My Genealogy Hound

LEWIS B. BIXBY is a son of Horace S. and Julia E. (Hanchett) Bixby, and was born April 2, 1864, in Hartfield, Chautauqua county. New York. The name of Bixby is of Danish origin, but the original family lived so long in Boxford, Suffolk county, England, and intermarried so much with the inhabitants thereabout that the Danish characteristics were well nigh lost. The first one of the family to emigrate to America, and from whom the American Bixbys all descended, was Joseph Bixby, who came from England in 1636, and settled in Ipswich, near Salem, Massachusetts, eleven years later (1647). In 1660 he removed to what was then Rowley village, now Boxford, being incorporated in the latter place through his efforts. In 1647 Joseph Bixby was married to Sarah (Wyatt) Heard, who was the maternal American ancestor of the Bixbys. The family has been remarkable for its piety and energy, and many of those born in this century have been educated men of high standing. The earlier ones had to struggle with the Indians, and became well acquainted with all the hardships of pioneer life. During the late civil war New England alone furnished ten commissioned officers in the Union army from the Bixby family. The great-great-great-grandfather of Lewis B. Bixby was Samuel Bixby, who was a son of Benjamin Bixby, and was born in Lopsfield, Massachusetts, January 2, 1689, and settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, in 1718. He had a son, Solomon, who was born in that part of Sutton now Milbury, Massachusetts, and settled in Barre, Massachusetts. His wife’s name was Esther, but farther nothing is remembered of her. Solomon Bixby was the great-great-grandfather of L. B. Bixby. He had three sons and five daughters; one of the sons, Joel, being the great-grandfather of L. B. Bixby, and was born in Barre, Massachusetts, November 15, 1768, and had two children, one of whom, Solomon, born March 5, 1808, at Worcester, Massachusetts, and died in Mayville, New York, April 5, 1881, was the grandfather of L. B. Bixby. He owned and operated a machine-shop and foundry, first at Hartfield, this county, and then at Mayville. In polities he was a republican. He had a family of six children, two sons and four daughters, the eldest of whom was Horace (father). He was born October 20, 1835, at Worcester, Massachusetts, and was married November 21, 1861, to Julia Hanchett, a daughter of Joseph Hanchett, by whom he had four children, two sons and two daughters: Lewis B., Georgianna, born October 20, 1865, at Hartfield (dead); William, born at Mayville, April 16, 1870, died January 15, 1885; and Millie, born at Mayville, December 26, 1876.

Lewis B. Bixby was educated in the Union school, at Mayville, and then took a college preparatory course, but did not enter college. He entered the Brush Electric Works, at Cleveland, Ohio, and learned the trade of electrical engineering, remaining with them four months in the shops, and then went into the field, setting up their lamps. His next engagement was with the Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works, at Akron, Ohio, where he had charge of the electric lighting. Returning to Mayville in 1883, he engaged in the machine-shop with his father, where they do a general repair business, and has remained there since. During the summer he furnishes the electric lighting for the Chautauqua Association grounds at the lake. They also handle pipe and supplies, and have a factory, twenty-five by fifty feet, two stories on Water street. In politics he is a republican, and is at present excise commissioner of the town of Chautauqua. In religion he is a member of the Baptist Church, of Mayville, Lodge, 284, I. O. O. F., and of Lodge No. 825, K. of H., at Mayville.

Lewis B. Bixby was married September 16, 1884, to Alice M. Belden, a daughter of N. D. Belden, of Mayville, and has two children: Emma T., born July 8, 1885, and Harry E., born April 8, 1890.