Jacob Banta Shively And Wife Anna Mavity In Dubois County, Indiana

From information contained in the Descendants Of Henry And Mary Banta Shively by Lottie Compton McDowell, 1972, Page 9:   "Jacob Banta Shively, son of Henry and Mary Banta Shively, was born 25 December 1797 Shelby County, Kentucky.  He was married 5 February 1817 Shelby County to Anna Mavity, a Virginian by birth.  She was born 15 December 1799 and came to Kentucky when three years old.  The family lived in Spencer County until shortly before 1826, when they moved to Orange County, Indiana.

Jacob Banta Shively had labored in the state of Kentucky as a Christian minister about 1825, according to E. W. Humphrey's "Memoirs of deceased Christian Ministers: published 1880--page 318.

He united with the church in 1818 in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and soon was noticed as a sweet singer.  He was a preacher of acknowledged ability, and had a commanding appearance.  He was five feet eight inches tall and had coal black hair, piercing eyes, and very regular features.  The solemn earnestness of his looks, and the brightness of his eyes appealed to his congregations.  Before moving to Indiana, he had served God in Bath, Fleming, Bourbon, and Montgomery Counties in Kentucky.  He was ordained to the ministry by the Reverend David Stewart of Marengo, Indiana.  He preached and built churches in Dubois, Perry, Spencer, Warrick, and Pike Counties in Indiana.  When time permuted he travelled to Orange, Crawford, Daviess, and Posey Counties to preach."

Jacob Shively and Anna Mavity are both buried in the Fairmount Cemetery near Huntingburg.  Their children were Eliza Jane, Henry, John Wesley, Louis Byram, Mahala, Dorothy Ann, William Fletcher, Mary Emeline, Malinda, Ellen and Cora Lauretta.

The above picture of Rev. Jacob Banta Shively was found in the History of Duobis County From Its Primitive Days to 1910 Including Biographies Of Capt. Toussaint Dubois And The Very Rev. Joseph Kundeck, V.G., by George R. Wilson, C.E., Illustrated, 1910, Published by the Author, Jasper, Indiana, pages 213:  The Rev. Jacob Banta Shively, a pioneer minister of the Christian church, in southern Indiana, was born near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, December 25, 1797, of German parentage.  He lived in his native state until about 1824, when he moved to Orange county, Ind.  About 1829 he moved, with his family, to Dubois county and was one of its pioneers.  He was a minister of the gospel and a farmer.  His first cabin was built on what in known as the Temple farm, located on the Troy and Jasper road. Here it was that his ministry began in Dubois county, preaching in the homes of the people scattered over several miles of territory.  As soon as  (Page 214)  a sufficient number had settled around him, he organized them into a church, which they called "The Indian Creek Christian Church." Meetings were held in cabins and groves, for a number of years, but finally a log house was built in which to worship. It was located north of the Temple farm and as long as it was used it had nothing but a ground floor.  The house has long since crumbled to dust.  An old burying ground lies near where the old church stood.

In the fall of 1840, Rev. Shively sold his farm to John Temple, and in March, 1841, he moved on a farm he and previously bought about one mile south of Huntingburg, where he lived the rest of his days.

A new log church building was erected two miles north of the old one on Indian creek and meetings were held there, until the organization was transferred to Huntingburg, in 1852, where it still remains, having had a continuous existence for at least seventy-five years.......

For his life's work, he received a mere pittance.  Sometimes a good sister would present him with a pair of home-knit woolen socks, or, perhaps, home-made jeans, enough to make a pair of trousers, and sometimes he would receive a few dollars for his work.  He depended upon his family for support.

His wife was Miss Anna Mavity, a Virginian by birth.  They were married, February 5, 1817.  Rev. Shively died, at Huntingburg, February 11, 1868."