Charles S. Sterling (1804-1884) was prominent among the early doctors of Liverpool. He graduated from the Medical College at Waterville, Maine in 1831 and settled in Liverpool just before the 1832 cholera epidemic. Notes from the Onondaga Historical Association collection provide the following information.
¨He was characterized by a somewhat dry sense of humor and was self-willed and independent , suggestive of his puritan ancestry. A cool nerve and entire fearlessness made him seem somewhat unfeeling and anxious patients. For friends rushing in, frantic for sympathy and proclaiming that the sufferer was ¨dying¨ his answer would be ¨Well there is no use for me then; I can not help him.¨
While the cholera prevailed he was able to personally illustrate his theory in regard to the disease by his diet, for he used cucumbers as a relish during the whole seige. He maintained that perfect quiet and freedom from panic had more effect than any change of diet and often declared that many were killed by fear in that trying season.
His remarkably keen and piercing blue eyes, which, with his habit formed of fixing them steadily on any speaker whose veracity he doubted, was discomforting in the extreme. He saw much of the rough element a pioneer village holds and has been know to dress 10 broken heads in succcesion after a littler Irish ¨misunderstanding¨
He was a steady reader and medicine held a divider heart in his case. He would often rest by the wayside with a book then press on the road to success as did his contemporaries. A village life therefore with leisure (sic) for reading was more congenial than the hum and fret of a practical crowded city life. He was conscientius however and did everything throughly well according to his lights. He was friend as well as physician and had quite an extensive practice for 40 years in Liverpool. He retired from active service in ´72, and lived 12 years in quite (sic) life before passing beyond the Great Divide.
Transcribed by Brady & Owen
Biographical Sketch
Charles S. Sterling was born in 1804, and was one of the first doctors in Liverpool. He went to school in Waterville, Maine in 1831, Before the cholera outbreak in 1832. Notes from the Onondaga Historical Association say Sterling had a “somewhat dry sense of humor and was self-willed and independent.” He was a very calm man who took his job very seriously. During the Cholera epidemic, He “often declared that many were killed by fear in that trying season.” Charles S. Sterling went on to practice for 40 more years and retired from active service in 1872 and lived up until 1884.