History of The 1885 Sutherland House

1933 – 1980

The following was written by Ms. Ora Newton who inherited this house and farm from Glenn Munger. Glenn’s family owned the property for nearly 50 years. In the year 2003, Ms. Newton is 91 years old and she shares the following:

“This house was built by the Sutherland family in 1885. Sometime in the 1920’s it was unoccupied for some years.

In either 1933 or 1934, Rollin and Gertrude Munger bought the property.

They had one son about 12 years old named Glenn.

Rollin farmed a dairy farm while Gertrude raised chickens and sold eggs. They “managed” although the money was scarce.

Glenn attended school in Canandaigua, he graduated from Alfred University, and he helped on the farm. He was fond of machinery and worked on cars, farm equipment, trucks, etc. When World War II came, Glenn was called.

He was in Germany in 1945 when his father, Rollin, died of cancer. Gertrude who had been working in a war related plant in Rochester, New York, was left alone. It was many months before Glenn was finally released to come to his mother’s aid.

He farmed in a more or less uninterested way. His health was poor.

He looked very healthy, but he had a “sugar problem” and did not follow his doctor’s orders regularly. His mother died after a long bedridden illness.

Glenn continued working or renting out the farm as he was able. He was in the Veteran’s Hospital in Canandaigua for sometime. He passed away December 22, 1980 (b. June 11, 1922).

He willed the property to me, a cousin (Ora E. Newton, in Grand Island, New York) as I had helped some when his mother was alive as well as when Glenn was hospitalized. The farm was sold in August, 1981. The house and a few acres were sold separately at the same time.

The house was occupied by the Munger family for approximately 47 years.