Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
JOTHAM BIXBY 
 
is a native of Norridgewock, Maine, where he was born January 20, 1831. His 
ancestors emigrated from Massachusetts to Maine, but originally came from 
England. His father, Amasa Bixby, had ten children, eight sons and two 
daughters, all of whom, except two sons (deceased), now reside in California. 
The subject of this sketch came to California via Cape Horn in 1852. He worked 
awhile in the mines in the central part of the State. Afterward, in 1857, he 
went into the wool and sheep business, first in Monterey County, and then in San 
Luis Obispo County, where he remained till 1866, when be came to Los Angeles, 
having in 1865 bought of John Temple the rancho of Los Cerritos of 27,000 acres. 
This rancho, which lies east of the San Gabriel River and fronts on the ocean, 
includes the present towns of Long Beach and Clearwater. Mr. Bixby has been 
engaged in the stock business on this ranch ever since its purchase. The company 
with which he is connected has also bought 17,000 acres of the Palos Verdes 
Rancho, and a one-third interest in Los Alamitos of 26,000 acres, and 6,000 
acres in the rancho of Santiago de Santa Ana. Some years his company used to 
have on the Cerritos as many as 30,000 head of sheep, producing 200,000 pounds 
of wool annually. At present the company raise more cattle and horses than 
sheep. They have now about 30,000 head of cattle. The names of Mr. Bixby's 
brothers are: Amos (editor Long Beach Journal), Marcellus, Lewellyn, Henry H. 
and George F. His sisters are Miss Francina A. Bixby and Mrs. Nancy D. Lovett, 
widow of Hon. William E. Lovett, deceased. In 1863 Jotham Bixby married Margaret 
Winslow Hathaway, daughter of Rev. George W. Hathaway, a resident of this 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Bixby have five children, three boys and two girls. The 
eldest son, George H., graduated from Yale College in 1886; he is married and 
lives at Long Beach, and is already an active assistant in the management of his 
father's extensive business. The next son, Harry, is in New Haven, preparing to 
enter Yale College. The Bixbys are good representatives of the better class of 
New England families. They have much force of character; they are firm in their 
moral convictions; they believe in honesty and integrity in their dealings with 
their neighbors; they believe there is such a thing as a moral government in the 
universe, and they seek to become good citizens under that government. Believing 
in such a creed, it goes without saying, that they are respected in the 
community in which they live.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 792
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler