William S. Sturgis (1772 - 1858), his son Josiah Sturgis (1816 - 1897) and his son in law Jabez M Fisher (1803 - 1879) all carved marble gravestones in the 1800's on Cape Cod. William Sturgis was a major influence on several 19th century marble gravestone carvers located on Cape Cod. Markers XIX (2002) and Markers XX (2003) published by the Association for Gravestone Studies have extensive articles by author and gravestone researcher James Blachowicz concerning 19th century gravestone carvers located on Cape Cod. Most of the following information is the Blachowicz articles.

William Sturgis was born in Sandwich and moved to Lee, MA, at an early age. He and his younger brother Thomas were important marble carvers in Lee for many years. William and his son Josiah moved to Nantucket and then Cape Cod in the 1830's. William was in his 60's at the time. Over a period of a few years William lived and worked in Falmouth, Orleans, Sandwich and Yarmouth.

William Sturgis introduced marble gravestones to Cape Cod. Previously most gravestones were made from slate. Ths Sturgis marble stones usually were decorated with features such as urns, willows, circular panels for inscriptions and quarter rosettes in the corners. Many of the marble gravestones by other carvers were plain with no decorative carving.

William Sturgis' son Josiah operated a stone carving shop in Harwich in the 1830's and in Yarmouth in the 1840's. About 1849 Josiah moved to the West Coast where he became a successful real estate owner.

The following marble gravestones are in the style of William Sturgis. Some of them most likely were carved by some of the dozen or more other 19th century local Cape Cod carvers taught or influenced by Sturgis. These carvers include Crosby, Faunce, Fisher, Hallet, Higgins, Hopkins, Jenks, Linnell, Nye, Sparrow, Thompson and Winslow.