Elbert Shirk

Elbert Hamilton Shirk was born in Franklin Co., Indiana in 1818. Mr. Shirk arrived in Peru the summer of 1844 and formed a business with John Harlan in the mercantile business. He married Mary Wright, of Franklin County, in 1845. She was a lady of English descent, who returned with her young husband to the new and strange home in Peru. They brought all their goods in a two-horse wagon. A year later the firm of Harlan & Shirk was dissoved and Mr. Shirk continued the business alone. He was very successful as a merchant and accumulated wealth very rapidly. From 1850 to 1855 he invested largely in Mexican war land warrants, which he laid judiciously in Iowa and other western States, which in turn were exchanged for improved farms in Miami County. This was the beginning of operations in real estate which laid the foundation for a colossal fortune. Under the national banking act Mr. Shirk procured a charter and proceeded to organize the First National Bank of Peru. Mr. Shirk was of medium height, erect and quite slender. His life was clean and free from vicious habits. He was therefore clear headed; able to utilize all his tremendous energy, and accomplished the purpose of his will. He was a true example of a successful self-made man. He was the wealthiest man in northern Indiana, and one of the wealthiest in Indiana.