View source for Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section One, Sterling and Bloss: The Early Years

=1844: John William Sterling Is Born=


John William Sterling was born on May 12, 1844 in Stratford, Connecticut.  Of Scotch ancestry, he was the son of a successful sea captain who retired from the sea, at age 39, to become a businessman.  During his last year at sea, Sterling’s father was captain of the largest ship then afloat.  He was born in the 1790’s of stock that had been in New England since the 1680’s.  The elder Sterling had gone to sea at 14 as a cabin boy, and was a captain by 21. When he died in 1862, the elder Sterling’s business acumen allowed him to leave his family “well-to-do.”  His will left his son, John, $17,000, a very nice sum that allowed John to choose his career moves unrushed and with care.


His father also had the $300 necessary to purchase a “substitute” to serve in the civil war to keep John in college.  With the growing tensions leading up to the Civil War, many of John’s classmates, especially those from the south, left college in their freshman year or later on, to return home to serve in the military.  However, it was not unusual, and was an accepted practice to “hire” someone to serve in the military in your place, and in his journals, John discusses frankly and without shame that his father did so on his behalf, there being no stigma in hiring such a substitute at the time.  In fact, when Congress passed the military conscription (draft) laws there were draft riots in the streets, as many felt it was unconstitutional to force someone to serve.


Sterling’s father had seen some historic events in his lifetime:  He witnessed the successful trial on the Hudson River of Fulton’s steamboat “Claremont” in 1807, and he was in England in 1830 to ride the inaugural “through service” by rail between Liverpool and Manchester.  However, the John Sterling we know speaks matter-of-factly about important historical events that occurred during the years he kept a journal.  He speaks of the battles of the civil war, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Monitor and the Merrimac, and the death of President Lincoln’s son, Willy, as current events.


Sterling's father, mother and his sister Catherine (Kate or Kitty as she was variously known) are frequently mentioned in his journal, and it is obvious that Sterling loved them.  His sister Cordelia, who was somewhat removed in age from John and Kitty, was loved, but did not share the close relationship between mother, older sister and brother that would continue in the years to come.  The illness and conditions leading up to the death of Sterling’s father served to bring the three close.  Even after young Sterling first moved to New York, his mother and Kate would come to town and stay the winter in the same boarding house that Sterling might be occupying.

 
Sterling’s mother, Catherine Tomlinson Plant Sterling was the daughter of a Representative and later Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut.  She was a loving and caring woman but her son inherited her phobia of ocean travel; ironic, considering her husband’s early occupation as a sea captain.  Paradoxically, Sterling loved boats, spent time on his father’s sail boat as a child, and frequently traveled by boat to Bridgeport in his lifetime.  In later years, he enjoyed an annual fishing trip with friends.  He had no problem in going out in a small boat for his yearly fishing trips, but was oddly afraid of traveling over the ocean. Though Sterling was constantly invited by his many international friends across the ocean to visit them, he never did. 

 
As a boy, he delighted in doing all sorts of carpentry jobs; and his taste for building and constructing ingenious devices never deserted him.  His journals, both as a boy and as a young man in college, detail constant projects that he did on his summers out of school, from building shelves for himself or family members, to more ambitious projects such as laying floors, building furniture, and even finishing out a room in an outbuilding for the family’s hired man.  Encouraged to write journals at a young age, he continued to do so well into young adulthood up to and including the time he spent in negotiations for a partnership at the firm he was ultimately to head in a later incarnation.  His childhood journals, though sometimes tedious (he faithfully reported the weather, even when he had little else to report), could sometimes devastate the reader by discussing a day playing with a friend in one sentence, and just as matter-of-factly, note the death of a one-day-old baby cousin in the next.  These were the facts of life at the time.


The Sterling of college years at Yale appears to be quite a normal college boy.  He was continually concerned with his studies and constantly sleep deprived and cramming for exams.  He socialized with his friends and had an obvious eye for the young ladies.  Sterling alternately worried about his soul, his health, his family, and his drinking.  He played pranks on, and with, his friends; loved to skate in the winter (ice skating was the fashionable pastime for everyone at the time); and received both reprimands and praise during his time at University.


