William Sturgis (February 25, 1782 – October 21, 1863) was a Boston merchant in the China trade, the California hide trade and the maritime fur trade.
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Early life
Sturgis was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, to Hannah Mills and William E. Sturgis, a ship master and lineal descendant from Edward Sturgis of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, the first Sturgis in America (arrived 1630).
In 1796, he joined the counting house of his uncle Russell Sturgis (1750–1826), and less than two years later became connected with James and Thomas Handasyd Perkins' maritime fur trade between the Pacific Northwest coast and China. Their sister, Elizabeth Perkins, was the wife of Russell Sturgis.
Upon his father's death in 1797, he went to sea to support the family as assistant trader on the Eliza, then as chief mate of Ulysses. He then served under Captain Charles Derby on Caroline until Derby died and Sturgis took command. In 1804 Caroline sailed from the Columbia River to Kaigani, just south of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, acquiring some 2,500 sea otter skins that netted $73,034.