Good Times?

John Sutherlin was born in Virginia and along with most of his family traveled to Kosciusko Co Indiana before 1860 and the Civil War where he would meet his wife Elizabeth Rosella Guy in 1856.

They settled in Warsw, Kosciusko Co IN where John farmed and was known as a “traveling Orator”. The traveled the area preaching the bible. They would have 4 children, William born 1856, Phebe 1858, Hiram 1862-1863 and Elmer 1864.

By February of 1866 John died of unknown causes leaving Elizabeth alone with 3 children. She was left well off with a few thousand dollars which would help a young widow with children. In 1868 little Elmer passed away. And then along came Harry Jacobs.

Henry Jacobs at a much older age

Jacobs was was 20 years old when 33 year old Elizabeth met and married in 1869. I doubt Elizabeth’s son William, then 13 years, were happy about the union. With a 7 year age difference it would have been like having two teenagers in the house trying to prove who the man of the house was. The marriage did not last long (as the kids of today would day “no duh”).

It was about the same time of William began some of his petty issues with the law. Nothing is written about the types of issues but he was becoming known as a problem. Small thefts and fights. Probably working up to being the notorious person he would soon become until he died.

There is always a beginning

Finding a crime in the family can be shocking to some. A single crime is not, always, a surprise but when it comes to an entire tree of a family, husbands, wives, step parents, children, cousins…etc…that is where the shock comes into play.

The Sutherlin family came into my life from a simple yellowed newspaper article I discovered in our local library in Starke County Indiana. Well not simple since it was the large headline of Buried Beneath A Mule. I thought it was about some poor unsuspecting farmer’s mule fell on him. I read on and was instantly hooked and five years later I have continued my thousands of hours of research on the Sutherlin family.

Before jumping right into the murder…or murders and crimes… there are parents. So hang in there this is a down-the-rabbit-hole type of a story.

I have to thank too many people. Starke Co Indiana Library where I discovered the newspaper that started me, Marshall Co Historical Soc that kept feeding my addiction, and friends and family that have stuck with me or ignored my obsession.