A small, genial man, physically energetic, neither so distinguished looking nor so finished as his future friend Stillman, he was exactitude personified.  Night after night found him at the same seat and the same table at the Union League, except on the one night of the week he visited another club.  If something annoyed him at the Union League, he would go out of his way to avoid confronting it.<ref>From: ''The portrait of a banker, James Stillman'' by Anna Robeson Brown Burr.</ref> 


Sterling was known to be an “incessant smoker” during his middle life and used to say that he had to smoke in order to keep his abounding energies under proper control.  He, however, always had control of himself and allowed no habit or taste to impair his health or interfere with his work. When his physician advised him that his smoking was affecting him injuriously, he immediately stopped smoking altogether. He was below medium height in the early 1900’s when the average height for a man was 5’6”. During his lifetime, he took singing lessons and boxed, a popular form of fitness recreation for men at the time.


Sterling was definitely a “control freak” in modern terms. On his desk at the firm, he had numerous buttons which he could press to summon his different assistants in the office.  Adjoining the room which he thus occupied was a reception room connected with his own room by a private door, where he saw his clients and where, as he was wont to say, he could escape from them when the business in hand had been concluded.<ref>From: ''The portrait of a banker, James Stillman'' by Anna Robeson Brown Burr.</ref>  


Nicknamed “Lord John” (probably because he represented Lords Mount Stephen and Strathcona, as well as some other titled Englishmen), Sterling deserved his moniker more that most Americans.  His peculiarities were marked and did not lessen with age. His private workroom at his office was always locked tight and only accessible by a mechanism of his own invention. The lock on his bedroom door at 912 Fifth was controlled from his bedside.  When automobiles came into vogue, Sterling had buttons in his car allowing him to direct the chauffeur.  There were buttons for left, right, slow, stop, go and for straight ahead.<ref>From: ''The portrait of a banker, James Stillman'' by Anna Robeson Brown Burr.</ref>

    
Some describe Sterling as a “crotchety” individual who was “punctual to the split second and fussy to the point of boycotting his club for exactly one week when anything gave him the slightest offense there.”<ref>''The first Billion: The Stillmans and the National City Bank'' by John K. Winker.</ref>


“For many years, he indulged in horseback riding, taking a turn around the Park in the morning on one of the handsome thoroughbreds that he imported from England. During the last few years of his life, he largely gave up riding and obtained his recreation [in his yearly fishing trips, but] principally in the development of the extensive landholdings that he acquired in [Rye, New York in] Westchester County and in Connecticut, usually spending his Wednesdays and Saturdays there.”


John Garver wrote of Sterling: “He never engaged in sports of any kind other than boxing exercise and his salmon fishing in June, in Canada.  He found 'no pleasure' in opera or theater, especially as he grew older. He remained throughout life indifferent to the charms of women and rarely allowed himself to be drawn into social functions of any kind.”<ref>''John William Sterling : class of 1864, Yale College : a biographical sketch''  by John A. Garver.</ref>  Yet we know from his college journals that he ice skated, sailed with his father, and had an eye for the ladies.
 

=1847: James Orville Bloss Is Born=

Very little about Bloss is known outside his professional life and before his years with Sterling.  We only know that he was born September 30, 1847 in Rochester, New York.  One of eight children, it appears based upon the bequests in his will that only two sisters survived him in 1918.

  
It is confusing, but important, to note that there were three “James O. Bloss’s:”  The father who will be referred to as James Senior; an older brother, James Orville, who died young; and James the younger, the subject of this document. No doubt, after the second James Orville died, James the younger was so named in a second attempt to carry on his father’s name.  In all future reference, James Orville will not be mentioned and James the younger will simply be referred to as James or “Blossy,” his nickname. 


