The Sterling genealogy

THE
Cfje Sterlings of Cnglanti
family has been represented in England in a limited
degree and has apparently confined itself to the imme-
diate vicinity of London and to the metropolis itself.
We find records of the Sterlings, (usually spelled Starling) in
the adjoining counties of Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Hertford, Bed-
ford, Buckingham, Cambridge and Suffolk. One instance in
which the name is mentioned in earlier records, beyond the borders
of these shires is at Ledbury, County Hereford, when " Annes
Joanes y e Doughter of Jhon Joanes whas chrystened y e vii Day
of Aprell Jhamys Meyowe god father Annes Weyner & Annes
Sturlyng god mothers." 1558. (Parish Register of Ledbury.)
A William Starling was a witness to the will of Emma Rominett
of West Wratting, proved Jan. 28, 1575, in The Consistory Court
of Ely at Peterborough. (Mis. Gene, and Heraldry, Vol. VI.)
Joane Canon, dau. of Canon of Cambridgeshire, living in 1534,
married a Sterling. (Berry's County Pedigrees, Herts., 1846.)
The family in England was assumedly of Scottish origin, as
the coats of arms granted to some of them have the three buckles
upon the shield, and one of the coats is identical with that belong-
ing to the Scots. The arms of the Sterlings of Hertfordshire
are the same as those of the Stirlings of Bankell, immediately con-
nected with the house of Stirling of Keir, hence it is safe to assume
an intimate relationship between them.
The family settled in Hertfordshire at an early date. We find
one William living in the parish of Asshewell in 1545. On the
" first day of July in the xxxvij yere of the reigne of o r most dred
So'euyn lord Kyng Henry the viij " for the payment of the third
part of an assessment levied by parliament in 1533 in the " Hun-