Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
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
'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.
#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.