The Bloss Family was of English descent, and James was aristocratic enough to have a coat of arms:<ref>''Matthews American Armoury and Blue Book'' published in 1907.</ref>


[[Image:Blossarms.jpg|600px]]


The Bloss family were strong abolitionists involved in the Underground Railway for escaped slaves. Bloss’ father was acquainted with the great abolitionist, Sojourner Truth, and published a letter to the editor that was circulated nationally and made him the object of scorn as a “nigger lover” among defenders of the status quo.  Although Bloss’ brother was killed in the Civil War, Bloss himself did not fight. (See James Bloss’ Family Tree, Exhibit 11).
We know from his passport applications and ships' logs that Bloss traveled extensively and frequently in Europe, at least from 1904 to 1910, (without Sterling who feared travel over water,) but we do not know if the majority of this travel was for business or pleasure after his retirement in 1898. 


One of his fellow passengers returning from Liverpool to New York on the Steam Ship Campania, in 1904 (shown below), was a 25 year-old American named Hugh Auchincloss who was destined to be the stepfather of Jacqueline, Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.  Auchincloss owned a large ‘gentlemen’s farm” outside Newport, Rhode Island, were Jackie and her sister, Lee, were brought up around the horses they both loved to ride throughout their lives.


[[Image:campania.jpg|650px]]

Caption: The Cunard Ship “Campania,” above, should not be confused with the “Carpathia” one of the ships that steamed to the rescue of the Cunard ship “Titanic” Survivors.


After exhaustive research and correspondence with current Bloss family members and various New York organizations, we located a photograph-based portrait of Bloss in a book of important New York businessmen from 1895.<ref>Source and page?</ref> This was when he was 45-47 years old, depending on when the photograph was made.  [[Image:bloss.jpg|frame|James O. Bloss]]


Comparing his 1887 passport application with his 1902 application (see below) we have this unvarying description of a 49- and 54 year-old Bloss: He stood 5 feet 7 ½ inches tall with brown and grey hair, thin on top. He had an oval face with a heavy mustache, a ruddy complexion, and brown eyes.


[[Image:Aaaapassportimage001lowqual.jpg]]

Caption: A passport application by James O. Bloss, signed by him and notarized July 14, 1902, along with a passport application of 1887, provide the most detailed description of his physical appearance that have been found. , The 1902 application lists Bloss's "Stature" as 5 feet, 7 1/2 inches, his "Eyes" as brown, his "Mouth" with a "Medium heavy mustache", his "Hair" as "brown, gray, thin on top", and his "Complexion" as "ruddy". \


[START SECTION IN RED TYPE INDICATING RESEARCHERS' ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE] A theory was put forth that it was possible that Bloss had some kind of a birthmark or facial disfigurement that would have discouraged him from having a photograph made.  While this was possible, other researchers in the group felt that such a disfigurement would have been significant enough to have been remarked upon in his passport application or at least somewhere in the research material on Sterling or Bloss. The found photograph indicates no birthmark but, of course, it could have been covered up for the photograph or removed from the negative.


Another theory for the lack of photographs of Bloss, or of Sterling and Bloss together, is that as executor of Sterling’s estate and inheritor of Sterling’s personal papers, Bloss may have decided (or at Sterling’s family’s insistence, been coerced) to destroy all records of the relationship, photographic and otherwise, to maintain privacy.  We know that Sterling left instructions to destroy certain personal papers, leaving others to Bloss’ discretion.  At the least, however, it would appear to be almost impossible that a photograph of the two men together would not be in existence since they lived and presumably traveled together for so many years.


Another theory is that if Bloss held on to some papers or photographs of Sterling and himself, Bloss’ family were well aware of the relationship between the two men and they could have destroyed any photos and materials after Bloss’ death as a way to “wipe out the memory” of a possibly scandalous and embarrassing taint to their family honor.<ref>E-mails between “Claude in Albany” and other Researchers dated 4/1/10.</ref>[END SECTION IN RED TYPE]


For whatever reasons, at the time of Sterling’s death, Bloss declined Sterling’s offer to stay on at 912 Fifth Avenue until his own demise. Circumstantial evidence suggests that once Bloss made that decision, Yale wasted no time in taking ownership of Sterling’s residence and other possessions.  In 1918, between Sterling's and Bloss’ death, an art association was called in to inventory and publish a catalog of the contents of the townhouse for sale.  It must be remembered that Bloss was wealthy in his own right, and didn’t lack for resources, [START RED TYPE] but one wonders if he was allowed to remove any favorite items or mementos of Sterling, either personal or otherwise, that they may have accumulated together.[END RED TYPE] By August, 1919, the estate had passed to Yale.


