SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND, who is engaged in real estate operations in El Paso, is by birth, training and preference a resident of the west. His birth occurred in Lawrence, Kansas, and he was reared and educated in that city, acquiring his preliminary knowledge in the public schools, and afterward supplemented his early training by a course in the State University, located in that city, where he was a classmate of George T. Nicholson and others who have since become prominent, particularly in the official circles of the Santa Fe railroad. As Mr. Sutherland’s birth occurred in 1858 he was but a small boy at the time of the quantrell [sic] raid in Lawrence county at that time. Mr. Sutherland continued to make his home in Lawrence for some time, but in December, 1880, he arrived in El Paso as a passenger on the old Concord state coach from the north, the railroads at that time having not yet been completed this far. The first brick building, a small structure, was being constructed at the corner of El Paso and San Antonio streets. In March, 1881, Mr. Sutherland, in partnership with A. E. Stewart, under the firm name of Stewart & Sutherland, established the first grocery stores in El Paso, conducting it for about four years, when, on account of ill health, Mr. Sutherland sold out and went to Mexico, where, to enjoy the benefits of an outdoor life, he engaged in the cattle business, making his headquarters at La Luz. He was thus connected with the cattle business for about fifteen years, and subsequently he settled at Alamo Gordo, New Mexico, where, for one and a half years, he was the agent for the Alamo Gordo Improvement Company, which promoted and built that beautiful little city, improving it with graded streets, sidewalks, trees, parks, a beautiful lake and other equipments which add to the attractive appearance of the city. This is a new town that was established on the El Paso & Northeastern Railway not long after the completion of the road.
Returning to El Paso Mr. Sutherland has invested quite extensively in realty interests, and in addition to the care and rental of his own property he is conducting a real estate business as a member of the firm of Newman & Sutherland, established in the summer of 1905, his partner being G. T. Newman, who is represented elsewhere in this work. Mr. Sutherland was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Carrie E. Findley, a daughter of one of the old California pioneers. He has been a witness of many interesting experiences connected with the development of the west, and as the years have gone by has noted its remarkable growth and development. In every community in which he has lived he has given hearty co-operation to movements for the general good, and at the same time has conducted his business interests with a care and precision that have resulted in the acquirement of a comfortable competence.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 598-599.