Background
Stearns was born October 23, 1825, in Billerica, Massachusetts, the seventh generation of an old New England family which traced its ancestry back to Isaac Stearns, who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts from England in 1630.
Stearns was born October 23, 1825, in Billerica, Massachusetts, the seventh generation of an old New England family which traced its ancestry back to Isaac Stearns, who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts from England in 1630.
He attended Phillips Academy for two years, then worked as a shoemaker and as a clerk in a general store until he was 20 years old.
He decided he would transport a steam boiler and machinery, with the intent to start a steam laundry in San Francisco. This required a land transport across the isthmus of Panama on the backs of men, then a sea voyage on an old whaling ship which sprang a leak, became disabled and set adrift. By the time the crew arrived in San Francisco four months later, the Stearns and the crew were near-starving.
A doctor told Stearns he would not live.
However, Stearns did recover. He set up the first steam laundry in California, became very successful, and then sold his share.
He then moved on to operate a steam ferry boat named "Hector" between San Francisco and Oakland. He then moved on to the redwoods district and opened a steam sawmill.
In 1853, Stearns returned to Cincinnati, then moved a few more times, including Buffalo, New York and then Sangamon County, Illinois.
In 1861, Stearns moved to the state where he would remain the rest of his life: There, he teamed with Pawtucket industrialist Darius Goff, manufacturing cotton wadding at the Union Wadding Company. Stearns became superintendent of the company in 1870, and president in 1891. Stearns was a lifelong Republican.
He represented Lincoln in both houses of the State Legislature.
First from 1878 to 1881 and again from 1887 to 1888. He was Lieutenant Governor of from 1891 to 1892.