History
Sutherlin Family
William Thomas Sutherlin was born in 1822 on his father's farm about two miles from Danville and died in 1893. He was the eldest son of George S. and Mary (Polly) Norman Sutherlin. He had two sisters; Narcessa and Purlina and two brothers; George and John. William attended Joseph Godfrey's private school in Franklin County and the Danville Male Academy. He did not attend college and by today's standards would be considered a self-made man. In 1849 William married Jane E. Patrick. They had two daughters: Martha Ella, who died in infancy and Janie Lindsey, born January 24, 1851 and died on August 1, 1876.
In the 1850s, Sutherlin operated the second largest tobacco factory in Virginia and became the first Virginia manufacturer to apply steam power to hydraulic tobacco presses. In 1855 he constructed a new tobacco factory that still stands today at the corner of Lynn and Loyal streets (this building served as Prison #6 during the Civil War). In addition to the tobacco business, Sutherlin also founded and became the first president of the Bank of Danville. In 1855 he was elected as the town's 17th mayor.
The following year, William Sutherlin purchased four acres of land on Main Street from Levi Holbrook for $4,000. The terms were interesting in that the $4,000 was financed for five years interest free on the condition that Sutherlin provide living quarters in the house for Levi Holbrook.
Mr. Holbrook occupied two rooms in the wing immediately in front of the present auditorium. It had its own entrance and an attached conservatory. Mr. Holbrook remained there until 1868, when he moved to 770 Main Street, then the home of Col. A. L. Wyllie.
In 1861, Sutherlin resigned as Danville's mayor after his election as a delegate to the Virginia Convention which dealt with the issue of secession. At the Virginia convention, Sutherlin was unwilling to vote for secession until after the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12 and Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers from each state still loyal to the Union to suppress the rebellion. Sutherlin and other convention delegates believed their duty to defend the state superseded allegiance to the Union.
Danville soon mustered the Danville Blues and the Danville Grays, companies which became a battalion later incorporated into Virginia's 18th Infantry Regiment. Sutherlin was in poor health and could not serve actively. Instead, he was appointed Quartermaster for Danville and reached the rank of Major. As Quartermaster, Sutherlin oversaw the supplies of food, medicine, arms, and at least some of the Confederate treasury. Out of his own pocket, he employed the Reverend J. H. Forbes to minister to the wounded and sick in the hospital for $50.00 a month for three years.
As Danville was one of the primary supply depots and arsenals in the Confederacy, seeing that necessary provisions were dispatched to the Army of Northern Virginia was no small task. Several times during the war General Lee commended Sutherlin for his capable endeavors.
After the war, Major Sutherlin was quick to seize what advantages were available in the New South. He insisted that he was first a Virginian, with the interests of Virginia and the South in his heart. He resumed farming on a large scale, using methods and techniques modern for the day. In 1871 he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly for a two year term. While in the General Assembly, one of his major accomplishments was the establishment of a state agricultural college which is known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or Virginia Tech, at Blacksburg.
Also in 1871, his daughter Janie Lindsey Sutherlin married Francis L. Smith, Jr. The couple had two daughters: Janie Sutherlin Smith, born October 21, 1872 (died November, 1904) and Ella who was born in 1876 and died in infancy.
Janie Sutherlin Smith married Edward Barrett on December 19, 1895. Her marriage to Edward was written up in the Baltimore Sun as a "notable wedding in Danville."