22) George William Sutherland: Elected mayor for the Town of Welland in 1905, 1906, 1911 & 1912, & Elected mayor for the City of Welland in 1920

Vital statistics

Birth: July 31, 1866 at Wellandport, Ontario, Canada

Death: October 20, 1922 at Welland, Ontario, Canada (age 56)

Burial place: Woodlawn Cemetery (Find a Grave)

Parents: George / Emma Jane (née Smith)

Spouse: Nellie Irene (née Durham)

Children: George Franklin / Fred M. / Marcia

Occupations: Furniture dealer / Undertaker

Religion: Anglican

Political affiliation: Liberal

Community affiliations: Master of Copestone Lodge / Grand Steward of the Grand Lodge of Ontario / Knights of the Maccabees / Welland Board of Trade / Town Councillor

Profile

George William Sutherland was born at Wellandport on July 31, 1866 to George Sr. and Emma (née Smith) Sutherland. Both his parents were of Puritan descent tracing back to the Mayflower. He was educated at the Wellandport public school, then the Smithville high school. He took a commercial course at Bryant & Stratton’s in Buffalo. He then began an undertaking business in Wellandport, and then a year later when George was twenty he married Nellie Irene (née Durham), having three children with her.

Not long after his marriage, he moved to Welland along with his father George Sr. in a timber and wood business. David Ross, another former mayor recently profiled here, gave an anecdote to the paper about George at this time: “As a young man, he was one of fine physical development… I recall that when he was in the timber business with his father, he fell overboard from the tug he at that time captained, while the vessel was on the Niagara River, off Buffalo. He was carried by the current as far as Fort Erie before he could swim ashore. It was an accident that would have resulted fatally for the average man.”

It was 1903 when he began in the business he became most known for. He partnered with Alfred Lawrence to create Lawrence & Sutherland, furniture dealers and undertakers. In 1907 he became the sole proprietor of the business which later became known as Sutherland & Son when he admitted his eldest son into partnership. The store was located at 53 East Main Street and occupied two floors. George retired from the business in 1918.

He was elected as a councillor for the town five times, mayor of the town four times, and mayor of the city once. He was mayor when the Plymouth Cordage Company and also the Canadian Steel Foundries built plants in Welland, turning the sod in opening ceremonies. His active interest and hearty cooperation was credited for bringing these two major industries to Welland, creating its status as a prominent industrial centre. He “stood behind every movement tending towards its industrial development.” He also drove the first spike in the building of the Welland Street Railway. Amusingly he said in 1912 after his fourth term as mayor was ending that “I wouldn’t act as Mayor of Welland again if I was paid $1,000 a year.” In 1920 he decided to run one last time and was elected again. He thanked his electors in an ad that ran in the Tribune on January 8, 1920: “Ladies and Gentlemen – I am deeply sensible of the honor you have conferred upon me in electing me Mayor of this good city for the year 1920, and for that I thank you sincerely… Our municipal affairs are in such situation as to demand from every item a close scrutiny and under the glare of a constant and never-failing policy of economy. That policy I shall adhere to rigidly… Again thanking you, and again assuring you of my determination to guard well the best interests of the city, I am, Yours faithfully, George W. Sutherland.”

George lived in one of the finest homes in Welland at the corner of Niagara and Elgin Streets. He died on October 20, 1922 in Welland. William Manley German, a former M.P. for Welland, said of George upon hearing of his death: “He was exceptionally public spirited, having always at heart the best interests of the community and the advancement of the City’s interest. In his several terms as Mayor, he made an enviable reputation and always placed the public welfare in advance of personal interests… I knew him to be a man of the highest honour, strictest integrity and most unselfish in all his dealings.” Sutherland Ave., which intersects with Southworth St. was named in honour of George.

Sources

Coombs, Albert Ernest, “The History of the Niagara Peninsula” (1930), 390.
“George William Sutherland Died In Welland On Friday.” The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, October 24, 1922.
“G. W. Sutherland “The Telegraph Special Industrial Number, 1907.
“Mayor Sutherland Addresses Electors.” Welland Tribune, January 8, 1920.
The Welland Historical Society, “What’s in a Name? The Origins of the Street Names for the City of Welland” (2005), 83.
“Ten Years Ago.” The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, October 24, 1922.