John Stearns

Town Clerk
In Office	1703 - 1704
Preceded by	Joseph Tompson
Succeeded by	Oliver Whiting
Select Board
In Office	1689 - 1690
Preceded by	George Farley
Succeeded by	John French
Select Board
In Office	1692 - 1692
Preceded by	Oliver Whiting
Succeeded by	Samuel Manning
Select Board
In Office	1695 - 1697
Preceded by	Ralph Hill II
Succeeded by	Simon Crosby
Select Board
In Office	1702 - 1704
Preceded by	Joseph Tompson
Succeeded by	Oliver Whiting
Select Board
In Office	1706 - 1712
Preceded by	James Frost
Succeeded by	John Needham
Select Board
In Office	1714 - 1718
Preceded by	Samuel Hill
Succeeded by	Thomas Richardson
Select Board
In Office	1720 - 1720
Preceded by	Oliver Whiting
Succeeded by	William Patten
Representative to the General Court
In Office	1706 - 1715
Preceded by	John Wilson
Succeeded by	George Brown
Representative to the General Court
In Office	1718 - 1718
Preceded by	George Brown
Succeeded by	Oliver Whiting

John Stearns was the son of the elder John Stearns, one of the original purchasers of the Dudley farm and among the earliest settlers of Shawshin, whose own father Isaac Stearns had emigrated from Nayland, Suffolk in 1630. Born in May 1654, our John Stearns was long credited, erroneously according to town historian Henry Hazen, as the first child born in Billerica; see George Farley for the record that establishes the honor actually belongs to Farley's son Samuel. Stearns held the military rank of Captain, and served the town for decades as selectman and, later, town clerk. He died October 26, 1728.