Bixby, Ransom J. 1854-1940

BIXBY, KNAPP, BLANCHARD, BUCKLEY, BELLAMY, SMITH

Posted By: Bart Hamlett (email)
Date: 1/19/2016 at 21:33:03

With true respect for an outstanding man, the people of Edgewood and many other communities gathered at the Congregational Church last Wednesday afternoon for the last rites for Ransom James Bixby. The funeral was probably the largest ever held in the community.
Services were conducted by the Rev. David DeBest of Hopkinton, a friend of the family. Those who bore the casket were Attorney F.E. Sharp of Elkader, Frank Royden of Scoth Grove, Claude Rulon, Willard Farmer, F. Ray Minkler and Lee Densmore, all of Edgewood. Burial was made in the Edgewood cemetery.
The following obituary was read during the service:
Ransom James Bixby, son of the Reverend Newell W. and Ruby Knapp Bixby, was born March 29, 1854 on the Bixby homestead, three miles northwest of Edgewood, Iowa and passed quietly away at his home in Edgewood on November 18, 1940, after a years illness. His parents cam from Vermont in 1847 as pioneer workers under the Free Baptist Mission Board. In this family were four children deeply devoted to one another, and the two eldest, Dr. Sylvanus N. Bixby and Thera Bixby True, had gone before and were awaiting the coming of this brother to the Eternal Home.
In his early boyhood he was baptized and became a member of the Free Baptist Church. When this church ceased to hold its meetings here he joined the Congregational Church and had been a trustee, deacon, Sunday School superintendent, member of the choir and founder and teacher of the Brotherhood class.
From his seventeenth year, when he began teaching rural school, he served the public in one capacity or another until the end of his life, and had a statewide circle of friends. He received his higher education at Wilton College at Wilton, Iowa, graduating as valedictorian of his class, then taught in Delaware, Clayton and Cedar counties. He was principal at the Edgewood school when he was married May 22, 1879 to Miss Flora Blanchard, also a teacher in the school. The same year he entered into partnership with his father-in-law, Dr. Lewis Blanchard, in the mercantile business, and later established the village drug store, which he continued to operate until 1898 when he retired from commercial pursuits to concentrate on farming interests. In 1908 he opened an insurance and real estate office. acting also as Notary Public.
Mr. Bixby was sent in 1904 as Representative from Delaware County to the State Legislature where he served three terms. he introduced the Bixby bill on the preservation of forests, also bills for the advancement of agricultural interests, and was in charge of the move for the establishment of the women's reformatory and many pure food and temperance measures. He was one of the oldest members of the Pioneer Law Makers' Association and for more than 25 years was the Chairman of the Delaware County Republican Central Committee. His services were frequently required as member of the local board of education, was affiliated with the Avalon Lodge No. 606, A.F. & A.M., also with the Avalon Chapter No. 434, O.E.S. of which he had been Worthy Patron.
The favorite pastime of Mr. Bixby was the culture of flowers, and numerous were the beautiful bouquets that were brought from his garden to the church on Sunday mornings. To many whom he helped by words of kindly encouragement and advice, he was affectionately known as " Father B. "
Mr. and Mrs. Bixby celebrated their golden wedding in 1929, a little more than a year before Mrs. Bixby's passing.
The surviving members of the family are a sister, Mrs. Lucina Buckley, two daughters, Angie F. Bellamy and Ruby L. Smith, all of Edgewood, and two sons, Ralph L. Bixby of Orcas, Washington, and Sylvan N. Bixby of Hopkinton, Iowa, also nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Among the large crowd attending the final services or who called before were these from out of town; Rev. and Mrs. E.L. True of Jesup; Mrs. Charles Hawkins and son, Edgar, Miss Eva Bevan and Arthur Hawkins of Cascade; Dr. M.E. Dittmer of Colesburg; Mrs. J.H. Meyer of Lincoln, Nebraska; Mrs. B.J. Davis and Mrs. Ida Clark of Delhi; Mrs. CM. Clark, Mrs. Frances Wolcott, Francis Dunham, Mr. and Mrs.R.H. Hockaday, Roy Welterlen, Miss Abbie Howard, Burton Clark, Carl Anderson, Shannon Charlton of Manchester; E.M. Phiilips of West Union; Misses Mary and Cleta Gleim, Mrs. Tom Gleim, Mr. and Mrs. Art Himebaugh, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Neil, Mrs. H.A. Stead of Hopkinton; Miss Mina Noble, Miss Helen Buckley, Mr. and Mrs. B.W. Newberry of Strawberry Point; Mrs. Tom Holbert of Greeley; Mrs. Glenn Dunn, Mr. and Mrs. Millen of Earlville.
( as printed in the Clayton County Press-Journal Edgewood Department November 28, 1940 )