John:  A clipping was sent to me by Mary Dripps of Urbana.  I felt it fit
in with the biographies that you already have on the site.  I have copied
the clipping, which according to the article appeared in 1923. I hope you
can use it.

Also, I have made considerable progress in the last month on the rosters
for the Civil War soldiers. Life (wedding and then surgery)  just got in my
way until recently and my research projects are backed up but am ready to
go again this winter.  I have some of the units done from the 1908 adj.
general's roster.  There  appears to be numerous typos in it and much cross
referencing.  I am trying to clear some of those problems up rather than
copy errors.  Your index to the 1860 census on the web will be a great help
in verifying some of the spellings of the names.  

Pat Sheldon

*******

Clipping from unknown newspaper August 26, 1923.
An interview with Lucy Jane Storts Ketterman on her 81st birthday.

Life of Old Settler Linked with Development of Urbana

     Closely interwoven with the history and development of the
town of Urbana, Benton county, Iowa is the life of Lucy Jane Storts
Ketterman.  Her parents were John Harter Storts of Holland
parentage and Hannah Ward Storts of English descent.  Mrs.
Ketterman was born near New Lexington, Ohio, August 26, 1842.  At
the age of eleven years she came with her parents to Iowa, driving
by team to McConnellsville, Ohio where they embarked on board a
river steamer and after a trip of about three weeks they were
landed at Muscatine, Ia., on a bright May morning 1853.

     From there the family and household goods were hauled to a
settlement on Blue Creek in Benton county.  She attended the
district school until at the age of seventeen she passed the county
examination and received her certificate.  The family lived a while
near Wilmington just west of Marysville which at that time
consisted of one store operated by a man named Hunt, a carding
machine, schoolhouse and a few dwellings.  One was owned and
occupied by the John Leibsch family.  Mr. Leibsch has been dead for
some years but his sons live near the vicinity of the old home. 
She was married September 23, 1860 to James S. Ketterman, son of
Justice Ketterman, by John Burk, justice of the peace, father of
the present John Burk of Urbana.

     Mr. Ketterman had come with his parents from Indiana and
settled on the crossroads, one mile east of Urbana.  Here on this
farm she lived for over 50 years and ten children were born to
them.  Two died in infancy and the eight remaining children are all
living.  They are Mrs. S.A. Doty and Mrs. O.T. Cumberland of
Urbana; Mrs. H.P. Houser of Ft. Dodge; Mrs. R.I. Buckley of Rowley;
Mrs. F.M. Drake and Effie Ketterman Schroeder of Cedar Rapids;
Chas. S. Ketterman, Vicksburg, Mississippi and Ed. L. Ketterman of
Lehigh, Ia. 
     
     The first church at Marysville was an unhewn log one -- which
stood in what is now Urbana cemetery.  The benches were made of
slabs with sticks for legs.  Later a church was built in Urbana on
the spot where the present Christian church now stands.  Mrs.
Ketterman is the only charter member living today.

     When Justice Ketterman moved into Marysville he bought a house
built by Tom Dilbey and here conducted a tavern until his death. 
This old tavern still stands on a street in the west part of
Urbana. Two of the early setters were A.V. Taylor, now of Center
Point; also Mrs. Minnie Houser, now of Center Point. The Indians
were frequent callers and deer and other wild animals roamed at
large in the lofty forests.  Mrs. Ketterman has seen many changes
in Urbana and vicinity during her 81 years.  One of the early
families living at Marysville was Wm. Culver who had the
postoffice.