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.

From Nathaniel and his son Joseph, the original immigrants, can be traced all the Bixbys at present known to exist in the United States, and they inhabit nearly every State and Territory. The oldest known to be living to-day is a lady past her ninety-ninth birthday, who is well preserved, mentally and physicallj', and displays a degree of cheerfulness and great good humor rarely observed in aged people.

In point of health, vigor and other characteristics, Samuel M. Bixby is a true type of his ancestors. His genial disposition, with the faculty of discerning the bright side of life, warrants the prediction of his enjoyment, for many years to come, of the success he has achieved.

COLONEL RICHARD M. HOE.

Among the names of American inventors whose discoveries have increased the welfare of the world, few deserve more honorable mention than the late Colonel Hoe, the inventor of the Lightning Printing- Press. Mr. Hoe was the head of the great firm of R. Hoe & Co., manufacturers of printing-presses. The history of this house, originally established by his father, and carried on from one success to another by his father's sons, is the history of the evolution of the art of printing, not only in America, but throughout the civilized world. Prior to the invention of the presses which bear the name of Hoe, the machinery by which the uses of " the types " are made manifest on paper was indeed slow-running and, in the light of the development of to-day, very crude.