This is the main link page to all Sterry Family trees so far developed.

Note that some trees shown below have now been merged with other trees based on more recent documentary and DNA evidence. However, the historical version of these trees can still be viewed as part of the research record. Anyone with a particular interest in these trees should check the merged version for the most current information. The historical versions will not show more recent updates. Only the most current and merged versions are shown on the home page trees menu.

The trees are compiled from a variety of sources and are only as accurate as the source from which the information is obtained. Not all sources are 'primary' i.e. original information from parish registers, bishop's transcripts or census. Secondary sources, such as the IGI, Boyd's Marriage Index and so forth have also been used where the original information is not available or has not been referenced. Secondary sources may contain errors of transcription or omission.

Family trees are of course constructed on the basis of the 'best fit' of available information. Sometimes this may be a calculated guess because there is simply not enough information available to be sure. Such uncertainties are usually accompanied by a note expressing some reservation about the proposed connection.

I welcome any additional information that may support the construction of family trees and any additional suggestions or errors noted.

Ruardean, Gloucestershire, UK
Earliest: John Stirry bn abt 1515 and married Alice Bailie in 1539.
Descendants: UK
Researchers: Peter Sterry (UK), Kathy Sterry (UK), Robert Sterry (Australia)

This is the oldest Sterry line and incorporates the Southwark, Surrey, UK line. The Southwark line is based on the extensive research of the Reverend Francis Sterry (1834-1925) of Eastbury House, Essex and his son, Sir Wasey Sterry (1866-1955). Both the Ruardean and Southwark lines were published by Walter Smith in his book "The Sterry Family of America". Walter significantly continued and extended the earlier research. More recent research has confirmed Walter's belief that the Ruardean and Southwark lines were connected.

A hand drawn version of the Southwark section of the Ruardean tree, probably originally prepared by Rev Francis Sterry with later annotations and additions by other members of the family, can be viewed here. With much thanks to Peter Wasey Sterry.

Longhope, Gloucestershire, UK
Earliest: Richard Sterry married 1686 All Saints, Longhope, UK.
Descendants: UK, Canada, America and Australia.
Researchers: Heather Robb (Australia), Kathy Sterry (England), Cecily Sterry (England), Graham Davison (England), Jim Sterrey (Australia).

The Ruardean and Longhope lines are also almost certainly connected, the two Forest of Dean villages being only a few miles apart. Unfortunately, the Longhope records relating to the English Civil War period were destroyed and were not kept properly for many years afterwards. Current DNA evidence does not support this connection but to date only one male Sterry descendant on the Ruardean line has been tested. A minumum number of two male descendants from different branches of the tree is needed to be reasonably confident that the DNA 'signature' is actually representative of the group. It is therefore still possible that these two trees are connected.

Minsterworth, Gloucestershire, UK
Earliest: Richard Sterry born abt 1763 and married Ann Toomey in Minsterworth in 1794.
Descendants: UK
Researchers: Kelly Imm (England), Roger Dennis (England), Peter Essex (England), Robert Sterry (Australia)

DNA evidence has now established that the Minsterworth line is connected to the Longhope line. However, the exact connection cannot be determined because of lack of surviving parish records, particularly during the period 1626-1668 because of the English Civil War.

Photos: Wedding Photo of Frances Sterrey and William Essex (1913, Lydney, Gloucestershire) Kindly supplied by Eileen Phelps via Margaret Higgins (nee Virgo) and Roger Dennis. For further information on this photo, see Old Photos of Lydney & District.

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK
Earliest: Simon Sterry married 1682 in St Mary's, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk England.
Descendants: UK, Australia and America.
Researchers: Robert Sterry (Australia), Art Sterry (America), Barry Sterry (England), Cecily Sterry (England), David Sterry (England), Mike Sterry (USA)
[Incorporating the Robert Sterry, Australia 1810-1883 line
Researchers: Josephine Stephens and Margot Wilkes, Queensland, Australia
and the Melbourne, Victoria, Australia tree (previously called William Ely Sterry branch)
Earliest: William Ely Sterry born abt 1814 Norfolk, England.
Researchers: Michael Davies of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Descendants: Australia

William and his family emigrated to Victoria, Australia between 1855 and 1859. William is almost certainly the son of John Sterry (1779-1852/1860) and Mercy Ruddock on the Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK line, even though his baptism has not been found. DNA evidence has now established that this line is definitely connected to the Bury St Edmunds line.]