Bloss chose to move from his home of 17 years at 912 Fifth Avenue to one of two plush men’s clubs he belonged to, The Metropolitan, 12 blocks down Fifth Avenue at 60th Street. In five months or less, he would die there.  [START RED TYPE] Could this move have influenced Bloss’ decisions on what to do with pictures and other materials from Sterling’s life and his own?  Was he pressured to vacate 912 Fifth Avenue?  Many such questions remain about Bloss; he is almost as much of an enigma now as he seems to have been in his own lifetime.  He seems to “fade in” and “fade out” of existence as a boarder, or someone who is living off the good graces and in the residence of another, would be likely to do.[END RED TYPE]

[[Image:Blosssignature.jpg|Bloss Signature]]


=1864:Sterling Obtains a B.A. Degree from Yale=

At Yale what we would call fraternities today were known as “societies” and Sterling could be counted on when it came to recruiting pledges.  In addition to being a member of the “Skull and Bones” Society, Alpha Delta Phi, and an honorary Phi Beta Kappa, he was also a strong supporter and an officer in the Brothers in Unity, a debating society. 


Sterling was religious, as was normal for his background and the times he grew up in.  He tried hard to refrain from drinking in college, but was only periodically successful.  He had a great love and respect for his father: when his father suffered a stroke later in life, Sterling was there to aid in returning him to health.  His father’s stroke introduced him to the family businesses, and he frequently either took his ailing father to Bridgeport to transact business.  When his father was unable to transact business, Sterling would do it for him, collecting dividends, insuring property, etc.


During college young Sterling continually battled with a fear of speaking.  Since a great deal of college work at that time, even examinations, was done orally, he continually strived to improve himself in that regard.  He wrote for prize competitions and even placed in those competitions, an activity he was aided in by his slightly older sister, Kate.


At Yale, he led an active social life and spent a great deal of time in the company, and pursuing the attentions of, young ladies.  In his journal are many accounts of Sterling’s efforts to impress various young women.  Evidence from his writings indicates that more than one or two were special to him.


In 1862, while Sterling was at Yale, there occurred an episode which has sparked much-discussion [discussed in Jonathan Ned Katz's original entry on OutHistory.org titled [[John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918]]]. It concerns an entry in Sterling’s journal wherein he records “I slept with Jim Mitchell last night an…” The “an” continuing the entry is crossed out by Sterling. This entry has been pointed to as evidence that Sterling was having homosexual relationships with men in college. It has been proposed in the article supporting this interpretation that it was as if “…he stops himself from saying more, and adds a period to the end of the sentence and [thereby,] halts further inquiry.”<ref>John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918 by Jonathan Ned Katz, at www.outhistory.org</ref>


[START RED TYPE] Others disagree with this interpretation of this sentence. Since it’s stated that Sterling’s belongings, including his unassembled bed, were in disarray in his rooms that day at beginning of term, another, equally plausible interpretation is that Sterling was simply indicating by “I slept with Jim Mitchell” that he had stayed in Mitchell’s room, maybe in a spare bed, or platonically, in Mitchell’s bed. Mitchell had been a friend since childhood and would be someone to whom Sterling would naturally turn in such a situation.  In Sterling’s journal entry of July 13, 1855, he uses similar language to indicate a night spent with his Uncle Ogden, so it was common usage to say “slept with” when one meant “stayed with.” The crossed out “an” could simply be an innocent decision on the fly to edit the structure of any additional information he planned to put in the sentence.<ref>John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918 by Jonathan Ned Katz, at www.outhistory.org.</ref> There are frequently such cross outs in Sterling’s journal. Either argument is inconclusive.


In order for the above referenced passage to have the meaning intended you would have to accept that Sterling was homosexual.  Anyone who reads Sterling’s Journals while he was at college would be hard put to come to that conclusion.
 

