Miss Barbee, wife of Mr. Sturm, was born in Butler County, Ohio, Aug. 28, 1817, and came to Shelby County with her parents, Elias and Mary Barbee, in 1834, who settled on the N. W. quarter of section 2, Green Township, where Mr. Barbee died Feb. 1, 1842. His companion died Oct. 17, 1871.

A native of Pennsylvania was born in Bucks County, March 3d, 1780. He came to Ohio when a young man with his mother, his father being dead, and located in Clarke County, near Springfield, remained a few years then moved to Champaign County , where he married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Sturm, then of Shelby County, born March 11, 1793. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson settled in Champaign County, remained until March, 1815, when he entered and moved his family on the land in Green Township, Shelby County, now owned by George Ginn, in section 19, where they passed the remainder of their days. Mrs. Robinson died Nov. 4, 1875, aged 82 years. Mrs. Robinson died March 31, 1876, aged 96 years. They reared a family of eight children, viz: Henry, Rebecca, Eliza, John, Mary, Rossiter, Elizabeth, and Lydia, all of whom are yet living except Eliza who died in August, 1881. All married and had families. Mrs. Robinson is said to have been the second settler in what is now Green Township, the first being Henry Sturm, the father-in-law of Mr. Robinson. His first improvement on his land was the erection of a log cabin, 14 by 16, one story high, which served them as a dwelling about ten years. Then, about 1825-6, he erected a hewed-log residence. He made clearing land and farming his avocation through life. Shortly after Mr. Robinson settled on his land, one day while walking in the woods he saw a black bear sitting in the forks of a large tree. In order to kill the bear he returned to his house to get the gun, but unfortunately there were no bullets run; so while Mrs. R. made the bullets, he went back to the tree to watch the bear. In a short time Mrs. R. came with the bullets. He loaded his gun and fired. the bear fell backwards; but instead of coming to the ground, it fell in the hollow of the tree, out of sight, and presently a young cub ran up the forks where the old bear sat, and looked down at Mr. R. He thought he had killed the old bear sure. He then cut the tree down, and found the old bear and all of her cubs were dead. But on examination he found his bullet had not touched the bear, but they were all killed by the falling of the tree.

In about 1830 a severe storm passed over the settlement, blew the roof off of Mr. R's house, another in 1834.

"The first family who attempted to establish a home in the dense forest of Green Township were Henry Sturm and family, who came from Clark County, Ohio, some time during the year 1814, and made a settlement on the S. W. quarter of section 1. They had a family of twelve children, viz, Matthias, Margaret, Nicholas, Henry, Peter, William, Jacob, Frederick, Ephraim, Elizabeth, George, and John, all of whom are now deceased except George, who resides in Perry Township, Shelby County, and John, who owns and is residing on the old home farm where the family first settled. The next settlement was made by Samuel Robinson, a son in law of Henry Sturm's, who came from Champaign County, Ohio, with wife and two or three children in March, 1815, and settled on the N. W. quarter of section 19, where he made improvements and lived many years. The farm is now owned by George Ginn. In the year 1817 John R. and Abraham Medaris found their way to Green and made improvements on section 19. The two brothers purchased or entered the south part of the section. Abraham Medaris settled on the S. W. quarter and John Medaris on the S. E. quarter of the section. It was at the house of John R. Medaris that the first election in Green Township was held, in April, 1820.

"The first wedding to take place in the county that of James Martin and Nancy Garner was solemnized in the summer of 1856 at the home of Abe bacon in Otisville. The bride and bridesmaid had to ascend to the loft and dress by the light of a slut lamp made of a hollowed out turnip filled with hog grease and lit with a cloth wick. The bridegroom had to put on his best suit within the shelter of the corncrib." Note: it should be Daniel Martin not James Martin.

During his absence one day, after eating our dinner on the prairie where we were plowing. I took my usual look over the country and away to the southeast I saw objects moving. Calling Mr. Main I asked him what it was. He looked and decided it was a party of elk. Yes he said I can see the gray rumps and I am sure I can see young elk there. Immediately it was decided to make an effort to capture some of the young elk. Main directed me to go to the cabin for the dog and gun, while he peeled some basswood bark to secure the young elk with. This being done we went forth with high anticipations of capturing some fine young elk. As we neared our game we could plainer from the top of each roll of the prairie that it was elk and that were we not mistaken. At last we had passed within eighty rods of our game and all had changed. Where we had seen the old elk with brown backs and young elk with red coats, we now beheld five emigrant wagons with men, children, and dogs in the procession. We met them and piloted them to the grove with more pleasure and satisfaction than we could have felt with as many young elk. The party consisted of George Sturm wife and two boys, Solomon Staley, one boy and two girls, James Fairchild, mother and two children, Bob Stevens(don't remember his family, Henry Garner and wife. These families all took claims west, north, and south of the cabin.

"Ladies made their own soap, too. they saved the old grease from drying bacon and other things. Once a year they would set one day aside for making soap. A huge iron kettle was used--the kind you see flowers planted in nowadays. They used rain water, wood ashes, or lye. After this was mixed, it was strained and was stirred as it cooked. Eva Sturm made what she called, "Stir Soap," and it didn't need cooking. She just stirred it until it was done. She made the whitest soap, and when it was done, it was poured into paper-lined boxes to cool and ripen. Then, it was cut into squares and set aside for use later. I still have some of her soap. I shave it on a grater so it's easier to melt in case I want to make a soft soap from it." (p. 33)

"People now just don't know what a real winter was like. In the 1930's, and longer ago than that, we would get snow so deep, it would completely cover a train stalled on the tracks, and it would be days before it could be dug out from the drift. We didn't have any snowplows then. Dallas Sturm worked for the city of Cedar Falls when we did get snow plows. One winter, he worked day and night clearing the streets until a snow storm let up. They didn't get any sleep for days." (p. 43).

"In the summer, without the road graders we now have, they used to pull road graders by a team of horses to smooth out the road as much as possible. Dallas Sturm, his dad, Lute, and a brother all worked on building the roads. This was before Dallas went to work for the city." (p. 43)