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Elisha Sterling
Gender:
Male
Born:
November 5, 1765
Died:
December 3, 1836
Home Town:
North Lyme, CT
Later Residences:
Salisbury, CT
Sharon, CT
Sharon, CT
Marriage(s):
Alma Canfield Sterling (January 25, 1791)
Sarah Elliott Sterling (December 8, 1830)
Sarah Elliott Sterling (December 8, 1830)
Biographical Notes:
Elisha Sterling was the son of Captain William and Jemima (Sill) Sterling. In 1787, he took charge of an academy that had just opened in Sharon, CT and worked there for two years. Sterling and his first wife, the daughter of the Hon. John Canfield of Sharon, CT, had seven sons and two daughters. He established himself as a lawyer in Salisbury and practiced there until 1830. During that time, he also pursued a political career. During the War of 1812, he served as a Major General of the Connecticut State Militia. Sterling died at the age of seventy-two.
Additional Notes:
In 1804 Elisha Sterling served on the Committee of Examination for the Litchfield County Court admissions to the bar.
Education
Years at LLS:
1789
Other Education:
Received his early education in Lyme, CT and graduated from Yale College with honors in 1787.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Educator; Lawyer; Military; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
1791
Political Party:
Federalist
State Posts:
State Representative (CT)
State Senator (CT) 1833-1834
Judge of Probate for the Sharon District (CT) 1812-1821
State's Attorney for Litchfield County (CT) 1813-1820
State Senator (CT) 1833-1834
Judge of Probate for the Sharon District (CT) 1812-1821
State's Attorney for Litchfield County (CT) 1813-1820
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
Related Objects and Documents
Other:
The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation. Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1800, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.
Secondary Sources:
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 4. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1907.
Boardman, David Sherman. Sketches of the Early Lights of the Litchfield Bar. J. Humphrey, Jr., 1860.
Kilbourne, Dwight C. The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut 1709-1909. Litchfield, CT: Published by the Author, 1909.
Boardman, David Sherman. Sketches of the Early Lights of the Litchfield Bar. J. Humphrey, Jr., 1860.
Kilbourne, Dwight C. The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut 1709-1909. Litchfield, CT: Published by the Author, 1909.
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