Each name links to the stories where that person appears. The same names repeat across our generations — two Barbaras, two Bettys, two Bonnys — so read the descriptions carefully; they are different people. This index grows as more of the archive is researched.
The Wilcox Family — Bar W Bar Ranch
“Dad.” Builder of homes across Grand Junction, then rancher, breeder and racer of Quarter Horses and Pintos at Loma. Husband of Barbara; father of Richard, Ronald, Betty and Bonny; son of Winfield and Ruby Wilcox.
Bar W Bar: The Quarter Horses Bar W Bar: The Homes He Built Bixby History: Barbara Marries Carrol The Wilcox Line: his great-grandfather Bar W Bar: his 1941–44 work record
“Mom.” Second daughter of Victor and Dorothy Bixby — the link between the Bixby and Wilcox lines. Wife of Carrol for over 50 years; kept the wage notebooks, the ranch, and the family.
Bar W Bar: The Wilcox Family Bixby History: Barbara Marries Carrol
Eldest of the four Wilcox children. Left the alkali post-holes at Loma for the Navy — and later mapped every house his father built.
Second son, born in Grand Junction the night of a family drive over the Monument — 11:33 pm, March 17, 1941.
Born in Troy, Ohio — her parents drove toward the ‘big lights’ looking for a hospital and reached the Defense Plant gates. Rode Bar W Bar Paint to National Champion Pinto, 1961. Not the same person as her aunt Betty Bixby Baumgartner.
The “caboose” — youngest of the four, named for her aunt Bonnie with a ‘y’ to match Betty. Jockey, rodeo queen, and the author of both the Bar W Bar story and the Bixby family history.
Bar W Bar: Bonny’s Years Bixby History: her book Bixby History: her own birth story
Carrol’s father — farmed near Marengo, Ohio, then became a veterinarian. Grandson of Barnum Wilcox Sr.; husband of Ruby (Van Sickle) Wilcox. Estella’s obituary names their eleven children: Estella, Gerald, Carroll, Darwin, Wayne, Gale, Vaughn, Irene, Ruby Dell, Vera, and an infant sister who died unnamed.
Bar W Bar: The Wilcox Family Ohio Kin: Sunday Dinner 1931 The Wilcox Line: his grandfather Barnum Ohio Kin: where the children were Ruby’s story
Winfield’s wife and mother of the eleven. Eldest daughter of Dora Estella Sherman Van Sickle — her middle name “Brown” honors the foster parents who raised her own mother from three days old.
Her granddaughter’s book about her Ohio Kin: her father’s obituary Ohio Kin: Dora’s story Ohio Kin: Sunday Dinner 1931 Ohio Kin: where the children were
Born a Wilcox — Winfield and Ruby’s daughter — and lived a full century inside two Ohio counties. Schoolteacher, WWII machine-shop worker, short-order cook; 85 years in one church pew. Married Hubert Van Sickle for 57 years. NOT the same person as Dora Estella below.
Ohio Kin: A Century in One County Ohio Kin: Sunday Dinner 1931
Ruby’s mother. Given away by her dying mother at three days old and raised by Rev. Aaron and Mrs. Brown; married John Clayton Van Sickle in 1879. Grandmother of the other Estella — two different women, one generation apart.
Robert Wilcox’s wife, married August 19, 1860 — eight children, five boys and three girls, two buried before her. Sister of Martha Spangler, who married Robert’s brother Barnum Jr. Her 1911 obituary is the oldest personal clipping on the site.
The Wilcox Line: the 1911 Obituary The Wilcox Line: Two Brothers
Son of Winfield and Ruby Wilcox; an independent building contractor at Fruitvale — and Porky’s stepfather. With his wife he wrote the 1953 letter seeking electric-fence safety legislation.
Born in Great Falls, Montana; raised around Grand Junction; stepson of Gail Wilcox. Died at 12 on a neighbor’s electric fence at Fruitvale. His headstone reads “A little child shall lead them.”
