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A Pioneer Cemetery

1859-1874

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Shelton G. Whitley migrated from Oldham County, Kentucky, to Macon County, Illinois in 1831, looking for “a suitable location for his kinsfolk”.  He married December 25, 1834, in Macon County, Catherine Wood, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Grave) Wood who also came from Oldham County, Kentucky, and before that North Carolina.  Catherine’s first cousin John Grove Speer, with whom Shelton migrated to Illinois, said that Shelton was a carpenter, “stout and robust” and “very fond of hunting” deer and turkey; that he made his own brick and build a house for himself and Catherine in Decatur, where lived until her death.  After which Shelton “built a mill down on the Sangamon” River.

Indeed, in 1843 Shelton for himself and his brother James, purchased 80 acres of land on the river, half of section 28 in Harristown Township, Macon County.  Brother James came to Illinois after Shelton, bringing with him a horse, a yoke of oxen, $40, and his wife Phoebe, of which the oxen helped pay for this land.  While they couldn’t have known yet, the Whitleys were moving into a historic neighborhood.  Land adjacent to their property was recently owned by Thomas Lincoln, with his son Abraham, so that just over the fence stood the Lincoln Cabin on land that “Abe Lincoln plowed for the first time in 1830”.  The Lincoln’s left Macon County about the time Shelton arrived, but Abe returned to try cases in the courthouse, made an important stump speech there and apparently knew the Whitley’s.

On their side of the fence, the brothers dammed the river and built a water mill, one of the first in the county and then set about grinding grain for settlers from miles around.  Fish were so abundant in the Sangamon then that they often clogged the mill wheel, and it was James’ son Richard’s job to clean them out. Shelton married again, 28 Feb. 1846 in Macon County, but his bride, Maria Dickerson, apparently died childless by 1850, where Shelton was listed in the census with two children of his first marriage but no wife in his household.  Later the Harristown land passed out of the family until 1924 when James T. Whitley, son of Richard who had once cleaned fish from the mill wheel, bought it back again.  Shelton died there 22 Jan 153, thus missing the turbulent events that were soon to overtake the country.  His brother James, who was a staunch “Lincoln Democrat” and once carried rail Abe Lincoln had split to a political convention in Decatur, lived to see Lincoln, “his friends and neighbor”, elected President and from a distance to witness his assassination.  James died in Macon County in 1872 and was buried in the Whitley Cemetery (Memorial No. 27165881).

Shelton and Catherine Whitley had three children- Rebecca, Jane, and James, born 1835-41one of whom apparently died young.  James and Phoebe, who died in 1888, had three sons, Richard and Washington Lafayette, who both lived to maturity, and Napoleon, who died at age 17 is buried with his father (same memorial).

 

Sources:

John Grove Speer, Reminisces of the Speer Family (Lexington Ky:1900) p.45

The Decatur Review, 23 Jan 1924. p.6

Macon County Marriage and Census Records

Thanks to Anna Hankes Viemp                                                                                                          

Known graves in Whitley Cemetery

 

            Napoleon B. Whitley            1841-1859       18 years

            John Johnson                      1831-1864       35 years

            John J. Brown                      1864-1864       Infant 9 months

            Nancy Flowers Johnson     1811-1865       54 years

            Silis O Brown                       1869-1869       Infant 1 month

            Tobias Brown                       1788-1870       82 years

            Samuel J. Matthews            1871-1871       7 months

            Benjamin F.M. Camren        1871-1872       4 months

            James Whitley                      1809-1872      63 years

            Goley Matthews                   1869-1874       5 years

 

*Nancy F. Johnson

            Spouse- Geo Johnson

            Children- Elizabeth Johnson

                            Elizabeth Matthews

 

*John Johnson

            Spouse- Elizabeth M. Bennett

            Children- Nancy Rebecca Johnson Pridemore                  1855-1925

                                    Mahalia A. Johnson                                       1858-1859

                                    Infant Daughter                                              1860-1860

                                    James O. Johnson                                         1861-1943

                                    John B. Johnson                                            1863-1907

*Samuel J. Matthews

            Infant son of

 

*Benjamin F.M. Camren        

            Children- Benjamin Camren (Harristown Cemetery)

                            Sarah J Camren (Harristown Cemetery)

 

* Goley Matthews

            Father- William Matthews

            Mother- Elizabeth Matthews

 

Shelton G. Whitley

            Birth- December 9, 1803        Fairfax County, Virginia, USA

            Death- January 22, 1853        Harristown, Macon County, Illinois, USA

                                                             Crum Cemetery, Harristown, Macon County, Illinois

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Napolean B. Whitley

1841-1859

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John Johnson

1831-1864

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John J. Brown

1864-1864

Nancy Flowers Johnson

1811-1865

Nancy Flowers

Johnson's Grave

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 Silis O. Brown

1869-1869

No headstone or fragments

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Tobias Brown

1869-1869

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Cap to Tobias Brown's

headstone

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Samuel J. Matthews

1871-1872

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Benjamin F. A. Camren

1871-1872

Upper headstone broken off

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James Whitley

1809-1872

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Goley Matthews

1869-1874

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