Sturm Family

Our Sturm Ancestors

Page index (other descendants also listed):
Henry Sturm Sr. 1757-1832 and Elizabeth Weaver 1765-1840
  Henry Sturm Jr. 1791-1868 and Catherine Dalrymple 1795-1862
    Abner J. Sturm 1830-1914 and Harriet E. Leason 1836-1868
      Charles Oscar Sturm 1868-1957 and Clarice Cook
        Bessie Sturm Ernst 1899-1978 and John C. Ernst 1898-1974

Sturm family in 1910

This is all a work in progress; please send any stories or comments! Many names are linked to photographs. Send pictures, too.

Details:
Henry Sturm Sr. b. 1757 in Virginia, d. Shelby Co., Ohio, 6/14/1832, married in Virginia in 1786 to Elizabeth Weaver, b. 1765 Germantown, PA, d. 4/3/1840 Green Township, Shelby Co, Ohio. (1) There is no clear link to his ancestors, but the name is German. Most of the Germans were in Pennsylvania, so it's interesting that he was born in Virgina. The Sturms were forest-dwellers and frontiersmen, and seemed to keep moving west as the land was developed for farming.
Henry's sister married Elizabeth's brother and the clans stayed together. Two Weaver brothers and Henry leased some land in Kentucky; then in 1796 Henry and his brother-in-law Henry Weaver moved to Clark County Ohio and in 1822 to Shelby County, Ohio, where he died ten years later at age 75. They were remarked upon as being the "first family who attempted to establish a home in the dense forest of Green Township."

Elizabeth marched right along, treking through the wilderness and giving birth to at least eleven children (1788,1789, 1791, 1793 (twins), 1797, 1798, 1799, 1807, 1813 (another set of twins. If her birthdate is right, she would have been 48!) They all grew up to have children of their own (not sure if Fredrick survived) -- lots of children. Elizabeth lived a rough life and survived to age 75. I'm amazed, and pleased to be a descendant of hers.
(ref. History Of Shelby County, Ohio)

Matthias b. 1786, West Virginia
Nicholas Sturm b. 1788 Kentucky
Henry Sturm Jr. b. 1791 Mason Co. Kentucky (our ancestor)
Margaret and Elizabeth Sturm (twins) b. 1793, Kentucky
William Sturm b. 1797 in Mason, Kentucky
Frederick Sturm b. 1798 in Mason, Kentucky
Jacob Sturm b. 1799
Ephraim Sturm b. 1807 Clark County, Ohio
George and John Sturm (twins) b. 1813

This is a lot of moving around (see map links.) Shelby County, Ohio would have been the far frontier in pre-1822; "no one except the Indians near them." (History of Shelby County). Shelby County is just east of Darke county, where our Hartzell ancestors settled some years later. Henry Senior left 80 acres to each of his sons, except Ephraim who only got five dollars due to "disobedience." Our ancestor received "so much of the South West quarter of Section No. 1, Township No. 2 and Range No. 13 M.R. as lies North East of Mosquitoe Creek". There is "a Sturm Cemetery near the land of Henry and his descendants." (in Shelby County, Ohio.)

Henry Sturm Jr. b. 1/29/1791, Mason Co, Ky, d. 1868 married in 1814 Catherine Dalrymple b. 2/5/1795 in South Carolina, d. 1862 in Elmira, Stark Co. IL.(2)
Henry Jr. was the third son. He married Catherine Dalrymple from South Carolina in 1814, when he was 23 and she was 20 years old. Henry Jr. was a veteran of the war of 1812; according to family stories, he drove a supply wagon. The veteran's group replaced his headstone with a brass marker (Osceola Grove) and recently had some sort of ceremony honoring him as a veteran. Catherine's marble headstone has so far escaped the lawnmowers and is still there. In 1818, Henry Jr. was made Constable of Perry Township in Shelby County, Ohio. After their father died, Henry, with his family and two of his brothers, went to Stark County Illinois for land that was granted to veterans. They all settled around Osceola Grove.
The Sturms were all known to be rough "mountain men" types, farmers, hunters and sellers of supplies to emigrants and new residents. Henry Jr. had a son, William, who was killed in the Civil War. Our ancestor is another son, Abner J. Sturm.
Catherine, like her mother-in-law, survived the births of eleven children (1816, 1817, 1818, 1822, 1824, 1826, 1830, 1832, 1834, 1837, 1841) who also had lots of children. She lived to be 67.

