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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

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    • 2,377 members
    • 2,236 studies
    • 7,920 surnames

Sterry One-Name Study

Page Views: 4,918

Study details

Study: Sterry

Variants: Sterrey

Category:  3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

Website: www.sterryworldwide.com

DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/groups/sterry/about

Contact: Mr Robert William Sterry


About the study

Researching the name STERRY - WORLDWIDE. Your feedback and comments are most welcome. If you have information about STERRY families around the world and would like to share it, I'd be delighted to receive it.

Variant names

STERRY, STERREY

Name origin

With the exception of the STERRI family of Norway, all STERRYs originated in England.

'Of all possible words from which the English name Sterry may have originated, perhaps the best two candidates are (1) the Middle English word 'sterre' meaning 'star' or celestial body ... and (2) the Anglo-Saxon word 'stor,' sometimes spelled 'steor,' meaning 'large' ... common practice of adding '-y' to words making them into personal names, having the effect of 'son of'.' (W. B. Smith, 'The Sterry Family of America 1670-1970,' Israel, 1973)

The earliest STERRYs to establish a clear family line were undoubtedly the Sterrys from the Forest of Dean area of Gloucestershire. 

The spelling of the surname in the Forest of Dean area in the sixteenth century had several variants including Stirrie, Stirri, Sterrie, Sterry, Sterri and Stirry. However, only the form Sterry and a 19th century variant Sterrey survive into modern times.

Unrelated to the Gloucestershire Sterrys are two distinct Suffolk line dating from 1608 and 1682 respectively. In addition, there is one American line whose origin was almost certainly in England abt 1680 but also of unrelated origin.

There was a significant early Sterry presence in Devon and Cornwall but no link has been made to other Sterry lines to date. Sadly, by the mid-1600s, Sterrys had all but disappeared from both Devon and Cornwell and the line may have died out. An early Shropshire Sterry line dating from 1628 had also apparently died out by the early 1700s. 

Historical occurrences of the name

#A George Sterry went to Barbados in 1635

#In 1649 Rev Peter Sterry was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell

#A Captain Sterry, commander of the Fairfax, seized a Merchant ship from Amsterdam near Gibralter in 1658.

#American Thomas Sterry Hunt (1826-1892) was a prolific author and published some 300 scientific articles and many books, including 'Chemical and Geological Surveys', 'The Domain of Physiology' and 'A New Basis for Chemistry'

#Sir Wasey Sterry (1866-1955) was the son of the Rev. Francis Sterry, who is considered as the greatest English Sterry genealogist. He became a barrister of Lincoln's Inn in 1892 and continued as an attorney or jurist the rest of his life. In 1901 he entered the British Colonial Service and was assigned to the Sudan to serve as judge in the courts. He was acting Governor-General of Sudan in 1923, 1924 and 1925.

#In 1921 Arthur William Sterry produced the 'first' motion picture in Australia. For the first time in Australia! When 'The Man They Could Not Hang' was first screened in Sydney, Haldane & Sterry, dramatic actor orators, related the story while the silent film was being screened.

Name frequency

In the 1841 census for the UK there were 332 Sterrys. The clear majority (144) lived in Gloucestershire, followed by Suffolk and Surrey. By 1881 census there were 557 Sterrys in the UK. The clear majority still came form Gloucestershire and Suffolk. Sterrys migrated very early to America and established Sterry families there by the latter part of the 17th century. In the 1880 US Census there were 206 Sterrys. The clear majority still resided in Connecticut, close to where they started.

Distribution of the name

The earliest known definite Sterry family line was established in the Forest of Dean area in Gloucestershire, UK by the early 16th century and by the early 17th century had spread to the Surrey area of London. An apparently unrelated Sterry family was established in the Lowestoft area of Suffolk, UK also by the early 17th century. By the latter part of the 17th century Sterrys were firmly established in the Connecticut area of America. By the mid nineteenth century Sterrys had spread to Australia and Canada.

Data

STERRY and variants surname extracted from
Civil Registration Indexes (UK) 1837-1992
Census (UK) 1841-1901
PCC Wills and National Probate Calendars (UK)
County Wills
Monumental Inscriptions (UK)
Parish Registers (UK)
Diaries and Trade Directories (UK)
Poll Books & Electoral Records (UK)
Taxation Records (UK)
Criminal Records (UK)
Parish Records (UK)
Court Records (UK)
Property Records (UK)
Trades & Businesses Records (UK)
Shipping Records (UK)
BDM Indexes (Australia)
Shipping Records (Australia)
Civil and Church BMD Records (USA)
Census (USA)
Directories (USA)
Military (USA)
Shipping (USA)
BMD Records (Canada)
Census (Canada)
Shipping and Migration (Canada)
Biographies

DNA

A STERRY DNA Project has been established with FamilyTreeDNA.
Project Web Site
https://www.familytreeDNA.com/groups/Sterry/

Links

STERRY WORLDWIDE
www.sterryworldwide.com
STERRY FAMILY HISTORY BLOG
http://sterryworldwide.blogspot.com/
STERRY FAMILY HISTORY ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/groups/329364027232453/

Contact Details

Mr Robert William Sterry

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Sterry in the Guild Indexes
(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)
  • Global Marriages (public)  1386
  • Global Marriages (members)* 1537
  • Inscriptions Index  1
  • Modern Newspaper Index  2
  • Probate Index* 55
  • Datastores  5233
  • References to the name Sterry in the Guild Journal  1

Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Program
  • Surname Cloud
  • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
  • Guild Marriage Locator

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