“MARENGO — Vaughn C. Wilcox, age 97, of Marengo, died at home late Sunday evening, Dec. 2, 2007, following a one-year illness.” — Coshocton Tribune
Ohio Kin: his obituary Ohio Kin: Margaret’s obituary Ohio Kin: where the children were
“She was born on December 8, 1909 in Quaker Town, Morrow County to the late Carroll and Daisy (Miller) Williams… Survived by her husband of 68 years: Vaughan C. Wilcox and they were married April 2, 1933 in Cleveland.” — her obituary
“Rubydell — not at home w either Winfield or Ruby” — the family’s 1938–1947 worksheet
“Wayne — Porter Twp., Delaware Co., Oh (WITH WINFIELD)” — the family’s 1938–1947 worksheet
“He was a resident of Porter township for 70 years and for several years conducted a general store at East Liberty… March 13, 1879, he was united in marriage to Dora Estelle Sherman, who preceded him in death February 3, 1909.” — his obituary
“Mrs. Pearl McKay, age 80, Rt. 1, Sunbury, Ohio (Olive Green)… sisters, Mrs. Hallie Throckmorton, Sparta, Ohio; Mrs. Ruby Wilcox, Grand Junction, Colo.” — The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio Kin: her obituary Ohio Kin: her father’s obituary Ruby’s story
“Mrs. Hally Throcmorten, Sparta” — and in the Card of Thanks printed beneath, “Hallie Throcmorton” — her father’s obituary
“she and her husband, Paul, operated a store for many years. He died in 1961.” — Hazel’s obituary
Ohio Kin: Hazel’s obituary Ohio Kin: his father’s obituary Ruby’s story
“Mrs. Hazel G. Van Sickle, 82, Race St., Ashley, died early Tuesday, January 7, in Grady Memorial Hospital, Delaware, following a brief illness.” — her obituary
“Ferdinanus Van Sycklin was born in the Netherlands about 1635. In 1652, at age 17, he immigrated to New Amsterdam.” — Ruby’s story
The Bixby Line
The oldest named ancestor in the whole archive — born about 1365 in Felsham parish, Suffolk, England. The family stayed within about ten miles of his village for 275 years.
Joseph the immigrant’s father. Married 18-year-old Anna Cole; six children in ten years; Anna died at 28 in the birth of the sixth. Still on the Suffolk muster roll in 1638 when his teenage son was not.
“The first Bixby to America” — left Suffolk as a teenager, probably by 1638; married Sarah Wyatt at Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1647. Landowner, farmer, pioneer, militia sergeant — pronounced “Bigsbee” in the early records. Why he left, nobody recorded.
Bixbys of England: Why Leave? Bixbys in America: Joseph & Sarah Bixby History
Born in Assington, Suffolk — six miles from Joseph’s village; her family emigrated to Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1638. Widowed at about 24 with two small children when Luke Heard died in 1647; married Joseph Bixby that same year. Bonny’s draft stops at her, with the note “STOP HERE: RESEARCH SARAH WYATT.”
Grandfather of the four Wilcox children. Managed a dry-cleaning business in Columbus, Ohio; husband of Dorothy; father of Betty, Barbara, Bob and Bill. Died of a heart attack at 59.
Married Victor in Buffalo, New York, April 23, 1916. Graduate of Buffalo State Normal School; daughter of Frederick and Edna Misner. Her sisters lived to 104 and 100.
Eldest of the four Bixby children; wife of Merle Baumgartner, of DeLand, Florida. “One of the most gracious and pleasant ladies I have ever known.” Not the same person as her niece Betty Joann Wilcox.
Third of the Bixby children. Navy storekeeper, enlisted two months after Pearl Harbor; married Bonnie Bligh Watts in 1942 — both sets of parents had to sign. Ten children in under twelve years. Bonny Wilcox was named for his wife.
“118 Mr.& Mrs.Elmer B.Bixby” — Buffalo Address Book and Family Directory, 1909
Bixby History: 118 Delaware Avenue Bixby History: the side trip
“Mr.Raymond O.Bixby” — Buffalo Address Book and Family Directory, 1909
Bixby History: 118 Delaware Avenue Bixby History: the side trip
“Miss Mary Bixby” — Buffalo Address Book and Family Directory, 1909
“Fred & Edna Misner’s (Dorothy’s family) owned the ranch.” — Bixby Side Trip
“Fred & Edna Misner’s (Dorothy’s family) owned the ranch.” — Bixby Side Trip
The Wilcox Line — 1800s
The earliest Wilcox ancestor yet traced — born in Pennsylvania, farmed in Licking County, Ohio, then listed himself as a lawyer in 1850. Great-grandfather of Carrol Wilcox. He and his wife Julia died within seven months of each other, leaving three children.
Orphaned at 11. At nineteen — on the strongly corroborated National Archives file — he enlisted in the 18th U.S. Infantry at Delaware, Ohio, insisting on three years instead of five, and deserted seven months later. By the 1870 census: a broom maker, blind, with a wife of 21 — Martha Spangler — and a three-month-old son, Norris.
Barnum Jr.’s older brother; married Eveline Spangler — his brother married her sister. Six children at home by 1880.
The Benisek Line
A religious brother of the Marianists, from Cleveland’s Bohemian community — son of Elizabeth and John Benisek, one of at least eight children. Buried by his order at the University of Dayton. How the Beniseks connect to the Wilcox and Bixby lines is not yet researched.
Names the research has flagged but not yet placed: Peg Wilcox (in the 1996 “Aunts” photograph, relationship not recorded), “Ellen” (photographed with Porky, relationship not recorded), Porky’s mother, known only as Mrs. Gail Wilcox, and George D. Wilcox — who signed as young Barnum’s legal guardian in 1861 and may be the door to the Wilcox generation above Barnum Sr. If you know who they are, tell the family — see the foot of this page.