My Genealogy Hound

GIDEON STERNER was for many years a prominent citizen of Cass County, but is now deceased. He was connected with the farming interests of Howard Township and owned a fine farm on sections 17 and 18, where he engaged in general agricultural pursuits. He is of direct German descent, his paternal grandfather having emigrated from the Fatherland prior to the War of the Revolution, in which he took an active part as a Major. The father of our subject, Henry Sterner, was born in Pennsylvania, and there married Miss Susan Kline, whose father was a man of prominence and surveyed the country from Philadelphia to Allentown, in Lehigh County.

Unto Henry and Susan Sterner thirteen sons were born in succession, after which three daughters were added to the family. All grew to manhood and womanhood with the exception of one son, who died in childhood. Our subject was the fourth in order of birth and opened his eyes to the light in Lehigh County, Pa., his birth occurring in November, 1816. His youth was passed somewhat uneventfully in his native land, where he acquired a meagre education. At the age of twenty-five, he removed to New York, where he carried on a general blacksmith business for about four years in Dansville. There he was united in marriage with Rebecca De Forest.

In 1852 Mr. Sterner came to Michigan and in Cass County purchased the Richard Meeks farm in Howard Township, where he remained for ten years. He located on section 18 during the year 1869, and died here on the 20th of August, 1891 mourned by a host of warm personal friends. Politically, he was a Democrat, and in his social connections affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Niles. A man of Christian life and religious belief, he was for a number of years identified with the Lutheran Church, having been reared in the faith of that denomination.

Some mention of the life and parentage of Mrs. Sterner will not be amiss in this connection. Triphena Lamberton was born in Howard Township, Cass County, Mich., on the farm where she now resides, October 21, 1843. Her father, Henry Lamberton, was a native of Canada, and throughout his entire life followed farming pursuits. He came to Michigan prior to its admission into the Union, and for a time resided near Grand Rapids, in Kent County, where he entered two hundred acres from the Government. After residing there a short time, he came to Cass County, where he lived until 1883. He then disposed of his property and removed to South Dakota, where he still resides. His wife was Luama, daughter of William Kirk, a native of Virginia, who came to Michigan during the Territorial days and was among the first to settle in Cass County. He entered the land now constituting the farm belonging to Mr. Chapin and occupied by Mr. Codding. The maternal great-grandfather of Mrs. Sterner was James Kirk, a native of Scotland, who after emigrating to the United States participated in the Revolutionary War.

Henry and Luama Lamberton were the parents of two daughters and four sons, and five of the family grew to maturity. Their daughter Triphena was reared in the township where she now resides, and in 1859, at the age of fifteen years, married the subject of our sketch. Three daughters and three sons blessed the union, of whom we note the following: Emma Luella is the wife of Frank Rogers, Chief Clerk in the Freight Department on the West Michigan Railroad at Muskegon; George A. is a successful farmer of Howard Township; Arthur resides in St. John’s, Mich.; Bertha, Grace and Carl remain with their mother.

Mrs. Sterner is the owner of two valuable farms of one hundred and sixty acres each, one located where she now lives, and the other in the same township. Some of her property she rents to her sons, while the home place is conducted under her direct personal supervision and management. For eighteen years prior to the death of Mr. Sterner, she had the entire charge of the homestead, owing to the fact that his ill health prevented him from taking any active part in its supervision.