The current DNA results for the six members of the Bury St Edmunds line who have been tested to date indicate there are two completely different ‘haplogroups’ represented in this tree. Three members share a J2a4b1 haplogroup; three share one of the most common in the UK, an R1b1b2 haplogroup. [Haplogroups are major DNA groupings and different haplogroups can’t share a common ancestry for a particular surname within thousands of years.]

We have now traced the DNA record of all the sons of Simon Sterry [1713-1792] that AS FAR AS WE KNOW produced male descendants.

Simon Sterry [1747-1821] produced the R1B1B2 signature. This is the direct line of David R, Mike, Richard and Dave.

Simon’s brother John [1743-1821] is the direct line of Charles Sterry [in the J2A4B1 haplogroup]. Simon’s brother Richard [b. 1745] did not have any known children from either of his two marriages. William Sterry [1751-1805] was the only son of Simon [1713-1792] from his second wife Sarah Silver to have produced living male descendants. This is the direct line of Robert and Barry [also in the J2A4B1 haplogroup].

So we now know that both DNA signatures [or haplogroups] occurred very early in the Bury St Edmunds line and both can be considered representative of the line. We have pursued the available DNA evidence just about as far as we can. We know fairly precisely where the DNA signature difference occurred within a couple of generations. One of the DNA signatures is probably attributable to an adoption or illegitimacy. Only the discovery of additional historical documentation may offer a more exact explanation.

Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK
Earliest: Daniel Sterry died 1608 Mutford , Suffolk, England.
Descendants: UK and America.
Researchers: John Roland Sterry (England), Cecily Sterry (England)

Incorporating the William Bristow Sterry, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk line
Researchers: Mrs Ann Pring and Wendy Ford, Queensland, Australia. Houghton family information supplied by Immy McKiernan (Australia), Joanne Stockill and John Gooch (England)
Also incorporating the Ipswich, Pakefield and Southwold, Suffolk UK lines.
Photos: William Bristow Sterry (1792-1848) and Betsy Louisa Dunnell (1799-1849). Hand painted miniatures supplied by Ann Pring. 

DNA evidence indicates a definite connection between this line and the Southwold, Pakefield and Ipswich Suffolk Sterry lines and a probable connection to the Lambeth line.

Southwold, Suffolk, UK
Earliest: James Sterry married Elizabeth Cobourne 1760 Southwold.
Descendants: UK and Australia.
Researchers: Lynn Mummery (England), John Mummery (England), Peter Sterry (England), David Eric Sterry (England). Other family information also supplied by Tony Sterry from Essex, England and Richard Ball, England.

DNA evidence indicates a connection between the two Southwold lines [descended from James Sterry and Elizabeth Cobourne and John Sterry and Mary Strange] and the much older Lowestoft Suffolk Sterry line. Documentary evidence indicates that James Sterry born abt 1719 at Lowestoft, the son of John Sterry and Mary Baldry on the Lowestoft line is a probable match to James Sterry who married Elizabeth Cobourne in 1760 at Southwold; and that John Sterry born abt 1756 at Lowestoft, the son of William Sterry and Elizabeth Mayes on the Lowestoft line is probably the same John Sterry who married Mary Strange at Southwold in 1796.

The Lowestoft and both branches of the Southwold lines have therefore been merged.

Ipswich, Suffolk, UK
Earliest: George Starry married Mary Plum Norwich St Clement 1795. His grandchildren appear to have changed the spelling to Sterry when they moved to Ipswich, Suffolk.
Descendants: UK, Canada, America
Researchers: Sheila Murray, Leicestershire, England. Additional Hambling family information and marriage detail on Fred Goodman Sterry supplied by Lucille Hambling. Additional information on Harry William Sterry, his wife Elizabeth Sheward and their family provided by George Yankus. Additional information on Grave Lillian Sterry provided by Lin Jensen.

