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SILVESTER SCHIELE **
The Schiele family
originated in Wittenberg, Germany before immigrating to America and
landing in New York in the spring of 1852. From there the family went to
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania where there were already many German
settlers; the 'Pennsylvania Dutch' or more properly 'Deutsch'. According
to one account (1), the family moved on in 1854 to Medina County, West
of Akron, Ohio and seven years later to Indiana. There, after a short
stay in Owen County, near to Bloomington, the Schiele’s finally crossed
the county boundary to Harrison Township in Clay County, Indiana.
Although trained in Germany as a shoemaker, Michael Schiele, Silvester's
father, also took up farming and by 1888 was the owner of a large and
prosperous 220 acre farm.
 After
Michael's first wife Mary died, he married Elizabeth Krieble from
Montgomery, PA on February 12, 1867. Of their 9 children, Silvester was
the second, born on June 29, 1870 (2). His obituary in 'The Rotarian'
records, in 1946, that "He was born ....in a log cabin in Clay City,
Indiana. He had all the difficulties of a young pioneer." (3) . Since
his parents , were certainly living there at the time, this makes sense.
However, according to the IGI, the birth took place in Pennsylvania, but
no record of this event has so far been found. The 1880 Census of Clay
County in Indiana records that Silvester was born in Indiana and the
I.G.I. attribution appears to be incorrect.
Silvester attended
school in Terre Haute. Service in the military during the Spanish
American war was followed by a move to Chicago. There Silvester involved
himself in the coal trade, perhaps using contacts from the mining areas
of Indiana. The story has often been told about how in 1896, he found
himself unable to recover 20 dollars which he had loaned to a friend.
Passing by his coal office frequently was a young lawyer, and one day
Silvester asked this young lawyer to help him collect the money. The
lawyer was Paul Harris and thus began a friendship between the
two men which continued for the next 50 years.
Schiele and Harris even
shared a hotel room in those early years of the century when both were
still bachelors. They often dined together at Madame
Galli's where, on
February 23, 1905, the 'gang of four' met to discuss the formation of
what later became the Rotary movement. |
In 1909, Silvester
married Jessie MacDonald of Michigan who was to assist him throughout
their life together. The two couples, Paul and Jean Harris, and
Silvester and Jessie Schiele became great friends and neighbors as well
as often holidaying together. In death the two men lie close to each
other in the Mount Hope Cemetery. (see below) It was Silvester
who suggested to Paul that each of the members of the new club should
give a talk about their business, thereby starting a tradition for new
members which continues to this day. Silvester had become a
successful and Christian businessman, and was President of the Schiele
Coal Company from 1902 until he retired in 1939.
 His work and life in
Rotary is
chronicled elsewhere, however it
can be noted here that Silvester Schiele became the first President
of the Chicago Club and remained involved in Rotary throughout his
life. He did not take any international office until July 1945, when he
was made International Treasurer. He was not to fill the post for long,
dying in Chicago at the age of 75 on December 17, 1945. He was buried in
Mount Hope Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois, where, thirteen months
later, Paul P. Harris was laid to rest next to Schiele.
1. The History of Clay
County, Indiana by Battery, 1888
2 The History of Clay
County, Indiana by Travis, 1909
3 The Rotarian February
1946 Obituary by Philip Lovejoy.
 ** Silvester seems to
have preferred the spelling SILVESTER but SYLVESTER is also used.
For help in compiling
this account, we are indebted to Rtn Amos Thomas of Brazil, Indiana.
Basil Lewis
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