Many Photos contributed by Sharon Olson & John Sharp
In most cases the photos were taken by Linda Greethurst, sister of Sharon

Photo above - The Brenners and Yordys are the three by themselves in the left hand corner. The tall one in the middle is Anna Sarah Brenner Helder To the left of her is Christian Yordy and his wife Susan Sowder To the right of Anna Sarah's is her father, Adam Brenner.

Anna Sarah Brenner Helder. Daughter of Adam Brenner and Susanna Yordy.

Adam Brenner - The inscription is almost gone. My sister and I spent a good part of an afternoon "fingering" the letters and comparing "bumps of letters. But I think we got it all.

"Oh weep not,m 'tis my request
I'm going home, I soon shall rest.
The Maker calls, all dangers past,
A blessed morn is mine at last.
Adieu to earth, adieu to friends,
It is enough, heaven never ends

If this tombstone looks upside down....it is!

It had been knocked off its base and was sitting upside down.

This is Christian Yordy and Susan Sowder.

Christian is the brother of Susanna Yordy Brenner, wife of Adam Brenner.

Charles LaShell Contributed by Jennifer Sanders

George & Martha (Lashelle) Truckenmiller Contributed by Jennifer Sanders

John & Polly Beck Contributed by Sharon Olson

Charles Beck - Contributed by Sharon Olson

Headstone of Thomas Jefferson Whitmore. He is listed on the stone as T. J. Whitmore with his civil war regiment the 83rd PA Vol. Infantry Company G also inscribed. T. J. W. is on reverse. T. J. is buried at Shelley Cemetery, Shannon Illinois. His parents were Christopher Whitmore and Mary Kieler. T. J. probably died as result of wounds suffered at the battles of 2nd Manassas and Gettysberg. Lucile Whitmore (John Sharp's Mother-In-Law) often told us that the Civil War was still a living memory for many in the Shannon area of her youth. Lucile, said, when she was a young girl they use to go to Shelley Cemetery each Memorial Day from about 1917 to the early 1920s with her grandfather's Alfred Whitacre (Civil War veteran) and George Whitmore, former Mayor of Shannon, (and T.J.'s brother). There the family would place flowers on the civil war graves. After more then 70 years she could still recollect their stopping by T. J.'s grave and her grandfather Whitmore explaining to her about his brave brother who died far too young. She also remembered visiting the graves at Shelley in 1917 with her uncle Edward Adlum Straub. These photos were taken by Sharon Olsen's sister, Linda Greethurst, and her husband.

Henry & Elizabeth (Adlum) Straub ------------------------their son, John Adlum Straub

In the middle is the grave of Barbara Ann Yordy Whitmore. Her stone reads "Barbara Ann wife of Geo. Whitmore May 6, 1848 - Sep 24, 1894" The other grave is her infant son's (we did not know of his existence prior to Linda's photos) which reads "Charles R (or it might be B) son of G. W. & B.A. Whitmore died Aug 13, 1874 aged 2 mo and 18 dy" The grave on the right is for Lavinia E. Krotzer . Not sure if they are related to Barbara Ann Whitmore but Edward Adlum Straub I hink mentions her in his Memoirs however I need to check this out. Here is Linda's original message:

"Note: Linda did not get a photo of the tombstone on the right as it was very badly worn and the cloudy skies made it almost impossible to read. Lavina E., wife of James F. Krotzer died Feb 16, 1873 age 23y, 6m, 3d. And to the right of Lavina was another little white stone which read: Lillie D. daughter of J.F. and L.E. Krotzer died Aug 21, 1871. The tombstone is already badly leaning forward and probably wouldn't take much to topple so I left it alone.)"Hopefully someone else viewing this has more information on the Krotzer family.

"Illinois" - Our Way