George Dalrymple Sturm b.1816
Peter Sturm b.1817
Rebecca Sturm b.1818
William Henry Sturm b.1822 - link to a photo on another site.
Isaac Sturm b.1824
Elizabeth Sturm b.1827
Abner J. Sturm b.May 21, 1830 d. Nov. 2, 1914 (our ancestor)
Catherine Sturm b.1832
Nancy Sturm b.1834
Margaret Jane Sturm b.1838 in Ohio. She married one who seems to have disappeared, then married William Larkins in Bureau County, Illinois, and moved to Nebraska in 1868. After they moved, her brothers rode out to Nebraska to check on her. Children were Minnie, Lilly, Ralph, Ernest, Ethel, Marian Grace and Winnie. (The Larkins Family by Shirley Walta, 1971)
Rachel Sturm b. 1841 in Stark Co. Illinois.

Abner J. Sturm

Aunt Ruby said that Abner (A.J.) had six wives, but I only find names of three.

The 1850 census shows Abner (age 21) and Eliza (age 16) in Ohio, described as "Farmer". They had two children; son James died at eight months in October 1852; Eliza died in January of 1853; and daughter Christena E. died in January 1854 at three years old. In February 1856 AJ married Harriet E. Leasen. She had children born in 1857, 1858, 1859, 1861, 1863, 1865, 1866 and she died in February 1868.
In 1868 Henry Jr. died; AJ was apparently not a favorite and received a smaller inheritance than his other brothers. Copy of his will on Harlan Sturm's site, http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sturm/h2-will.htm).
In September 1869 he married Flora Mix (her parents were from Canada) and they had children in 1870, 1872, 1874 and Flora died in February 1879.

We know that in the mid 1870s he stopped farming and did some kind of speculating, "pork bellies" said Aunt Ruby. He made enough money to buy a nice house -- a brick house -- which Steve pointed out to me once although I forget where it is (send photo!) At any rate he didn't keep it.

Then he was in Kansas, and later in Oaklahoma. Margaret She also sent a newspaper clipping---edge of article cut off! Wilbur, his youngest with Flora Mix, would have been 18; it says he left his "father's family" in Elgin; did AJ have more children with another wife? (Typed in verbatim.)

"Wilbur Sturm, youngest son
Abner J. Sturm, returned
week from Kansas, where he
with his father and family
spring. A. J. is located on a f
near a little town called E
likes the country well and
raised a good crop the pre
season. Wilbur does not like
father's location for various 
sons, but says he left his fath
family well and contented."

Written on the edge--- "A.J. Elgin, KS Chautauqua Co. son - Curtiss - Centerville, KS Linn Co."So I guess Curtis wound up in Kansas too.

Mig sends another newspaper clipping "Stan KC Repub 7-28-1892" (typed in verbatim.) Mig notes that A. J. is "62 years old". Flora Mix died in 1879, so this is yet another Mrs. Sturm.

"A. J. Sturm writes from Oklahoma that he has bought a farm in that territory, and that he likes the country and climate very much, so that it seems probable that this vicinity has seen the last of Abner. On his newly bought quarter of land there is some fifty acres of corn ready for plowing the first time. Mrs. Sturm with Wilbur and the children expect to start for the new home on next Monday. The REPUBLICAN hopes sincerely that they may have good health and achieve fortune in this exchange of the old for the new. The farmers of this locality has had many thousands of dollars paid them in the way of losses from the private pocket of A. J. Sturm during his course here as a stock buyer. This much and more we hope he may be sucessful in regaining before he atains an age when he will be unable to enjoy it."

(Do I detect some sarcasm in the article? He obviously went bust, and paid at least some of his debts.)

Abner J. Sturm's Marriages:

Christena E. Sturm4 (1851-1/6/1854, age 3yrs. 2 mo. 25 days, buried in Oceola Grove)
James M. Sturm4 (1852, died as infant)

Harriet E. Leasen

Leasen

William Sturm4 (1857-1932, Osceola Grove)
Mary E. Sturm4 (1854-1938) m. William Henry Dunn 1876 in Bradford
Eliza H. Sturm4 (b. 1858) m. William Hazlett
Ella Nora "Eleanor" Sturm4 (b. May 1861 in Elmira, d. 1908) m. James William Screeton about 1882 in Elmira, Stark Co., Illinois; James' mother was Mary M. Lesan, b. June 28 1831, Penobscot Co., Maine; d. Jan. 13 1873, Stark Co., Illinois (in Osceola Grove?)
Grace E. Sturm4 (b. 1863 d. 1866)
Curtis A. Sturm4 (b. 1865, d. 1957)
Charles Oscar Sturm4 (b. 1868, d. 1957) m. Clarice Cook (our ancestor)

Herbert E. Sturm4 b. 1870
Bessie Sturm4 b. 1872 m. Archibald Terwilliger b. 1867
Wilbur L. Sturm4 b. 1874

(Was there a last wife, that he went to Elgin in 1892 with? ) Aunt Ruby said that after he married the last time they "moved away" and is probably buried wherever they went.

