John Cummings Sharer, a jeweler in Alliance, and his wife Katharine Ballou Sharer were victims of the Great Olive Poisoning. The funerals for the Sharers were held on August 29, 1919, and were short and simple with only family attending at their home. Their service followed the Episcopal Ritual and included no eulogies and no music. Their memorial here at the Alliance City Cemetery depicts a young woman weeping. It is thought that the young lady was the couple’s only daughter, Ann, who was only 7 at the time of her parents’ deaths but could also symbolize John’s mother who buried her son.

On August 23, 1919, a "welcome home" party was held at the Lakeside Club in Canton, Ohio, for Col. Charles C. Weybrecht, who had at last returned from France and his tour of duty during WWI. The party was organized by Mrs. Helen Sebring Gahris and was attended by Willard I. Gahris & Helen Sebring Gahris (Sebring, Ohio); Col. Charles C. Weybrecht & Emily Brosius Weybrecht (Alliance); Col. W. H. Morgan & Annette Sharer Morgan (Alliance); John C. Sharer & Katherine Ballou Sharer (Alliance); A. Fred Morris & Ella Bullock Morris (Alliance); Louis H. Brush & Maude Snowden Brush (Salem, Ohio); Dr. Willis F. Sanford & Jessie Williams Sanford (Alliance); Clem Bates & Mary Bates (Alliance).

On the way to the dinner party, Mrs. Gahris stopped at a store in Alliance and purchased some additional items to add to her table, including a jar of Mammoth Ripe Olives. Unknown to her, the jar of olives was tainted with botulism. The chef, Frank McElroy, and waiter, Robert Jennings, tasted the olives before they were placed on the table. Some members of the dinner party avoided the olives and others freely ate them, although they were mottled in color and tasted a bit odd.

Several hours after the dinner party, those who ate the olives, including the chef and waiter, began to get ill. Within a week after the dinner party, seven people had died from the botulism poisoning. Those who are buried in the Alliance City Cemetery include John and Katharine Sharer, Col. Charles Weybrecht, and Jessie Sanford. Helen Sebring Gahris is buried in Grandview Cemetery in Sebring, Ohio; Frank McElroy is buried in West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, Ohio; and Robert Jennings is buried in Georgia.

The funerals for the Sharers were short and simple with only family attending at their home. The service followed the Episcopal Ritual and included no eulogies and no music. They occurred on Friday morning, August 29, 1919. Their memorial here at the Alliance City Cemetery depicts a young woman weeping. It is thought that the young lady was the couple’s only daughter, Ann, who was only 7 at the time of her parents’ deaths but could also symbolize John’s mother who buried her son.

Food Poison Death Toll Six, Ohio Memory - The Alliance Review. August 27th 1919. Accessed October 10th 2021. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll36/id/9274/rec/1.

John Cummings Sharer, Find a Grave. Accessed October 10th 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90414640/john-cummings-sharer.