An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL. 1893 HON. ROBERT F. STURDEVANT, one of the prominent and progressive citizens of Dayton, Columbia county, is especially worthy of mention in this work. He was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1841, his ancestry being traceable back to Peter Sturdevant, of New Amsterdam, now the city of New York. The maternal ancestors of our subject were also of old, influential New England stock. James W. Sturdevant, the father of the subject of this sketch, is also a native of Pennsylvania, and is still living, in the enjoyment of good health. The Judge's mother, nee Mary A. French, was a native of Vermont and is now deceased. Her grandfather French was a patriot soldier during the Revolutionary war and participated in the battle of Bunker Hill. James W. Sturdevant, in emigrating westward, first settled in Jefferson county, Iowa, in 1843; in 1854 he removed to Clarke county, Wisconsin. Judge Sturdevant, the eldest of the five children in his father's family, was reared to farm life until he was eighteen years of age, when he began his professional studies. October 7, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Fourteenth Wisconsin Infantry, and served four years and two days, during which time he was promoted to the rank of Color Sergeant. He passed safely through many of the noted engagements of the war; as Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Tupelo, etc. At the close of the war he returned to Wisconsin and completed his professional studies in the office of his maternal uncle, B.F. French, an eminent practitioner of Neillsville, and was admitted to practice at the bar in 1868. He continued his practice in Wisconsin until 1873, when he removed to Columbia county, Washington. Here he became the first Probate Judge of the county. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the First Judicial District in 1878, and served two years, when he resumed private practice until 1884, and was then again elected Prosecuting Attorney. The district comprised Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties. In 1889 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention preparing for the admission of Washington as a State in the Union. In 1889 he was elected Superior Judge, and reelected in the autumn of 1892. Politically the Judge is a stanch and active Republican. As to his fraternal relations he holds a membership in the Encampment of the I.O.O.F., having passed the official chairs, and he is also a member of the blue lodge and Royal Arch degree of the F. & A.M., and he is a prominent member of the G.A.R. He was married in the State of Wisconsin, March 18, 1866, to Miss Mary J. Towsley, a native of Summit county, Ohio, and they have two daughters, namely: Eva M. and Edith E. The family are of long-lived progenitors. The Judge's mother died in 1892, at the age of seventy-six years, while his father is still living in Neillsville, Wisconsin, now aged seventy-nine years. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.