Sutherland, Murdoch

Rev. Murdoch Sutherland (c.1826-1858) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and school administrator. Born in the parish of Kildonan, Scotland, Sutherland entered New College, University of Edinburgh in 1845 to prepare himself to become a minister in the Free Church of Scotland. In 1848/1849, the Free Church’s Colonial Committee, who had been subsidizing his studies, sent Sutherland to Nova Scotia for mission work and to attend the newly established Halifax Free Church College. He returned to Scotland in 1850 after catching tuberculosis, completed his theological studies at New College, and was ordained in 1853. That year he also married Isabella Campbell (b. 1831), the daughter of Rev. James Campbell (1782-1859) and Johanna Polson Urquhart (ca.1792-1831). Murdoch and Isabella had at least three children: Joanna Sutherland (b. 1854), James Sutherland (b. 1856), and Annie Sutherland (b. 1858).

In July 1853, Rev. Sutherland returned to Nova Scotia and, in January 1846 become the first pastor of Knox Church, Pictou. He was called because of his “burning zeal and piety” and was known as “the Robert Murray McCheyne of Nova Scotia.” A church building was erected in 1848. While in Canada, Sutherland helped to build up the Synod of the Free Church of Nova Scotia and, in 1854, was instrumental in establishing the Free Church on Prince Edward Island. By November 1857, Sutherland’s health was poor, and he returned to Scotland in hope the more moderate climate would help, but be died of tuberculosis on April 21, 1858, around the age of 32.

After Rev. Sutherland’s death, Isabella, his widow, married Rev. Alexander Ross in Pictou in 1862. Rev. Ross was minister of Knox Church, Pictou from 1860 to 1879. Isabella and Alexander had at least four children: Christina Isabella Ross (1862-1927), Georgina Ross (b.1865), Isabella Ross (b. 1868), and Wilhelmina Catherine Ross (1870-1932).