Hardesty's History of Calhoun County, West Virginia

ALVA H. STURM
 
     Alva H. Sturm is a great grandson of Jacob and Catherine Sturm, 
who were pioneer settlers of Maryland, near the present site of 
Cumberland. Jacob Sturm was a soldier under Washington, and was 
present at Yorktown when the sword of Cornwallis was surrendered, 
October 19, 1781. 
     The farm he put under cultivation in Virginia (afterward 
included in Marion County, West Virginia), remained in the possession 
of some of his family for more than eighty years. In 1797, with his 
wife he settled near Morgantown, on the Monongahela River, and there 
his son, Daniel, grandfather of Alva H., was born. At the age of 22 
years, Daniel Sturm married Elizabeth Martin, in Marion County, and 
their second child, and the oldest living was Alpheus W., father of 
Alva H. Sturm. Daniel Sturm was born August 11, 1798, and died April 
17, 1880. His wife, Elizabeth, died May 1, 1869. 
     Alpheus W. Sturm married Martha C. Bowman, and they settled in 
Calhoun County in 1876. Their children, brothers of Alva H., were 
Benjamin F., William A., Daniel C. and Jefferson D.; his sisters, 
Malvena I., Mary E., and Aletha S. I., in Marion County, this state, 
and the other children in Calhoun County. 
     Alva H. Sturm was born in Marion County, February 28, 1845, and 
in that county was wedded, February 27, 1868, Sarena E. Morgan, born 
in Marion County, July 25, 1848, becoming his wife. Silas P. and Mary 
(Downs) Morgan, her parents, were born and still live in Marion 
County. 
     Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Sturm settled on his farm in Lee district, 
Calhoun County, in 1876, and in their home are their four children, 
born: Freddie L., December 31, 1868; Carl E., October 6, 1870; Addie 
M., June 18, 1873; Lillian, July 3, 1875. Asbury and Charles Sturm, 
uncles of Alva H., were in Jackson's command, Confederate Army, war 
of 1861. Alva H. Sturm and wife are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church (South), which he joined in 1866 and she in 1874. 
His postoffice address is Arnoldsburg, Calhoun County, West Virginia. 
 
(Linda Fluharty)