Mary, along with her family were some of the earliest pioneer's of KY. She was the daughter of Hendrick Banta III (1718-1805)and Antie Demarest. Her father, Hendrick was the leader of the Great Dutch Migration into the American frontier and is said to have left more descendants at the time of his death than any man in KY. He fathered 21 children. Shortly after Mary's birth in 1767/1768 the Banta family moved from Somerset Co., NJ to Conewago, York Co., PA near Gettysburg. In the fall of 1779 the family was on the move again. Hendrick had convinced some of the Dutch families to make the journey into the Kentucky territory to start a new low Dutch community. This consisted of some 75 people (close to half consisted of his own family). The group wintered in Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh, PA) before heading down the Ohio River and arriving at the Falls (Louisville, KY) in April 1780. They settled on Bear Grass Creek (a few miles south of Louisville, KY) or the "Low Dutch Station" as it was called at that time.
In 1782 the Banta's along with some of the other lower Dutch formed a community near Fort Harrod/Harrod's Station, in present day Mercer Co., KY. On March 15, 1783 at Harrod's Station, Mary Banta was married to Henry Shively. The Banta family secured a 3000 acre tract known as the "Dutch Tract" in Shelby and Henry counties in KY in the year 1784 and most of the family would later settle there. The Shaker movement in KY is believed to have gotten it's start inside this Dutch tract. Mary's brother John Banta would be extremely important in the Shaker movement in KY. He held what is believed to be the first Shaker meeting at his home and he also later purchased a large part of the land that makes up Pleasant Hill Shaker village in Mercer Co., KY.
Mary Banta Shively and her husband Henry would not be part of this later settlement. The Henry Shively family can be found in Shelby Co., KY in the 1810 and 1820 census and the couple would eventually move to Orange Co., IN apx. 1825. Her obituary from THE TRUE AMERICAN Dec. 16, 1844 posted by descendant Robert Lane reads; "Departed this life on December 16, 1844, Mrs. Mary Shively-age 77 years, 8 months, 17 days. Was born in New Jersey and moved to Kentucky, where she was married to Henry Shively at Harrod's Station, when 15 years old. They had twelve children with eleven still living. She was a member of the Baptist Church for twenty years."