Hiram Elmer Shorey

 

Hiram Elmer Shorey was born in the Plains section of Litchfield in 1862 in the house now known as the Black Crow Bakery.  He was a merchant tailor in Chicago and New York.  Hiram's birthplace was originally the farm of his mother's father, Stephen Purington, a minister at the Plains Baptist Church.  Hiram passed away in 1944 and his ashes were scattered in Litchfield.  Many Litchfield residents are familiar with the unique monument erected on the Shorey lot in the Litchfield Plains Cemetery.

Source: Rotary's Founder's Recognition Day

Hiram Elmer Shorey

 

 

Rotary Founders

Back Row, left to right: Paul Harris and Hiram Shorey
Front Row, left to right: Silvester Schiele and Gustavus Loehr

 

In 1905 the four men pictured here were business men who found themselves in Chicago; all were from rural areas and missed the camaraderie of "small town America".  They started to meet in their offices to promote good works and honest dealings.  They "rotated" these meetings between their offices and thus Rotary was born.  Paul Harris was a lawyer, Hiram Shorey a merchant tailor, Silvester Schiele a coal merchant and Gustavus Loehr a mining engineer.

source: Ed Avis

 

Shorey Family Memorial

Shorey Family Memorial

Plains Cemetery

 

 

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