From a man so full of information, and so keenly alive to the bent of events transi>iriug about him, it is not difficult to secure a fund of interesting matter that would be valuable not only to remote members of the Bixby family, but to people generally who have heard of him. Among the interesting mementoes in his possession, of early New England days, is a rare " Book of Poems" (first published in 1650), by Anne Bradstreet, well remembered as the " Tenth Muse," or first American poetess, who is a grandparent of Mr. Bixby through four generations.

The name Bixby is of Danish origin, and the American Bixbys are descendants from Danish, English and Scotch blood. Few families can boast of an ancestry more notable for all the qualities that go to make up the characteristics that rank highest in American character. They are lineal descendants of the lords of Dudley, families prominent in English history, and thence through the families of Governor Thomas Dudley and Governor Simon Bradstreet and many others of the noblest pioneers of New England.

The family, which is large, is widely scattered throughout the United States, devoting themselves with the most remarkable energy to all the avocations of life in a new country and achieving success as lawyers, doctors, ministers, missionaries, manufacturers, merchants and tillers of the soil, and in every line they are remarkable for longevity, probitj' and intensity of purpose, strong will and determination, -- characteristics which come from a hardy, strong and uncompromising ancestry.