One of Sterling’s supposed college paramours was Clint Conklin (below, right; Sterling, left). 
[[Image:Sterlingconklin.jpg|650px]]
The picture above was staged by Sterling and Conklin as a “joke gift” to Sterling’s parents. It shows the depiction of a satiric look by the two at what parents think their children’s life at college entails.  Although Sterling and Conklin roomed together all through their time at Yale except for part of their senior year, Conklin was absent frequently from the scene due to a number of illnesses.  However, being Sterling’s paramour is a somewhat doubtful claim, seeing as Conklin went on to graduate, recover his health, marry, and became a lawyer in his father’s law firm in Springfield, Illinois.[end red type] 


Sterling’s journals are unintentionally rife with family and friend’s illnesses and deaths, which were common for the period.  By 1867, three years after graduation, six of Sterling’s close college friends mentioned in his journals had died.  Julius Parke, one good friend of Sterling’s, went on after graduation from Yale to study chemistry in Germany.  Despite poor health, he excelled in chemistry and went on to study medicine.  After he became a doctor, he spent some time in St. Augustine, Florida, which did not help his health.  He eventually died in Charleston, South Carolina, only four years after graduation.  Howard Pratt, another friend, died shortly after graduation.  Pratt had weak health, as many did at that time of poorly heated rooms and frequent exposure to poor sanitary conditions.  Pratt’s senior year, he returned home after graduation with a cough from which he never recovered.  The cough turned out to be tuberculosis.  


Yet, taken as a whole, Sterling comes across in his journals as a typical college boy, fascinated to the point of obsession with women.  So far, nothing either way has been found to unequivocally confirm his sexuality, except circumstantial evidence.  It is noted [by Katz in his entry on Sterling and Bloss] that “The same 19th century distinction between affection and the sexual meant that young men friends could sleep together at Yale without anyone suspecting them of illicit erotic acts."<ref>John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918 by Jonathan Ned Katz, at www.outhistory.org</ref>   


However, Sterling’s not marrying is also the subject of comment in two late 19th century editions of his Yale class books.  The 1891 edition notes simply that Sterling is “unmarried,” but the 1895 edition states with supposed emphasis that Sterling “has never married.”<ref>John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918 by Jonathan Ned Katz, at www.outhistory.org</ref>   How could Yale have decided his life’s results so “emphatically” in a period of just five short years when weighed against a lifetime?  By 1867, three years after graduation, only 19 out of the 111 men Sterling went to Yale with were known to be married.  Out of those same 111 men, all but 17 of them were at least one to three years older than Sterling and most were still unmarried.


As for the professions of Sterling’s Yale Class of 1864, 13 became ministers, 21 became doctors, eight became teachers, 19 went into business, two became engineers, two became farmers (with a Yale education!), two became newspaper editors, two went into government work, and the rest went into the legal profession.


Like a lot of good lawyers, Sterling had a sharp eye for significant detail.  He could have been a writer, giving a biting critical commentary in his journal of a Charles Dickens reading during the latter’s last American tour.  In Utica, New York, in 1866, Sterling was clerking in a law office, when President Andrew Johnson, his cabinet, plus General Grant and Admiral Farragut came though town like a traveling road show.  It was near mid-term congressional elections, and being interested in the law and politics, Sterling attended.  


He describes Johnson in his journal as “A very thickset man, bull head, broad, firm and decided mouth, but rather a dead eye.”  Johnson is a man of “very forcible and expressive speech”.  But the crowd was cool to Johnson; Grant and Farragut got the really loud applause.  Sterling goes on to note about Johnson: “It is wonderful how he has lowered himself in the eyes of the people.”<ref>Wonderful, not as in the current sense of the word “Great.”  Wonderful, as in the near-archaic meaning of the word “to be filled with wonder at.”</ref> Sterling’s meaning by that remark is unclear as, although Johnson was no Lincoln, it would still be two years before the scandal of Johnson’s impeachment.<ref>''John William Sterling : class of 1864, Yale College: a biographical sketch'' by John A. Garver.</ref>

=1867	Sterling Is Admitted To The Bar=

In 1867 Sterling was named valedictorian of his class at Columbia and passed the bar exam. He attended Columbia Law in Greenwich Village, two miles south of the rest of Columbia which was at Madison Avenue and 49th Street.


