CDV of a Young Boy IDed as Sterling Fessenden at 7 Years 11 Months, Eastport, Maine

Reprinted, with permission, from the Heirlooms Reunited blog

Carte de Visite of a young boy identified on the reverse as  "Sterling Fessenden, 7 years 11 mos, Eastport, August 1883"

It's likely that Sterling was Sterling Fessenden (1875-1943), son of Nicholas Fessenden (1847-1927) and Laura Emily (Stirling or Sterling) Fessenden (1852-1935) [although her birth year looks to be 1851 in the photograph of her stone]. 

Sterling's paternal grandparents, Hewitt Chandler Fessenden and Mary Turner (Peterson) Fessenden were in Eastport, Maine, by 1860 where Hewitt practiced medicine.  Their son Nicholas moved to Fort Fairfield, Maine, upon his 1874 marriage to Laura Emily Stirling, a native of that town, where Sterling would be born in 1875. I imagine young Sterling's photograph was taken on a visit to his paternal grandparents.

Sterling would graduate from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and find his way to China, where he would run the Municipal Court in Shanghai and, if the facts are correct, lead a rather controversial life.  

If you have corrections and/or information to share on the Fessenden and Stirling/Sterling families, please leave a comment for the benefit of other researchers.