Zamora Bobbs Shively
Zamora Bobbs Shively was born June 7, 1858, in Phillipsburg, Montgomery county, Ohio. She was the eldest of two daughter of Doctor and Mrs. A.J. Bobbs. On the seventeenth day of May, 1876, she married Doctor Marshall T. Shively of Marion, Indiana, and the couple lived happily together until the death of Mrs. Shively, January 9th, 1910.
There are many elements in human nature that go to the molding of a genuine lady, a womanly woman. And of course every individual has his or her conception of just what these elements are or what they should be. To say that Mrs. Shively was a talented woman is putting it mildly, since she was in fact in many respects a remarkable woman. And one of the most complete proofs of this fact was, that she was at all times a strong defender of her sex. She believed that the sphere of woman offered abundant opportunities for the making of her position one of importance in the world.
Mrs. Shively's philosophy of life was not drawn from what the public or society thought or suggested, although she was one who ever respected public opinion. She believed that the rule which guided society was the broader, humanitarian view. True, Mrs. Shively was in all respects an individual. She was a character to those by whom she was well known. A woman of active mind, or marked originality and talent. These God given powers which were so much a part of her nature she did not get to pursue during her marriage life with her ardour that she might had she not had the care of a large and ambitious family to look after. But she did manage in her resourceful way, when her time was not occupied with looking after the interests of her children, for she was essentially at all times the mother, faithful, devoted and kind, during her early married life to pursue her love for art and wood carving. And she has left her family some lasting legacies in oil and water color and specially designed furniture.
In later years prior to her death Mrs. Shively devoted her time more closely to reading and studying current questions and literature, biography and ancient and modern history. The writer can so well recall the rapture with which she almost devoured the works of Swedenborg, Lamartine, Josephus and her constant companion, the Bible, besides scores of other ancient masters of philosophy and literature.
While not a club woman in the common conception of society, yet she did belong to several but took the deepest interest in her literary club work, in which capacity she read several papers on the "Philosophy of Life and the Bible as Applied to Life," that revealed to her auditors masterful attainments. Other and more elaborate papers on the same subjects were in the course of preparation at her death and it is to be hoped that some of the family will in the near future put them in publication for the use of the public.
Mrs. Shively never sought to be the leader of any social set, although she had her friends and admired genius and culture wherever found. In her entertainments she was an original and a genial hostess. Her resourceful mind, ready wit and charming personality won for her the love and admiration of many friends. And while it is true that she loved life, and loved her friends, yet she was not devoted to the narrow confines and limitations of society. Her's was a broader field, She lived in a world, in part within herself, because she ever sought the ideal. A woman of keen perception, she wanted humanity to also see fully the handiwork of the great Maker. She believed that life was the best worth living that contributed something to life, however small it might be. She ever believed that man was too much depending on self, that he was seeking to solve his own destinies when those destinies were not his to control but belonged to the God of Life.
Aside from her family, her husband and her books she loved most the charms of the external world, from which she gleaned so much joy and inspiration. Her love of life sprung from what life had to her revealed. The sighting forecasts, the meandering streams, hills, mountains and valleys in their draperies of green, these she would have humanity known for in them she saw God, to her they were the green pastures, beside the silent waters over which the Master held away.
From Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana, 1812-1912, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914