Mig writes to Mom, "I thought I found Abner J. place where he had been buried in Elgin KS but they found nothing - not one Sturm - so now maybe it would be Bartelsville, OK. Kevin is going to try and check it out when he and Charlotte have a couple of days off--they will drive up there." (2004)
---2007: There he is, in Bartlesville, listed in the records for the White Rose Cemetery. I'm waiting for a photo. I still don't know if there was a last wife.

July, 2007; uh-oh, the volunteer who went to look for his grave says it isn't there. Now what? He's slipped through our fingers again...

Charles Oscar Sturm (see photo) and Clarice Cook (4)

Oscar's mother died the same year he was born. Family members remember him being moved around, cared for by various relatives in the area. Flora apparently didn't want him. He married Clarice Cook and lived by farming, not owning any land of his own. His daughter, my grandmother (Bessie), remembered the family moving often, living in houses with dirt floors and wooden levers on the doors instead of doorknobs. His children either adored him or loathed him. She loathed him. His wife died, according to my grandmother, "of overwork." Oscar lived in a small, dark cabin on a corner of another relative's property in the Osceola Grove area. My mother remembers being taken there as a child to see him, and, feeling the need to clean up for the little granddaughter in her Sunday dress, he proceeded to scrape the grime off the table with a huge Bowie knife.
Later he lived in a trailer on Lloyd and Mary's farm. Mary cooked his meals and took care of him. I (great-granddaughter) remember him ; very tall, very bony, very brown.

More on Oscar, from Aunt Ruby: Clarice (Oscar called her Clair-cee) was pumping water at her well when Oscar rode up with a big beautiful horse and "stole her heart." Hmmm.

They were married in a storefront in [picture find page]. Clarice's brother Frank Cook (1862-1925) is buried in La Salle Cemetery with his wife Mary (1867-1919). (ID'd by Mom.)

(From Margaret and Lucille) Aunt Ruby also said that Oscar was raised by "two maiden aunts" but I haven't identified who they are. His grandfather Leasen died in 1880, when he was twelve. They also relayed the story about him living with some other relative and getting into a fight with one of the other boys; he either ran away or was kicked out; "going down the road crying", he was found and taken in by (someone, a stranger) who "lived by the bridge" and stayed with them for several years.

Grammie said that Clarice "died of overwork." She was still relatively young.

The Cooks are hard to track, it is too common a name.

Children of Oscar and Clarice (and their children) --

The census in 1900 lists Oscar ("day laborer") b. 1868; wife "Claracy" b. Jan. 1868 in Illinois, father born in Germany and mother born in Ohio; children Howard b. Nov. 1891; Lila b. Feb. 1895; Floyd & Lloyd born Feb. 1897; and Bessie born Aug. 1899.

  Lila Sturm5 married John Murray (photo of their farm in Toulon.) Children Harold and Howard 6, twins; and Jerry/Geraldine6.

  Bessie Hazel Sturm5 (b. Aug. 12 1899 d. Feb 9 1978, Peoria m. 12-27-21 John Ernst; one child, Betty Lou 6. (our ancestors)

  Lloyd Sturm5 b. twin of Floyd; he died when his mules ran over him (1963?--he used mule teams, not tractors, to farm.) m. Mary Ratliff Rutherford b. 1897, who had one daughter, Lucille 6, adopted by Lloyd (see story below.) Lloyd and Mary's children: Twins Margaret (Meg)6 and Pauline 6, and Floyd 6.

