Daniel Sutherland. Origin: Unknown

Daniel Sutherland was a New Providence merchant who was granted 120 acres in the current settlement of McKann’s, and a ½ acre in an unusual stand-alone lot on 1 February 1791 in Bowers, just south of The Bight. Sutherland was possibly also granted land of unknown size and location on 6 December 1789, that was bounded by the lands of Abraham Pratt, Mrs. Mary Hary, the sea, and vacant land. This may now be Crown Land, but we do not know the surname Hary (sp?). Abraham Pratt land grants were in Burnt Ground, but Sutherland is not shown in that area on either the Tatnall Map or the Lands & Surveys Map.

The tiny Sutherland lot is depicted on the 1792 Tatnall Map (#118), adjacent to land that is listed as Vacant, but reserved for a planned township. On the Lands & Surveys Map (multiple dates), this ½-acre lot is gone, and the vacant land planned for the township had reverted to the Crown.

Brunnell’s “New Loyalist Index Vol 5” lists a man by a similar name (Daniel Southerland) who, on the 15th of November 1787, had land and property confiscated at Balden County, North Carolina. Nova Scotia Land Papers, 1765-1780, show that a Daniel Sutherland received a land grant 1785 in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, and we believe that this was the Long Island grantee. Two other Long Island grantees also received land in that Nova Scotia County: John Ferguson and Walter Turnbull.

A Mary Sutherland was born in 1778 on New Providence to William and Mary Sutherland; we did not find the surname Sutherland in Bahamian records prior to this date. Because of the conflicting information, we were not able to determine whether Sutherland was a Loyalist or an Old Inhabitant.

References: DR, Feldman, DM