From the Daily Review Atlas in Monmouth Illinois. Dated April 15 and 22, 1916

This is an Obit of one of my Great Grandfathers up the line.

J.S. Bixler, a prominent farmer of Henderson county, was found dead yesterday afternoon about 5 o'clock in a field on his farm, three miles northwest of Smithshire, by his son, Glenn. His death is attributed to heart trouble, with which he had been afflicted for several months past. The end was a great shock to the family and the entire community.

Mr. Bixler had gone to the field after dinner to harrow in oats and was feeling in his usual health. Late in the afternoon his son Glenn, who was working in another field close by, noticed that his father's team was standing still. Upon investigating he found the parent body, cold in death. A physician, who was summoned from Smithshire, stated that he believed Mr. Bixler had been dead fully two hours and that the end had been brought about by heart trouble.

Mr. Bixler was a native of the state of Pennsylvania, being born there June 14, 1852, he would have celebrated his sixty second birthday this summer. When a young man he came to Illinois settling in Henderson county, and on Feb. 11, 1883, was united in marraige to Miss Kate Birdsall, daughter of the late John Birdsall, the ceremony being performed in Smithshire. Mr. Bixler had been a farmer all his life.

Besides the widow, the deceased is survived by one son, Glenn at home, one daughter, Mrs. Edna Harris of Kirkwood; two brothers Dan and Ammon of Chicago; and three sisters, Miss Anna Bixler and Mrs. Laura Wemple of Chicago and Mrs. O.S. Gettemy of Abingdon.

Mr. Bixler was a member of the Odd Fellow and Woodman lodges and was a man of fine character. The funeral will be Sunday afternoon from the Methodist church at Smithshire, of which Mr. Bixler was a member, conducted by the pastor, the Rev. G.H. McCrea. Interment will be made in the Kirkwood cemetery. (22d) (description of funeral)