  Floyd Sturm5 b. d 1918, WWI, no children

  Pearl Sturm5 b. Nov. 26 1903, Peoria d. ? m. Eugene Echterling, children, youngest to oldest: Eugene 6, Barbara 6, Margaret 6, Mary (Maryanne)6, Helen 6. (photos)

  Ruby Sturm5 b. Mar 25, 1909 d. Feb 19 1991 m. 10-2-23 Omar Worrell (no children)

   Jesse Sturm5 b. d. Nov. 14 1936, heart attack in Chicago m. Oct. 16 1932 Irene Humell (no children)

Photograph of "The Sturm Girls" Oct 1966: on back-- "Bessie Ernst, Ruby Worrell, Gladys Williamson, Lila Murray, Pearl Echterling -- The Sturm Girls and First Cousin Gladys Screeton"

Some things about A.J.'s other children:

Ella Nora "Eleanor" Sturm

Bessie Sturm 4 (b. 1872) (Mom: who is this? Meg: granddaddy's stepsister, stepmom Flora.) m. Archibald Terwilliger b. 1867 children:
Myrtle I. Terwilliger b. Feb 1888 m. Ben R. Adleman Pauline E. Terwilliger b. Mar 1890 m. Glen Miller Margaret Blanch Terwilliger b. Jul 1894 m. William O. Humphrey (mom, could this be the Blanche near your Grandmother's in Dunlop that you would visit?)   Myrtle I. (5) (b. Feb. 1888)
  Pauline E.5 (b. March 1890)
  Margaret B.5 (b. July 1874) (Meg writes--"Maggie" - Margaret married Bill Humprey; they ran a restaurant in Toulon for years. I remember seeing her. She was real pretty.") (Ter will ah grrr) Aunt Ruby had a good friend named (May?) Terwilliger; two old ladies, liked to take their lawn chairs out in the woods and sit and talk by the hour.
Granddaddy Sturm told Grammie (Bessie Sturm5) that he named her after the cow. (That's the story she told me, and she believed it.) Turns out he named her after his sister.

A love story:

Oscar Sturm4 son Lloyd Sturm5's adopted daughter (and Mom's cousin and good friend) Lucille 6 married Johnny Mundy, adopted Terry and Mark. Lucille's mother was Mary Ratliff in Chillicothe. Mary Ratliff worked for a time at the Truitt's, Grammie (Bessie Sturm5)'s employers and sponsors through school. Through Grammie, Mary met Grammie's brother Lloyd Sturm (5).

Then Mary met a young soldier (WWI) named James (Jim) Rutherford, from Chillicothe, Ohio. He almost died of the flu during the war. They corresponded and married when he came back. Lucille has a newspaper article, "Chillicothe Ohio Courts Chillicothe Illinois." A few years later, Jim Rutherford was working for the railroad, at the roundhouse, and was hit on the head by a huge metal plate that fell on him while he worked in the pit. He lived for a year with "an abcess on the brain". When he died they were living in Chillicothe, Ohio, with his parents. Lucille was a week before her third birthday when he died, so she doesn't remember him. Mary and Lucille continued to live for a while with the Rutherfords, but when Mary's father was injured in another railroad accident ("his leg was crushed") she came back with Lucille to her parent's house in Chillicothe, Illinois (Ratliffs.) Dewey Screeton ("he worked down at the railroad gate") saw Mary returning and told Lloyd she was back in town. Lloyd then went to visit, on the pretext of visiting her injured father. Mary said she saw him coming and felt like a great weight had been lifted. (from Lucille Mundy 8/04. Photo of Mary, Lucille, and Lloyd Sturm.)

Floyd6 son of Lloyd and Mary Ratliff Sturm (lawnmower man) known for his wonderful baked beans... he also built a railroad in his yard, a ride-on train and all the rails. It took up his whole yard.

Written note from Aunt Ruby:
Lloyd and Floyd twin sons relatives to Lesans- Sons of Oscar Sturn whose mother was Harriett Lesan Sturm - Pauline and Margaret Sturm twin dauters of Lloyd and mary Sturm- and 4th generation twin girls Elizabeth and ----- (dash, I guess she couldn't recall the name?) (? unreadable) close relatives of Lesan Sturm. Shelia and Lila Murray relatives Howard Murray son of Lila Sturm Murray. Harold and Howard Murray sons of Lila Sturm Murray. Margaret and Pauline Sturm Daughters of Lloyd and Mary Sturm. Carolyn and Elizabeth daughters of close relative Sturm.

--A note to those printing this; it's a website, not a book, and changes constantly as I find new information. Boldface type usually means a link to click that goes to a photograph or other information. Drop by again! http://web2.mcn.org/hartzell/

family pages home

Family Pages

Our Sturm Ancestors