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Benjamin F. Shively

American politician (1857-1916)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ817473
Source-derived summary

Benjamin Franklin Shively (March 20, 1857 – March 14, 1916) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States representative (1884 to 1885 and 1887 to 1893) and senator (1909 to 1916) from Indiana.

Biography

Early life, education, and career

Shively was born on a farm near Osceola, Indiana, to Rev. Joel Shively and Elizabeth (née Pendleton) Shively. Joel Shively was the son of Rev. George Shively, who arrived in Indiana in 1864 after living in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and Stark County, Ohio. Elizabeth Pendleton was a native of Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Shively attended the common schools and the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. After considering a career as a carpenter, Shively taught school from 1874 to 1880. From 1880 to 1884, Shively edited the Era, a newspaper in St. Joseph County.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Benjamin F. Shively” as american politician (1857-1916). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Benjamin, Shively and American.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1857, 1916, 1884, 1885—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1857-03-20. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Benjamin, Shively and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Benjamin F. Shively”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1857-1916)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q817473. VIAF identifies the subject as 31172501. The Library of Congress control number is n91041701. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1857, 1916, 1884 and 1885.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Benjamin F. Shively”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Benjamin F. Shively primary sources, Benjamin F. Shively archive and Benjamin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Benjamin F. Shively”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Benjamin F. Shively” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.