Ephraim Hix

#29 & 30 Major Ephraim Hix (1839-1905) 1897-1898

Major Ephraim Hix, son of Ephraim Hix and Laura Williams, was born in Alabama Center, Genesee County, New York on October 28, 1839. He obtained his early education from the common schools of the time, Mount Morris Academy, Mount Morris, New York. By 1850, his family had removed to DeKalb County, Illinois. He put himself through Wheaton College in Wheaton, DuPage County, Illinois by teaching and performing manual labor over summer breaks from classes.

Following college, he engaged in business at Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois and, with his brother, Seymour Hix, traveled extensively. On December 7, 1864, he married Susan Ancelia Ring, daughter of Greenleaf Ring and Betsey Bunker, in Sycamore, Illinois. In 1869, for health considerations, he disposed of his DeKalb County interests and located on a farm in Richland Township, Story County, Iowa. In 1873, his brother, Seymour W. Hix, followed settling in Sherman Township, Story County, Iowa.

In 1883, Mr. Hix could no longer endure the hardships of farm life and he and his wife moved into Nevada. He entered a partnership Madison Clay Allen in a loan and abstract business. This partnership lasted twenty-two years until the death of Mr. Hix.

Major Hix served on city council for two terms from 1895 to 1896 and was then elected and served two terms as mayor of Nevada from 1897 to 1898. In the latter part of his life, his health required winter sojourns to the milder climate of California but the couple always returned to Iowa in the spring. He had just returned from one such trip a few weeks prior when he died of consumption on May 13, 1905 in Nevada, Story County, Iowa. He was survived by his wife, Susan (Ring) Hix.