She later married a ne'r-do-well Eson Bixby, a "roving Irishman" she apparently thought she could reform. Eventually they became estranged. He kidnapped her by disguising himself and told her his sick wife needed help.

He told her he would keep her in a cave until she told him where her family gold was. She decided to jump off a cliff rather than have her gold gambled and drank away. So she jumped!

Trees broke her fall, one after the other, 60 feet down. She landed, cut and bleeding, but alive. Her estranged husband tried to burn her out of the woods, but a roaring rain-storm put out the flames and white-robed spirits led the wounded and weary Bixby to safety.

This battered-wife element of her story partly inspired the founders of the Anna Bixby Center to choose her as their namesake. The Harrisburg center, founded in 1979, has facilities and services to help domestic violence victims and homeless people.

Bixby's name was chosen also because she was not prejudiced and she helped families. Her role in curing the milk sickness was the subject of medical journal articles written by physician William Snively of Evansville, Ind.