Newell W. Bixby, clergyman, section 28, Lodomillo, was born Jan. 18, 1809, in Orange County, Vt. His parents were Ebenezer and Hannah (Flint) Bixby, the former a native of Connecticut, the latter of Vermont, and both members of the Free-Will Baptist church. Of their eleven children nine lived to be adults. Newell was the second child and oldest son. He remained on his father's farm until he was tenty-one, attending school till eighteen, and teaching winters. Then he worked on a farm, attending school in the fall, first at Chelsea, afterward at an academy in Randolph, Orange County, Vt. He commenced preaching at twenty-six, and was ordained at twenty-eight in the Free- Will Baptist church. He has been in the ministry ever since. Was married Nov. 9, 1842, to Miss Ruby Knapp at Starksboro, Vt. She was born in Huntington, Vt., the daughter of Peter and Olive (Cummings) Knapp. She was licensed to preach, and was a successful revivalist. Some have said she preached as well as Mr. Bixby. Of their four children, Sylvanus N. Bixby is a physician at Strawberry Point; Ransom J. is a merchant at Edgewood; Lathera B. is the wife of C.H. True, and Lucina R. is now at Fayette attending school. Mrs. Bixby died Jan. 5, 1877. Mr. Bixby still resides on section 28, where he settled in 1847. He held church and Sabbath-school services in the log cabin which he built at first. He has thus been identified with the community for thirty-five years, and is fairly entitled to the honor of being one of Lodomillo's pioneer settlers. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 883-884 |