The son of James Sterling, he entered Trinity College, Dublin as a scholar in 1718, graduating B.A.
[1] In November 1737 Sterling took a living in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
He had associated in a scheme, with Benjamin Franklin who brought in backers from Philadelphia, to develop the North-West Passage.
Franklin had become a sponsor of Captain Charles Swaine, who eventually made a Labrador Sea expedition in the Argo, in 1753.
Arthur Holt, and they had a daughter Rebecca, who married William Carmichael.