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WALLACE BIXBY, an enterprising farmer of Canton township, who owns and operates a well-improved and fertile farm of one hundred and ninety-six acres, in sections 9 and 10, was born in Dodge county, Wisconsin, January 14, 1851, and is a son of Anson P. and Electa (Bruce) Bixby, who also came to Benton county and lived there the remainder of their lives, as did his maternal grandparents. A. P. Bixby was born in Champlain county, New York, in 1814, and was a son of Joel Bixby, a veteran of the war of 1812; Champlain county was the old family home. Anson P. Bixby emigrated to Wisconsin in 1844, a year before his marriage, and made that state his home until 1869, when he came to Iowa and located on the farm now owned by his son Wallace. He died September 13, 1893; he had served in various offices in Wisconsin, and was a member of the Baptist church, as was also his wife. Electa Bruce was born in Vermont, September 30, 1829, and died in Benton county, Iowa, August 31, 1903. She was a daughter of David and Cynthia (Smith) Bruce, who came to Wisconsin in 1844, and in later life removed to Benton county, Iowa, where they spent their declining years. David Bruce died July 4, 1889, aged eighty-eight, and his wife died July 1, 1889, aged eighty-two.
Anson P. Bixby and his wife had four children, of whom two died in Wisconsin. One son, Albert, lives at Vinton, Iowa.
Wallace Bixby attended the public schools of Wisconsin, and was nineteen years of age when he removed to Benton county. He has since then followed successfully the occupations of farming and stock raising; since his first reaching Benton county, in 1869, he has lived on the farm which is his present home. Politically he is a Republican and has served more or less in school and township offices for the past twenty-five years, although at present he is not holding office. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Brotherhood of America, of Shellsburg, and his wife belongs to the order of Rebekah. The family are regular attendants and members of the Presbyterian church at Shellsburg.
Mr. Bixby married, in Benton county, Abi J., daughter of Daniel and Nancy (Parker) Perry, who came from Indiana to this county when she was an infant, in 1857, and located in Canton township, near Mr$. Bixby's present home. Mr. Perry was accidentally killed in the fall of 1879, at the age of forty-eight years; he was a farmer and a native of Indiana. His widow now resides at Shellsburg, at an advanced age. Mrs. Bixby has one brother, J. W. Perry, living in Shellsburg. Mr. Bixby and his wife have four children, viz: Jesse A., Florence, J. Gordon and Cecil. Jesse married Lena, daughter of E. V. Wilson, postmaster, at Shellsburg, who settled in Linn county soon after 1850; he has two children, Wallace E. Jr., and Claire. Jesse Bixby is operating the farm in partnership with his father. Florence is the wife of Frank Hatfield, and lives in Canton township; they have two children, Hollis E. and Lloyd D., and live on a farm. J. Gordon married Ida, daughter of D. K. Johnson, of Canton township, he lives on a farm near Shellsburg, and they have three daughters, Helen May, Lucile Margaret and Bernadene Marie. Cecil E., eleven years of age, lives at home and attends school in Shellsburg.
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