Susanna Lunsford STORM was the daughter of Peter Lunsford and Jane [BURCH] STORM. She seems to have been named for her paternal grandmother, Susanna [LUNSFORD] STORM .

Susan grew up in Greene Co. IN. where her father was a farmer. Susan was the eighth of ten siblings: eight boys and two girls.

When she was about 10 years old her family moved west to Jasper Co MO, where her father purchased 80 acres along the Spring River, just east of Galesburg. In the next five years the family prospered. Her oldest two brothers married and purchased farms close to her father's. Her sister Elizabeth married and her husband Thomas Drugan joined the Storm household. Her father's real estate was valued at $3400, making his farm of above average value compared to others in the area.

However, the outbreak of the Civil war changed the family's fortunes. Not only were major battles fought in Jasper County, but the county became the location of devastating guerrilla warfare and random opportunistic crime. By the end of the war most of the settlements had been raided and burned and the county was largely depopulated.

While it's impossible to trace the exact movements of the family or to recreate an accurate time-line, one can paint a general picture of how the family was affected. Three of Susan's brothers and her brother-in-law, Thomas Drugan, enlisted with the Confederate army. Remarkably all four lived until the end of the war, however, Susan's father and her brother William were killed locally by Federal troops or partisans. Some of the family may have fled south. The four soldiers enlisted in Arkansas and Susan's nephew, Constantine Drugan, (her sister's son) was born in Arkansas in 1865.

Susan seems to have escaped the fighting by returning to her mother's relatives in Indiana. It is not known when she left or whether her mother or any other siblings accompanied her. All is known is that Susan married in Monroe County IN on Feb 11 1863.

Susan was eighteen years old at the time of her marriage. her new husband William BURCH was twenty. William Burch was the son of Joel and Matilda [BURCH] BURCH (both cousins of Susan's mother, Jane) making William BURCH Susan's first cousin once removed.

William was a farmer in Indian Creek Twp, Monroe County, Indiana. He farmed land adjoining his parents and brother. William seems to have resided on the same property all his life.

William and Susan had a large family. Susan had 10 or 11 births and seven children who lived to adulthood.

Hiram Asbury BURCH 1865 – 1924
Infant daughter 1866 – 1866
Mary "Jennie" NEAL 1868 – 1914
Sarah Elizabeth CARTER MAY 1869 – 1940
Infant twin daughter 1869 – 1870
Joel Preston BURCH 1871 – 1930
Martha Matilda "Mat" BURCH 1873 –
Margaret Olive MITCHELL 1875 – 1929
Infant daughter 1877 – 1877
Isaac Peter BURCH 1878 – 1945
Jemima C. BURCH 1880 – 1880

The Burch home must have been very full. In addition to their many children, Susan and William took in boarders. At various times they housed William's orphaned nephews (Edward and William Wampler) and an orphan girl named Mamie Lake. William's aunt by marriage, Mary [Buzzard] Burch lived with the family as well. Likewise three of the Burch children did not marry or move away during their parents lifetimes (oldest son Hiram never married, youngest son Pete married Mamie Lake but did not move out, and daughter Matilda did not marry until late in life).

Susan's husband died in 1901 at the age of 58. Susan lived until Feb 3 1912 and died at the age of 67.