Meeting my great-aunt Margaret has sparked my interest in ancestory again. While looking around online last night, I came across this old photograph taken in the late 1800's. Fanny Betts Bixby Harwood was my great-great-great-great-grandmother. I don't know how old she was in this picture, but she died in 1893 at 93 years of age.
Lewis Bixby was Fannie's first husband and the father of her children. Sometime after he passed away she married Rufus Harwood, the father in law of her two daughters. (I guess that makes her twice related...) She was a graduate of a seminary on Long Island. Old records also tell me that she was an artist as well as a teacher. Somewhere out there is some of her artwork. I'm hoping to find a photograph of it. Wish me luck!
Good Luck! A handsome woman if ever I saw one. Don't you just wonder what her voice sounded like. I love old pictures.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I do have some leads actually. I know of a distant relative with some photos of the artwork and have just connected with her through email. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteYes, good luck!
ReplyDeleteSee, I'm not the only one who thinks she was beautiful...
You are so awesome! I love the photo too. I'll bet she never thought that her great great great great granddaughters would see her.
ReplyDeleteThat is so so awesome!!! I love her looks, her clothes, and wouldn't it be fun to see her artwork. You certainly have found a treasure....You need to write a story...!!
ReplyDeleteGenealogy is my (winter) passion. I have poked about a bit this summer but not too much. It sounds like you're well on your way to a nice history. Where we grew up there was a big sledding hill that we always called Bixby's Hill for the family with the old farm house at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteVery cool and interesting too!
ReplyDeleteI think if someone finds this post by actually doing a search for Fanny Betts Bixby, they should leave me a note. Please. :)
ReplyDeleteFannie Betts (1800 - 1893)
ReplyDeleteis my 3rd great grandmother
Hannah C. Grovette Bixby (1829 - 1910)
daughter of Fannie Betts
Holman Rufus Harwood (1863 - 1940)
son of Hannah C. Grovette Bixby
Harry George Harwood (1892 - 1962)
son of Holman Rufus Harwood
Ardith Elaine "Ardy" Harwood (1925 - 2014)
daughter of Harry George Harwood
JeffreyLSalisbury@gmail.com
son of Ardith Elaine "Ardy" Harwood
I am also a descendant of Fannie Betts, 1800-1893 through my mother, who was exactly the same size as this little Fannie. We wondered why she was so tiny. Does anyone have any idea about the "Grovette" name? Was Hannah C. married before she married into the Bixby family. Also, I've found connections to the Mayflower passenger William Brewster. Has anyone done any work on tracing that connection? It looks like a direct line through the Mather, Noyes, and Pickett families.
ReplyDeleteHello, Sue!
ReplyDeleteI believe Grovette was Hannah Bixby's middle name. Her sister was Margaret Almira Bixby. My line goes through Margaret and George Harwood.
(see here Family Ties and Tangles
You can email me at poet_tree at juno.com and I can send you the Mayflower connection.