The Sterling genealogy

Chronological 31 noer
of emigrations to
toertca: 1635=1783
WILLIAM STERLING, born about 1617; emigrated
in 1635; settled in Hungars Parish, Northampton
Count}', Virginia. (See page 228.)
DAVID STERLING, JOHN STERLING, supposedly
brothers, sailed from Gravesend, the port of London, England,
Nov. 8, 1651, " In the Jno. & Sara of London, John Greene m r
Yronworke & house hold stuffe & other p r ovisions for Plante rs
and Scotch p r isone r s free by ordinance of Parliament dat 20th of
Octobe r 1651." (Suffolk (Mass.) Deeds, Lib. 1, p. 6.)
King Charles I was beheaded in 1649, and the Commonwealth,
under the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, existed until the Restoration
in 1660. John and David Sterling, or Stirling, were, without doubt,
immediate members of the Scotch family of Stirling who espoused
the cause of Charles I. They landed at Charlestown, Mass., May
12, 1652. (Records of Charlestown.) It is fair to suppose that
they, in common with other Scotch exiles, returned to their native
country before or upon the Restoration. No further mention
has been found of John or David Sterling in Massachusetts records,
although much time has been given to the search. According to
the " Register of the Stirlings of Keir," a manuscript pedigree
connecting the American and Scottish families, somewhat gener-
ally circulated among one branch of the former house, David, the
younger, born, according to the Register, in 1622, was the father
of William Sterling of Rowley and Haverhill, Mass., and Lyme,
Conn., founder of the larger family of the name in America, thus
connecting him directly with the house of Stirling of Keir. This
matter is elsewhere dealt with and the impossibility of the connec-
tion sufficiently demonstrated.
It is enough to state here that David could not well have been
born earlier than the date given, 1622, and William, of Haverhill,