While attending Columbia, Sterling roomed at 78 MacDougal Street with a college friend named Isaac P. “Pugs” Pugsley.  The building still exists as a private home today.  Initially, when searching for accommodations, they wore out their feet looking for rooms and had to take what they could get at $14 a week, plus $2 for coal and $2 more for lunch for a total of $18 or $9 each.  Poor “Pugs” was short of money and Sterling grumpily paid for most of the tab. He notes that they would be moving as soon as they could find something cheaper. Pugsley had returned from the war where he had served as a paymaster in the Navy.  From October, 1865, until April, 1866, he taught in New York City while sharing a room with Sterling.  In May of 1868, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and was eventually admitted to the bar.


During this time, while he was clerking in law offices, Sterling made extra money by tutoring a Yale sophomore, George Wells, in “Livy, Horace, Homer, and Latin and Greek grammar, and I have worked him very hard…I received in payment $18.75 at the rate of $1 per hour.”<ref>''John William Sterling : class of 1864, Yale College : a biographical sketch'' by John A. Garver.</ref> 


At this time in Sterling's life, there continues to be no strain in the 24-year-old's family relationships.  He notes in his journal that in January 1868, “My mother and my sisters arrived at 206 E 15th Street, where I have boarded for a year and a half, for the purpose of spending the winter with me.”<ref>''John William Sterling : class of 1864, Yale College : a biographical sketch'' by John A. Garver.</ref>  


The summer of 1868 found Sterling, now a “junior partner” in the firm, having moved again, this time to 60 East 9th Street. He took with him three trunks, boxes of books, bookshelves, a dumbbell and Indian clubs.<ref>These buildings from Sterling’s time at both addresses are now gone.</ref> It appears that, like any up and coming young man holding down a job and going to school, Sterling moved as he felt the need to be closer to the place he worked or where he might be going to school.


During that summer, he turned introspective in his journal noting with frustration that he was extremely shy and lacked self confidence to the point of self-embarrassment: it was, he thought, a personality flaw no doubt exacerbated by his difficulty in speaking in front of others. He muses that though he has tried to overcome his shyness, he now realizes that it’s just a part of his nature.  


Although personally shy, Sterling was not shy about asking for raises. He knew his value to the companies he worked for and watched his own expenditures carefully.  Sterling goes on to note that he could only hope that the coming years of his career would enable him to lose his shyness and become as confident as others around him seemed.  In short, the normal lack of confidence of someone who was just starting out in life seems to have dogged Sterling in his personal life.  To some extent, it fostered his dread of appearing in court or speaking in public situations in years to come.

=1870	Sterling and Bloss Meet=

In 1870, Sterling moved in with Charles Bard at 316 West 22nd Street, where they shared a third-story back room.  James Bard, either Charles’ father or uncle, owned the boarding house with his wife.  Sterling’s soon-to-be law-partner and current employer, Thomas Shearman, and Mrs. Shearman, also lived there and had almost the whole second floor.  Sterling described it as the “nicest boarding place” he’d lived in. The building remains today.


In October, 26-year-old Sterling wrote in his journal that “J. O. Bloss is coming to this house to board tomorrow night.  He will room with Charlie Bard upstairs”.  It appears that when a new boarder came to stay at the house, he initially roomed with young Charlie, then in his late teens or early twenties, until a room in the house opened up. 


Sterling obviously had met Bloss before Bloss moved into the boarding house and this may have had something to do with Bloss choosing to live in the same house.  On August 28, in fact, Sterling wrote in his journal:  "Last Sunday Bloss came to visit me -- very much impressed by his reading aloud to me."  [Transcriber's Note:  One must wonder how common it was in 1870 for one man to read to another at his home.  Perhaps it was common; perhaps it was not.  At the least, it evidently shows that Sterling found some characteristics in Bloss that he liked.  Also one must wonder if, in the Sterling journal of that time, there were other mentions of a developing relationship with Bloss that were subsequently expunged or lost.  We will never know as the original journal from that time is gone and the typed version has many significant gaps.]

