Daughter of Joseph Kiser Jr and Mary “Polly” Childers, my 2nd great grandmother, Mahala Kiser was born October 18, 1832 and died January 20, 1925. In those days, the Sutherlands settled on one side of the Clinch River and the Kiser’s on the other. It appears that there was a lot of Kiser-Sutherland, Sutherland-Kiser relatives in Russell County, Virginia. Granny Haley (as referred to by cousin Joe Kiser) married Jesse Sutherland on September 18, 1851 and the union resulted in 15 children. Joe could also remember that Granny Haley smoked a corncob pipe.

In 1924, Mahala stated: “I married Jessee … and came here to live in September 1851. The house we are now living in was built later … Not long after we were married, I went across Clinch River to visit Daddy’s. Coming back, I started to row the canoe across the river, but the pole broke and I fell in deep water. Jesse happened to be working near and saw me fall in. He rushed in and, though I was much heavier than him, he got me in the canoe and saved me from drowning … (she could not swim; she always said that thereafter she thought Jesse was the biggest, bravest and strongest man she ever saw) … Jesse helped run a water mill. During the Civil War, Jesse was a member of Capt R. M. Hager’s Co. but was later detailed back home as blacksmith and “horse’shoer” for the community. Jesse belonged to the Mis-sionary Baptist Church, the same to which I belong. It was the old Sulphur Spring Church on Mill Creek, which was later moved to Cleveland. Jesse is buried next to Daniel in the family cemetery on the homeplace out there be-side the railroad.” E. J. Sutherland’s Some Descendants of John Counts, Sutherland Appendix C-25 pg 374, Kiser D-11, pg 334

Mahala and Jesse resided in the home above. It is my understanding that there was a door on the house (similar to a sliding barn door) so that the family could bring in the horses to keep them from being stolen when the soldiers came through their land during the Civil War.

Jesse Sutherland and Mahala Kiser had the following family:

117 i. MATILDA4 was born 11 July 1854
ii. PHOEBE (#1489) was born 6 September 1856. Phoebe died 17 April 1860 at 3 years of age.
iii. MARY P. (#1490) was born 8 May 1858. Mary died 26 October 1891 at 33 years of age.
iv. EMILY JANE (#1491) was born 9 November 1859. She married JOHNSTON BAXTER KISER . (Johnston Baxter Kiser is #1880.) Johnston was born 1849. Johnston was the son of Nimrod Kiser and Martha ‘Mattie’ Childers.
118 v. SARAH ‘SALLIE’ was born 3 June 1861
vi. ALABAMA (#1493) was born 22 March 1863. She married THOMAS DAVIS . (Thomas Davis is #7411.) Thomas was the son of Jeff Davis.
vii. THOMAS A. (#1494) was born 27 October 1865. Thomas died 19 January 1956 at 90 years of age. He married TABITHA FIELDS . (Tabitha Fields is #7413.) Tabitha died 1950. In 1950, Thomas stated: “My parents lived with my grandparents, DANIEL SUTHERLAND and his wife PHOEBE. I lived there with my parents until their deaths, and then until this summer when my wife died. Afterwards I moved down here with ELIHU KISER and his wife, whom we reared. … When I was a boy … would go to the big bottom just opposite the mouth of Dumps Creek … found several Indian skeletons. Every time the Clinch got up it would wash up the Indian bones along the river bank. We would hunt along the bank and when we found a dark spot in the ground we would dig … We would always find bones, beads and pottery. The bones were old and brittle. I do not know where any of these things are now.” They had no children. SUTHERLAND D-119 pg 375
119 viii. MARGARET P. was born 14 April 1867
ix. JOSEPH (#1496) was born 16 September 1868. Joseph died 27 February 1907 at 38 years of age. He married ROSIE COMBS . (Rosie Combs is #7416.) Rosie was the daughter of William Combs and Mary.
120 x. SAMUEL PERRY was born 25 June 1870
xi. DANIEL (#1498) was born 20 April 1872.

Bluefield Newspaper, 1925
Becky Chafiin – Oct 12, 2008 View | Viewers Mrs. Sutherland left a Host of Descendants Mrs. Mahala Sutherland, aged ninety-three years, grandmother of Mrs. J. E. Anderson and Mrs. H.J. McGrain, both of Bluefield, died at Carbo, Va., last Wednesday. Mrs. Sutherland was buried on Friday with her progeny of five generations present. She was a native of Russell County and was born October 18th, 1832. Before her marriage she was Miss Mahala Kiser. She married Jesse Sutherland on September 18, 1851, who died October 10, 1913, following sixty two years of happy married life. To this union fifteen children were born, seven of whom survive. There are also surviving sixty one grandchildren, 146 great-grandchildren and sixteen great-great grandchildren. Mrs. Sutherland was a member of the Missionary Baptist church for forty-eight years and was widely known throughout south-west Virginia.