The Sterling genealogy

386 THE STERLING GENEALOGY
Ephraim came to Woodstock, Vt., from Preston, Conn., in 1775,
and purchased land next to that later owned by Elder Sterlin
he d. May 10, 1810, aged 79; he m. Margery, dau. of Paul
Parks of Preston, Conn., who d. Feb., 1841, aged 98 yrs., 2 mos.
Polly (Brewster) Sterlin d. July 23, 1795. Seth m. 2d, Jan. 4,
1796, Mrs. Huldah Tinkham, b. in 1766, who d. Apr. 22, 1818;
he m. 3d, Nov. 18, 1818, Mrs. Lucy (Woods) [Wing] Ham-
mond, b. in 1767.
" Seth Sterlin at the age of sixteen was drafted for six months'
service in the Revolutionary War. He went to New London and
assisted in finishing the forts and barracks and in mounting the
guns. In 1782 he came with his father to Woodstock (Vt.). In
1788 he began working at his trade of blacksmith which he learned
under his father, setting up a shop on ground afterward occu-
pied by Dr. Buckman. In 1791 he was appointed Quartermaster
Sergeant by Col. Jesse Safford in the 3d Regt., 3d Brigade, Vermont
militia. He had previously been a member of the military
company called ' the troops,' organized in Woodstock, Feb. 1,
1785."
" In 1793 he broke up from his old stand in the South Village
and moved into School Dist. No. 14 . . . where he followed his
trade as blacksmith and devoted part of his time to farming.
At his trade he showed himself inventive and skilful like his
father."
" But Seth Sterlin was now about to make a great change in
his course of life. Not far from 1804 he became a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in Woodstock and at Barnard, May
17, 1807, he was ordained a deacon in that church by Francis
Asbury, Bishop. He preached in the society for a number of
years as occasion presented but becoming dissatisfied with the
mode of government of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he with-
drew and united with the Methodist Reformed Church; he was
ordained Elder in that church the fourth day of February, 1815.
In 1833 his name was placed on the pension roll and thereafter
he received a yearly pension of $12 so long as he lived. At
his death it was remarked of him that for nearly fifty years he
had been engaged in the ministry as a preacher of the gospel