SUTHERLAND – Beelies, Gairn, Tam & Daan.

The Estates Register for the establishment of Hopeman gives a listing of settlers who purchased plots of land to build houses in the village. The entries commence at 1806 through to 1920 and has the following for Sutherlands.

1806 –  William Sutherland   –  seaman  –  Dunbar Street

1806 –  Innes Sutherland Jnr   – seaman  –   Shore Street (Peepy’s)

1810 –  James Sutherland  Jnr – seaman  –  Shore Street (Peepy’s)

The attached family tree are the descendants of John Sutherland and Jean Flett who lived in the Findochty area around 20 miles along the coast from Hopeman. They had a son James b.1761 who married a Margaret McPherson on the 17 Jan 1784 in Findochty, parish of Rathven, Banff.

When married, James and Margaret lived in Findochty and had two children, James b.1786 and William b.1787.  Around 1790 they relocated to Campbelltown, Inverness where they had another six children between 1791-1806. The Campbelltown/Ardersier area near Inverness served Fort George and it is where the majority of the old established fishing families in Hopeman originated as they were offered good terms to settle in Hopeman and there was good fishing grounds. It is considered that the James and William mentioned in the Estates Register are for their two eldest sons James(jnr) and William and it has also been said that perhaps the complete family did not relocate to Hopeman.

William would have been one of the first settlers having arrived around 1805 aged 19 and purchased land for a house in Shore Street during 1806. Shore Street was later renamed Peepy Street.

James (jnr) married Janet Main and purchased land during 1810 at the end of Dunbar Street and this was the family home for many generations. He fathered a lot of the future Sutherland family’s including the Beelies at 5 & 7 Duff Street, the Tam and the Daan families.

See sections on Estates Register and Maps for more details.

There may have been other Sutherland families who came to Hopeman

See attached family tree –

Download the Sutherland Family Tree [pdf]