The name Southerland/Sutherland is often Scottish and that appears to be a likely origin for the family. We know that northeastern Georgia was settled by a large number of Scottish and Irish immigrants.

Our connection to the Southerland family is through Sara Anna Susan Southerland the wife of James Edward Whitehead and mother of my grandfather, Asa Hillyer Whitehead.

Sara Anna Susan Southerland's parents were Jefferson George Sutherland and Caroline Elizabeth Vines Gregory. Among the children the surname seems to have been spelled either Sutherland or Southerland.

We know very little about Jefferson George Sutherland other than he was born in Georgia in 1814 and died in 1886 in Oconee County, Georgia. He like so many others in this family link are buried at Ray's Chapel United Methodist Church.
The descendants of Jefferson George Southerland and Caroline Elizabeth Vines Gregory are only slightly easier to trace than either ancestral line. They had four children,two boys and two girls, all born in Georgia. We believe that Sara Anna Susan Southerland was born in Greene County, a neighboring county to Clarke and Oconee Counties.

John Gordon Sylvanus Sutherland, their oldest son, was a soldier in the Civil War. He fought with Company A of the 27th Georgia Infantry. After the war he married Malinda Sapphira Whitehead, a daughter of Sandford Whitehead and Elmina Wise. They had seven children, three daughters and four sons. Of the children we have traced all stayed in Georgia.

Jackson John Southerland, their youngest son was too young for service. He later married a Nancy J. ? from Alabama and apparently they moved there after their marriage about 1868. They had five children, two daughters and three sons.