Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM H. STERLING
W. H. STERLING.--An old Scotch family,
whose ancestry goes back to Sterling castle, Sterlingshire,
Scotland, is represented in Chico,
by W. H. Sterling, who was born in September, 1870, in Glasgow,
Scotland. He is familiarly known by his friends as
“Charley,” a name that was given him in early life and still clings to
him. His father, William, was also a
native of Glasgow, born February
22, 1839. His grandfather Sterling
was a resident of Glasgow, where he
was associated in business with Senior Dunn, sea biscuit manufacturer. William Sterling was a Doctor of Medicine of
considerable note and practiced for some years in his native city, Glasgow. In 1892 he came to the United
States and settled in McAlister,
Okla., where he retired from active medical
practice. Mrs. Annie (Ashley) Sterling,
William Sterling’s wife, was born in Glasgow,
February 5, 1818. She died January 6,
1875. They had two sons, John, the
eldest, who resides in Los Angeles, and W. H. Sterling,
who was brought up in Glasgow, the city of his birth,
until eleven years of age, when he ran away from home and shipped as a cabin
boy aboard a merchant ship, bound for New York. He was brought back home, but soon after
again shipped as cabin-boy under Captain Tydt on a
sailing vessel bound for Australia,
afterward shipping from place to place as cabin-boy until he finally became an
able seaman, and after passing the necessary examination in Galveston,
Texas, qualified as second mate, coming to San
Francisco in 1891.
From San Francisco he shipped as first mate on the
Star of India; was afterwards first mate on the Grace Dollar, The Capital City,
the State of California and the Cabrillo, and made two
trips on the Governor to Hilo, when
he quit as first mate. Since locating in
Chico he has had letters from the
Pacific Coast Steamship Company to return as Master.
In 1905 he quit
the sea and settled in San Francisco, but soon went to Yuma,
Arizona, where he worked on the First National Bank
building; then to Lodi, California,
and worked on the Nichols building, then to Turlock and
worked on the County National
Bank building.
In all these places he was in the employ of Wygant
and Collins, contractors. July 17, 1908,
he went to Oroville as timekeeper for the contractor on the Goldstein building,
then as timekeeper on the Goldstein building at Chico,
then as the timekeeper on the Silverstein building at Chico. Seeing what appeared to be a promising
opportunity to engage in the lumber business, he bought the small lumber yard
of C. P. Dix at Chico Vecino, containing about one
half car of lumber. From that small
beginning he built up a successful business and in 1913 sold out to the Cooney
Lumber Company, but remained in charge of the yard for them and continued in
charge for Clough and Company, who purchased the business from the Cooney
Lumber Company. Clough and Company were
succeeded by Adams, Johnson and Company, with whom he remained one month and
then resigned and bought out Fred Pfeiffer, the Farmer’s Storage and Commission
business, leasing the building and continuing the business under the name of
the Farmer’s Warehouse and Milling Company, buying and selling grain, rolled
barley, baled hay, poultry, dried fruit and farm produce of all kinds,
continuing a successful business until the expiration of the lease, when he
engaged in business at 117 Main Street, Chico, under the firm name of the
Farmers’ Produce Market and does a general commission and brokerage business. He specializes in poultry and operates one
large truck for long distance hauls, and a small truck for short hauls.
Mr. Sterling was
married in Oroville to Miss Vina Gordon, a native of Ohio. They have two children, Lucile and Thad. W. H. Sterling is an active member of the
Chico Business Men’s Association, is a Democrat in politics, and ex-member of
the County Central Committee. He is one
of Chico’s energetic and successful
business men, has a large circle of acquaintances and is well liked by all.
Transcribed
by Roseann Kerby.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1066-1067, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Roseann Kerby.
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