DNA evidence indicates a very probable connection between this line and the much older Lowestoft Suffolk Sterry line. Documentary evidence indicates that George Sterry who married Esther Bowen in 1779 at Beccles, Suffolk [on the Lowestoft line] and George Starry who married a Mary Plumb in 1795 at Norwich, Norfolk [on the Ipswich line] are almost certainly the same person. The two trees have therefore been merged.

Pakefield, Suffolk, UK (Previously called Aleathea Sterry and Albert Muttitt Branch)
Earliest: John Sterry buried 1795 Pakefield, Suffolk.
Descendants: UK, Canada, Australia
Researchers: Les Buckle, British Colombia, Canada with additional information provided by Robert Napthine, England. Information on Annie Sterry and Harry Frederick Cracknell and their descendants supplied by Susan Dent nee Mason from Perth, Western Australia. (For further information on more of Susan Dent's direct family, see http://home.iprimus.com.au/sjdent/)
Photos: Aleathea Sterry and Albert Muttitt

Documentary evidence indicates that John Sterry born abt 1747 in Beccles [on the Lowestoft line] and John Sterry who married Rose Wilkerson and was buried at Kirkley, Suffolk in 1795 [and the founder of the Pakefield line] are almost certainly the same person. The two trees have therefore been merged.

No one to date from this line has joined the Sterry DNA Project. However, it is probable that this line also connects to the Lowestoft Sterry line.

Bermondsey, Surrey, UK
Earliest: George Thomas Sterry born about 1835 Bermondsey, Surrey. His father was George Sterry, Baker.
Descendants: UK
Researchers: Rose Hatch, Southampton, England. Information also supplied by Leonard Sterry of Perth, Western Australia. The information on the descendants of John Henry Sterry (bn 1871, son of George Thomas Sterry and Elizabeth Jolley) was researched by Kim Johnson, Kent, England.
[Previously called the George Sterry of Bermondsey, Surrey line.]

DNA evidence has now established that this line is connected to the Longhope line above. However, documentation to establish the point of connection has not been located.
Photos: William James George John Sterry and Florence Laura Wells

Lambeth, Surrey, UK
Earliest: James Sterry born about 1801/1804.
Descendants: UK

DNA evidence has demonstrated that this line connects to the Lowestoft, Suffolk Sterry line.

Documentary evidence now indicates that James Sterry who married Caroline Walton in 1831 at Lambeth, Surrey and started the Lambeth Sterry line is almost certainly James Henry Harris Sterry bap 1810 at St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex and that James Henry Harris Sterry is the son of James Sterry bap 1769 Lowestoft, the son of William Sterry [1727-abt 1803] and Elizabeth Mayes on the Lowestoft line. The two trees have therefore been merged.

Worcestershire, UK
Earliest: Thomas Starie buried Stoke Bliss, Herefordshire 1828. The family appears to have adopted the spelling of the surname 'Sterry' when they moved to Worcestershire. It is interesting to note that Thomas' son James was baptised in the same parish as Roger Sterry who founded the Connecticut Sterry line in America.
Descendants: UK, South Africa
Researchers: John Todd, UK. John is not on email but invites others interested in this line to write to him at: 42 Woodcock Way, Chardstock, Axminster EX13 7SY England. Additional information on descendants of James Sterry and Elizabeth Turner provided by Barbara Alcock nee Sterry, UK.

DNA evidence to date does not link this line to any other Sterry line.

Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, UK (Previously called the Sterry-Dudley Branch)
Earliest: William Sterrey buried 1646 at West Bromich, Staffordshire. Walter Smith comments: "This family, about which practically nothing is known, is intriguing a)because of its geographic location, adjacent to Shropshire to the east and north of Gloucestershire, suggesting it could have been a link between the ancient Sturry family of Shropshire and the early Sterry family of Gloucestershire; b) because of the presence in the family in the early 16th century of a "Roger Sterry", the name of the founder of the Coonecticut Sterry family in 1670; and c) because of the possibility that this same early Roger Sterry and his brother Humphrey lived in both Staffordshire and Shropshire.
Descendants: There are no known living descendants of this line. The line appears to have died out in the early eighteenth century.
Researchers: This family tree below has been compiled in reference to some original material supplied by Geoffrey Kernan, the IGI (including the 1998 Addendum), modern transcriptions of parish registers, Walter Smith's book and most interestingly, "a document in the Staffs RO that had been prepared for one of (Geoffrey Kernan's) wife's relations by a West Bromwich solicitor .... In reciting the history of a piece of land at Greets Bridge it gave a lot of Sterry genealogy ...." (Personal correspondence from G.P. Kernan, April, 1998)

