The Mormon Education of A Gentile Justice: George Sutherland and Brigham Young Academy

Abstract

Although there are at least two fine published biographies of Sutherland, these and other accounts do not include extensive information about the future Justice’s educational activities at Brigham Young Academy from 1879 to 1881. Thus, this article focuses on the formative experiences of Sutherland, then between the ages of seventeen and nineteen, at the Academy. Clearly, his relationships with classmates and faculty left a lasting impression that affected the rest of his life, including his work on the Court. The article also details for the first time the Sutherland family’s close relationship to the Mormon Church from 1849 to approximately 1870; although Sutherland himself never joined the Church, he maintained strong relationships with Mormons and Brigham Young University throughout his life.