 
In all probability, it was Charles Stillman, Bloss’ employer and a client of Sterling’s firm, who might have been the means by which Sterling met Bloss. At this time, Bloss was working as a young cotton broker at Woodward & Stillman.  Three weeks after Bloss moved in, the Shearmans began looking for a house in Brooklyn.  Sterling was not happy with the idea of the Shearmans moving there and was concerned that it would affect their law business, with Shearman not close or easily available in the evenings.  [START RED TYPE: ] Based upon Sterling’s journals, it would not be improbable to say that Sterling was heterosexual, at least in his college years.  What happened when he met Bloss has been so closely guarded later by Bloss, and by others, as to leave the question open for conjecture.  Even though this appears to be the first mention of the 23-year-old Bloss in his journal, Sterling and Bloss must have met previously.[END RED TYPE]  Sterling was familiar enough with Bloss to remark on his arrival in his journal. This arrival must have had some sort of significance to Sterling in a boarding house where people came and went with regularity.  


He tried to talk James Bard, his landlord, into taking a house further east with the Shearmans, Bloss, and himself as boarders.  Sterling wrote, “Mr. Bloss and I have made up our minds not to live so far west after May, for we both desire more facilities in reference to society evenings."  In other words, they wanted to be closer to work, and have more room for entertaining. Evidently, however, Bard was not interested in acquiring another boarding house.  An entry in Sterling’s journal of May 4, 1873, says "Bloss and I are busy house hunting and have arranged to go to 21 West 25th Street.”<ref>Excerpted from ''John William Sterling, Class of 1864, Yale College: A biographical Sketch'' by John Garver.</ref> The Shearmans moved to Brooklyn at the same time.  Did Sterling and Bloss take the arrangement on West 25th and live there from 1873 to 1875?  We don’t know. 

 
We do know that in 1876 and 1877, City Directories show Sterling living at 45 West 35th Street.<START RED TYPE> Was Bloss there with him?  It would seem unlikely that once having lived together, they would separate; then, move back in together three to five years later.<END RED TYPE>  In any event, we know that in 1879, Bloss and Sterling were living at 29 West 36th Street, the first evidence that the duo were under one roof together in circumstances where the only other occupants were servants.  In spite of a desire to move east in Manhattan, it wasn’t until 1881, the year that Bloss joined Archie B. Gwathmey in forming Gwathmey & Bloss, that they finally ended up at 21 East 47th Street. The two were to live there for at least 20 years after which time they moved to 912 Fifth Avenue


[[Image:Maggie.jpg|frame|]] 
To right, 21 East 47th Street, the residence for so many years of Sterling and Bloss, and their home for much longer than 912 Fifth Avenue, as it stands today. Maggie’s Place claims to be midtown’s oldest family-owned and –operated restaurant and pub. Just a small midtown restaurant with an upstairs dining room, not far from J.P. Morgan Chase, and primarily a place to lunch for the local office workers.


=See also:=

==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Research on Sterling and Bloss, MAIN PAGE]]==

=Sections of the Gruener-Wagner Research Report=


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Two Sterling and Bloss: The Working Years]]==


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Three, Sterling and Bloss: Fifth Avenue Years]]==


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Four, Sterling and Bloss: The After Years, Part 1]]==

 
==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Four, Sterling and Bloss: The After Years, Part 2]]==


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Four, Sterling and Bloss: The After Years, Part 3]]== 


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Four, Sterling and Bloss: The After Years, Part 4]]==


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Section Four, Sterling and Bloss: The After Years, Part 5]]== 


=Guides to the Gruener-Wagner Research=


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Sterling and Bloss; "Guide to Locations and Parties"]]==


==[[Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Sterling and Bloss; "Time Line and Index"]]==


=Other entries:=

==[[John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918|John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss]]==
Original entry on the lives of Sterling and Bloss by Jonathan Ned Katz.

==[[James Orville Bloss: September 30, 1847-December 15, 1918]]==


Notes
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