Born in Fayette County in December, 1830 the son of Enos and Diana (Jones) Sturgis. Mr. Sturgis received his education in the public school of his native State and attended the Jefferson College of Canonsburg, Pa., but did not complete the course of study in that institution. After leaving college he engaged as clerk in a dry-goods store of Uniontown, Pa., and in 1851, came to the then frontier State of Iowa, locating in West Union, the county of Fayette having been organized only the previous year (1850). Mr. Sturgis first secured employment as a clerk in the dry-goods store of Woodle & Brunson, but the next year formed a business partnership with Daniel Cook in general merchandising which continued until 1854. Three years later Mr. Sturgis removed to Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County, where he opened two general merchandise stores, one at the town of his residence and the other at Mason City which he operated three years. At the breaking out of the war in 1861 he closed his business in that county and returned to West Union, where he soon after re-embarked in the general mercantile business which he continued until 1872 when he sold and purchased a farm near the city. In 1878 he purchased lands in the State of Kansas near the thriving city of Beloit and in 1885 laid out eighty acres of that land into Sturgis' Addition to the city of Beloit. He also owns and operates a farm adjacent to that city. On the 31st of January, 1856, Mr. Sturgis and Miss Rachel Irwin, of West Union were married. She was the only daughter of John and Catherine Irwin. Mr. Sturgis has always been a man of enterprise, has no hobbies, and is thoroughly practical in his methods in politics as well as business. A few years ago, in company with his son, Henry Clay, he founded the Citizens' Bank of Oelwein. In politics Mr. Sturgis was in early life a Clay Whig, but after the breaking up of that party by the passage of what is known as the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, repealing the slavery restriction compromise of 1820, he assisted in organizing the Republican party of Iowa, was active and influential in both local and State politics for many years. Mr. Sturgis has always had an aversion to holding official positions himself; however, without solicitation on his part he was nominated and elected on the Republican ticket in 1863 a member of the Tenth General Assembly of Iowa. At the close of his term he declined to become a candidate for re-election. Again in 1876 he was chosen by the State Legislature and commissioned by Gov. Kirkwood, a Trustee for the College for the Blind at Vinton, Iowa. At the end of his term he declined a re-appointment. The Republican State Convention in 1880 again honored Mr. Sturgis by choosing him a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, in June of that year. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and Mrs. Sturgis is a consistent member of the Baptist Church.