William F. Sturgis was a Boston merchant in the China trade, the California hide trade and the Maritime fur trade.
Background
William was born on February 25, 1782 in Barnstable, Massachussets, United States. His father, a Revolutionary soldier, was a Cape Cod shipmaster of repute; his mother was a daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Mills of Harwich, Massachussets Sturgis was a descendant of Edward Sturgis, who settled in Charlestown in 1634 and in Yarmouth, Massachussets, in 1638.
Education
He had but little schooling, and when only fourteen was employed in counting houses in Boston.
Career
On the death of his father in 1797 he shipped as a sailor before the mast. The boy studied navigation and used every means to advance himself in his calling. His voyages took him to the Northwest coast, where the ships bartered goods with the Indians for furs.
At the age of nineteen, with less than four years' experience, he became master of the ship Caroline. His cruises sometimes led him into perilous situations, as when his ship Atahualpa battled with pirates off the Chinese coast in August 1809.
It has been said that more than half of the trade carried on from the United States with China and other countries of the Pacific coast from 1810 to 1840 was under their direction. They also had dealings in nearly every quarter of the globe.
For twelve years between 1814 and 1846 Sturgis was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives; he was a state senator in 1827 and 1836, and a member of the convention for revising the constitution of Massachusetts in 1820.
In October 1822 he contributed an article to the North American Review, "Examination of the Russian Claims to the Northwest Coast of America, " and on August 4 and 5, 1843, two articles on the Somers naval mutiny to the Boston Courier. During the controversy between the United States and Great Britain over the Oregon boundary, his personal acquaintance with the region and his familiarity with its history were of highest importance to the American government. His pamphlet, The Oregon Question (1845), presented a valuable discussion of the question, while his private correspondence with distinguished statesmen, both at home and abroad, is said to have had no small influence in bringing the controversy to an amicable and satisfactory issue.
He died in Boston.
Achievements
Views
Sturgis made a study of the Indian languages, became an adept trader, and cultivated friendly relations with the natives, among whom he was popular. He was conspicuous for his firm yet liberal principles, and a high sense of honor.
Personality
Distinguished for a highly cultivated intellect and a remarkably extensive knowledge, he was of almost Spartan simplicity in his personal habits.
Connections
In 1810 he married Elizabeth M. Davis, with whom he had one son and five daughters. One daughter, Ellen Sturgis Hooper, was a Transcendentalist poet and was the mother of Marian Hooper Adams.