her father, james sterling, owned large blasting furnaces, and she claimed descent from william bradford. in childhood, she imbibed anti-british prejudices, and her patriotic sympathies were so stirred in childhood by the story of the destruction of tea cargoes in boston harbour, that she resolved never to drink tea, and kept the resolution all her life. she already possessed a beautiful voice of great compass and volume, and took a few singing lessons at the age of eleven from signor abella in new york. when she was sixteen her father was ruined by the reduction in 1857 of the import duties in the protective tariff, and died; she went to the state of mississippi as a teacher, and after a time gave singing lessons.