Excerpted from "History of Wabash County (Indiana)" by Clarkson Weesner, pub. 1914

The passing of Judge Harvey B. Shively at Wabash on September 10, 1909, concluded a career of large public usefulness on the part of one of Wabash's most loyal and best loved citizens. For upwards of forty years the late Judge Shiyely was eminent in his profession as a lawyer, and his two terms on the circuit bench gave him a record for the highest standards of judicial administration. As a leader in public affairs he served his county and state not only with the disinterested zeal which every public servant should possess, but also with an exceptional ability and integrity of performance which left a lasting impress on the state's legislative and economic record. His character was one of singular purity of purpose, of a fine integrity, and which well deserves the memoriam of the written pages.

Judge Shively was born in Preble county, Ohio, August 4, 1844, and was sixty-five years of age at the time of his death. His parents were Henry and Mary (Brower) Shively, and the grandfather was a native of Germany.

While in Preble county Harvey B. Shively lived on a farm and attended district school, and was seventeen years old when his parents moved to Miami county (Indiana). By his industry both on the farm and in school he laid the foundation for his career, and early looked beyond the horizon of country life to more important service in broader fields. The war broke out about the time the family settled in Miami county, and he soon afterwards volunteered as a boy soldier and enlisted in Company B of the Fortieth Indiana Infantry under Colonel William L. Wilson. His regiment crossed the Ohio, and it was his fortune to receive his baptism of fire in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, at Shiloh in April, 1862. He was at Corinth and with the army of the Cumberland in the many campaigns backward and forward over Kentucky and Tennessee, fighting at Perryville, at Stone River, receiving a gunshot wound at Missionary Ridge, but continued in the army until 1864, when he was discharged on account of his wounds after an active service of thirty months, during which time he was always with his command and never off duty.

On his return to Wabash he continued his education a time in the city schools and spent two years in the old Methodist College at Fort Wayne. In the meantime he had pursued a course of private reading in the law, and in 1870 entered the law department of the University of Michigan, completed the course and was admitted to the bar and began practice at Wabash in 1871. His first public position was as prosecutor in the common pleas court, and he was the last to hold that office in Wabash county, the court being subsequently abolished. In 1874 he entered the firm of Cowgill, Shively & Cowgill, which during its existence was one of the foremost law firms of Wabash county, with a reputation extending through several adjacent counties of the state. In 1882 Mr. Shively was elected to represent Wabash county in the legislature, and there became the recognized leader of the minority. His leadership and influence in shaping legislation was such that the impress of his work is still found in the statute books of Indiana. In 1890 he was called from the private practice of law to the office of judge of the twenty-seventh judicial district, and in November, 1891, succeeded the late Judge J. D. Conner.
At the conclusion of his first term he was re-elected in 1896 without opposition, and in 1902 he retired from the bench, being succeeded by Judge A. A. Plummer. In 1902 Judge Shively was elected president of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Wabash, and his strong integrity and the confidence of the people enabled him to administer the affairs of that institution with singular success until his death. After leaving the bench in 1903, Judge Shively practiced in partnership with Frank O. Switzer, and the firm of Shively & Switzer continued until the death of its senior member. Judge Shively was in active practice almost to the day of his death, and though the suddenness of his end was a profound shock to the community, it is a matter of satisfaction that such a man was able to perform his duties almost to the last.

In June, 1875, Judge Shively married Miss Catherine Cowgill, daughter of Hon. Calvin Cowgill, another prominent Wabash lawyer and one time congressman. With no children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Shively took into their home a niece, Mrs. Clarence Dufton, who remained a member of their household until her marriage. The late Judge Shively was prominent both in the Masonic Order and in the Grand Army of the Republic, and in 1895 was elected department commander of the Grand Army. He was a delegate to all the national encampments thereafter, and had a wide acquaintance among the leading men of the order throughout the United States.

Cause of death: heart disease