William Sterling was born in England around 1637. He deposed in 1667 that he was 30 years old. He appears first in the records of Essex County at Salem, Massachusetts, where the births of five of his children are entered as born at "Rowley Village at Mirimack" beginning in 1662. Rowley Village is now Bradford. William worked as a ship carpenter and miller. He was of Rowley in 1669, when he sold his property to Stephen Kent in exchange for the latter's house, barn and orchard in Haverhill. He secured another twelve acres of land some time prior to 1683 on the site where the city hall of the town of Haverhill, Massachusetts now stands, and built upon it a two-story house. In Haverhill he was a carpenter by trade, and may have built ships for the coastal trade. He was a member of the Board of Selectmen. William offered his house and land to the town for a home for the minister. He received in part payment, ten acres of land on Fishing River, and the use of ten more for a grain mill, which he erected. William was prominent in town affairs, and from 1693 to 1696 he was one of the tithingmen, also holding the office of constable. On March 15, 1697, the town of Haverhill suffered a severe loss from Indian attacks, and on July 31, 1697, William Sterling disposed of his mills, houses, and lands on Fishing River, and removed to Lyme, Connecticut. Later, he bought lands near Long Island Sound, on Lieutenant River, where he engaged successfully in ship building. He died January 22, 1719, at the home of his son, Daniel, in Sterling City, Lyme, which was then about a half-mile from the present village of Hamburg. William is buried in the Lord Graveyard Cemetery, also called the Sterling Cemetery, in Lyme, Connecticut.

William was married four times. His first wife was Elizabeth, whom he married about 1659. Eleven children were born to William & Elizabeth. She died in Haverhill, February 6, 1675. William married for the second time in Haverhill, October19, 1676. His wife was Mary Blaisdell Stowers, who was born in Haverhill, March 5, 1642, the daughter of Ralph and Elizabeth Blaisdell and the widow of Joseph Stowers. The second Mrs. Sterling bore him five children. The last two were twins born on May 21, 1681, and died on May 29, 1681, their mother dying on the same day. William Sterling married for the third time in Haverhill on April 24, 1683. His third wife was Ann Nichols Neale, of Salem, the widow of John Neale. William and Ann had one child, Ann, born in Haverhill, March 14, 1684. After the death of his third wife, William Sterling married his fourth wife in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1705, Mary Hubbard Sayer or Sawyer, the widow of Ichabod Sayer or Sawyer, and the daughter of Jane Latham & Hugh Hubbard, of New London, formerly of Derbyshire, England. No children are recorded from that marriage.