DANIEL SUTHERLAND's brother NATHANIEL SUTHERLAND's family line members: Alister Transom, Murray Sutherland and Andrea Robinson this has truly been one incredible journey. We are learning so much about NATHANIEL and his family line which is so interesting and Andrea Robinson has provided some information relating to DANIEL and NATHANIEL's sister ISABELLA and her family line which is exciting news for us all.
It has been wonderful having us all working together to further our family history in the hope of finding answers to what happened to DONALD and ISABEL SUTHERLAND along with their daughter MARGARET SUTHERLAND. We remain hopeful of the possibility that someday we will connect up with any living Sutherland family over in the UK, this would no doubt be one of our greatest blessings we could ever receive as a family.
We welcome any Sutherland's searching this website who feel they maybe connected to our Sutherland family to please leave a 'Comment' below with an email address and I will reply to your request as soon as I can.
It has been wonderful having us all working together to further our family history in the hope of finding answers to what happened to DONALD and ISABEL SUTHERLAND along with their daughter MARGARET SUTHERLAND. We remain hopeful of the possibility that someday we will connect up with any living Sutherland family over in the UK, this would no doubt be one of our greatest blessings we could ever receive as a family.
We welcome any Sutherland's searching this website who feel they maybe connected to our Sutherland family to please leave a 'Comment' below with an email address and I will reply to your request as soon as I can.