Stonington, Connecticut, USA (Previously called the Roger Sterry line)
Earliest: Owen Sterry bn abt 1615 Stoke Bliss, Herefordshire, England.
Researchers: Principally Walter Smith and published in The Sterry Family of America (1973). The first known record of Roger Sterry in America is that of his marriage to Hannah Palmer in 1671 at Stonington, Connecticut. Since this publication, further research by Kathy Sterry has established that Roger Sterry was baptised at Stoke Bliss, Herefordshire, England in 1640, the son of Owen & Elizabeth Sterry.
Descendants: USA.

DNA evidence has established that the Stonington line is connected to the Starks, Maine and Tennessee lines. However, there is no DNA match to any of the other English Sterry lines.

Tennessee, USA (The line of William Williston Sterry)
Earliest: Samuel Sterry bn 1780-1790 USA
Researchers: Anne Sterry Henges, Carolyn Magruder, Tracy Robb, Walter Smith.

Walter Smith, author of The Sterry Family of America (1973), worked with Anne Henges and Carolyn Magruder in researching their line almost right up until his death in 1995. The documentary evidence that would possibly link the line of William Williston Sterry to other Sterry lines has never been located. However, DNA evidence shows that the Tennessee, USA line is connected to the Stonington, Connecticut, USA line and the Starks, Maine line..

Starks, Maine, USA
Earliest: Samuel Sterry married 1753 in Ipswich, Massacusetts. Starks, Maine is the area principally associated with this line. Samuel Sterry, the founder of this line, died in 1755 in the Battle of Minas, Nova Scotia. He was probably born in England but his lineage has not been established.
Researchers: This line was also principally researched by Walter Smith.
Descendants: USA.

DNA evidence shows that the Starks, Maine, USA line is connected to both the Stonington, Connecticut, USA and the Tennessee, USA lines.

Hafslo, Norway
Earliest: Jens Jorgenson bn abt 1747 in Norway. During the nineteeth century there was a very large migration of people from Norway to America, including a number of Sterri. Most changed the spelling of their names in America to Sterry or Sterrie.
Researchers: Joyce Pettit nee Sterry, California, USA. Additional detail provided by Lars Oyane from Norway who has written several books on the history of the County of Luster, which includes the former parishes/counties of Luster, Jostedal and Hafslo.
Descendants: USA
Photo: Nels Iverson Sterri and his wife Karen Hillestad

The DNA signature of this line does not match any STERRY lines.

Burford, Shropshire, UK
Earliest: This is a STARY/STARIE family tree. It may connect to STERRY lines that are known to have descended from STARIE familes in the adjoining county of Herefordshire. The earliest parish records [from the mid 1500s] located for this family come from Burford St Mary and Coreley St Peter in Shropshire. However, the evidence of Wills suggest the family also had a very early presence in Tenbury in the adjoining county of Worcestershire. The earliest birth dates in the Burford tree from the 1530s predate parish records and are based on available Wills. They should therefore be treated only as approximations. The earliest form of the surname appears to be STARY or STAREY. However, the form of the surname STARIE was used as early as 1590 and the surname was often spelt this way from the early 1700s although all forms continue into modern times.
Researchers: Winsome Compson [Australia], Mike Cole [Canada], Chris Clark [UK], Harvey Starey [UK], Paul Starie [UK]
Descendants: UK, Canada, Australia, USA
Photo: The Hemm Farm House [The Starie/Starey family had a very early connection to a farm called The Hemm near Tilsop in Shropshire. Preface to the Modern Transcription of Burford by the Shropshire Parish Register Society, 1915 states: 'the Hem, the old home of the Stareys partly destroyed by fire, built by John & Elizabeth Starey in 1682 '. The Hemm apparently stayed in the family until the death of John Starie, the son of Joseph Haydon Starie, in 1928. The pen and ink sketch was drawn by Mrs Baldwyn-Childe of Kyre Park, Worcestershire and appears in the same publication.]