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.

The meaning of the name Bixby is "the house or town near the box-trees." " By," means town, village or house; "bix" means the box -- i. e., the tree by that name.

Boxford, in Suffolk County, Mass., was planted and reared by the Bixbys. Boxford, -- i. e., the ford by the box-trees -- was the home of the emigrant, Joseph Bixby, and received its name from him.

The first record of the Bixbys in this country is that of Nathaniel and Joseph Bixby, father and son, in the town of Ipswich, Mass., where Nathaniel is recorded as a householder in 1638.

From this date the father and son are readily traced, the son marrying, in 1647, a lady from Asington, Suffolk County, England, and settling in Rowley village, afterward incorporated, under his leadership, as the town of Boxford. It is recorded that Joseph Bixby died, " being aged," in 1700.