The Bixby family is an American family that was heavily involved in the development of California ranches and real estate in the 19th and 20th centuries. Through
various companies, they controlled at one time or another large swathes of California real estate, much of it derived from Mexican land grants. Over several generations, their holdings included
Rancho Los Cerritos and
Rancho Los Alamitos, and parts of
Rancho San Justo and
Rancho Palos Verdes, totaling well over 100,000 acres. Parts of the towns of
Long Beach
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
,
Bellflower,
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS.
**Paramount Picture ...
,
Signal Hill,
Lakewood, and
Los Alamitos emerged from former Bixby-held lands. Within Long Beach, the
neighborhoods
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...
Bixby Hill,
Bixby Knolls, and Bixby Village are named after the family, as well as Bixby Park in the
Alamitos Beach neighborhood.
The key members of the family connected to California real estate are the brothers Llewellyn and Jotham Bixby, their first cousins Thomas and Benjamin Flint, and a cousin of the next generation, John William Bixby. Llewellyn's daughter
Sarah Bixby Smith wrote a well-known memoir of growing up on the Bixby family ranches in the late 19th century; her second husband,
Paul Jordan-Smith, was also a writer. Jotham's daughter
Fanny Bixby Spencer was a philanthropist and anti-war activist who was also one of the nation's earliest policewomen.
Jotham and Margaret Bixby founded the
First Congregational Church in 1888 and later contributed to the construction of the 1914 building.
Bixby genealogy
(1) Joseph Bixby (1620-1701) born in Suffolk, England, emigrated to Boxford, Mass. before 1638; m. Sarah Herde
children
(13) Benjamin Bixby (1650-1727) born in Ipswitch, Mass.; m. Mary --
children m. Mary --
children
(134) Samuel Bixby (1689-1741) born in Topsfield, Mass.; m. Martha Underwood
children
(1343) Samuel Bixby (1721-1809) born in Sutton, Mass.; m. Lydia Bond
1 children
(13436) Solomon Bixby (1761-1835) born in Sutton, Mass.; m. Lucy Taylor
2 children
(134363) Amasa Bixby (1794-1872) born in Norridgewock, Maine; m. Fanny Weston (1794?-1869);
3 children***
Llewellyn Bixby (1825-96) m. Mary Hathaway
children****
Sarah Hathaway Bixby (b. 1871) m.
Paul Jordan-Smith
***
Jotham Bixby (1831-1917) m. Margaret Winslow Hathaway
children****
Fanny Weston Bixby (1879-1930) m. William Carl Spencer (1871-1950)
(134368) Simon Bixby (1803-1862) born in Norridgewock, Maine; m. Deborah Norton Flint (1806-76)
0 children***
John William Bixby (b. 1848) m. Susan P. Hathaway (d. 1906; sister of Margaret Winslow Hathaway)
See also
*
Bixby land companies
*
Los Cerritos Ranch House
*
Bixby Slough
Bixby Slough (American English pronunciation: “slew/slu”) was an ancient wetland in Los Angeles County, California. Also known as Machado Lake, the slough was a "large freshwater wetland in the Carson, California, Carson-Harbor City, Los Angel ...
*
Bixby Marshland
References
External links
Bixby correspondence, 1867-1923. California State Library, California History Room.
*Harris, Marcia Lee. ''Fanny Bixby Spencer: Long Beach's Inspirational Firebrand''.
*Smith, Sarah Bixby. ''Adobe Days: A Book of California Memories''. Los Angeles: J. Zeitlin, 1925. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Torch Press, 1926 (2nd ed.). Reprinted 1987 by the University of Nebraska Press.
"Finding Aid for the Sarah Bixby Smith correspondence, 1871-1935" Online Archive of California.
Rancho Los Cerritos website
{{Authority control
Families from California
Ranchers from California