Mrs. Cook's Rites Held

Sweetwater - Mrs. W. J. Cook, 88, sister of three Sweetwater residents, died at 6 p.m. Monday in Callahan County Hospital in Baird after a six weeks' illness.

Graveside rites were held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Sweetwater Cemetery with Cate-Spencer Funeral Home in charge.

Godfrey Funeral Home handled arrangements in Baird.

Mrs. Cook was a longtime resident of the Baird area and daughter of a Nolan County pioneer family. She was born in Gonzales County on Dec. 29, 1877 [sic], daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Brainard Bardwell, who settled in Bitter Creek community in 1885.

She married W. J. Cook here on Dec. 29, 1898 and they moved to Baird shortly after that. Mr. Cook died in 1950.

Survivors are a daughter, Mrs. Frank Estes of Baird; one son, Paul of Dallas; two brothers, Bob Bardwell of Sweetwater and Brainard Bardwell of El Paso; five sisters, Mrs. R. L. Witt and Mrs. J. H. Withers, both of Sweetwater, Mrs. S. C. Glass of San Angelo, Mrs. Sam Witt of Hico and Mrs. H. E. Baird of San Antonio; two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

From The Abilene (TX) Reporter, Wednesday, April 20, 1966
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Callahan County Death Certificate

Name: Zoe Mckie Cook
Death date: 18 Apr 1966
Death place: Callahan County Hospital, Baird, Callahan, Texas
Cause of death: Uremia
Gender: Female
Race or color (on document): Cauc.
Age at death: 88 years
Birth date: 19 Dec 1877
Birthplace: Gonzales, Texas
Marital status: Widowed
Spouse's name:
Father's name: Brainard Bardwell
Father's birthplace:
Mother's name: Ada Fly
Mother's birthplace:
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Baird
Cemetery name: Sweetwater
Burial place: Sweetwater Texas
Burial date: 19 Apr 1966
Informant: Mrs. Frank Estes
Film number: 2117975
Digital GS number: 4028479
Image number: 2244
Reference number: 21836
Collection: Texas Deaths, 1890-1976
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BRAINARD BARDWELL

Brainard Bardwell and his wife, Mary Ada Fly Bardwell, came to Nolan County in 1885 from Gonzales County, Texas. They established their home in the Bitter Creek Community ten miles south of Sweetwater on a ten section ranch.

The Brainard Bardwells had ten children. The five oldest children moved to Nolan County with their parents. They were Emma Lou (Mrs. Sam Glass), Zoe (Mrs. Will Cook), Ada (Mrs. Sam Witt), Madden Fly Bardwell and DAVID EDWIN BARDWELL. The other five children, who were born in Nolan County, were Nanny Elizabeth (Mrs. R. L. Witt), James Robert (Bob) Bardwell, Nettie Irene (Mrs. H. E. Baird) and Gertrude (Mrs. J. H. Withers) and Brainard, Jr., who were twins.

During the early days on the ranch, it was necessary for family members to make the long trip by wagon to Buffalo Gap to buy provisions. Later on, the trip was made to Abilene as the T&P Railroad had been built that far west. These supplies were usually bought for a six months period. The grocery items had to be carefully stored and preserved for that long period of time.

Five of the Bardwell daughters were married in the ranch home that Mr. and Mrs. Brainard Bardwell built on the Bitter Creek ranch. This house still stands and has been restored by the J. C. Pace family, the present owners. The youngest daughter was marred in Sweetwater after the family moved to town.

In 1898, Brainard Bardwell was shot and killed on his ranch by a transient sheep herder. In those days, ranch land was unfenced. The sheepherder had driven his flock of sheep across the ranch land, allowing them to graze and drink water for several days. When Mr. Bardwell went to a watering hole where the sheep were to tell the herder to move on, he was shot.

Several years later, Mrs. Bardwell moved to Sweetwater from the ranch. She was one of eleven people who organized and secured a charter for the First Presbyterian Church in Nolan County. At her death in 1938, she was the last surviving charter member of the present First Presbyterian Church.

Both Brainard and Mary Ada Fly Bardwell are buried in the Sweetwater Cemetery. Two of the children survive, being Gertrude Withers of Sweetwater and Nettie Baird of San Antonio, Texas.

From FIRST 100 YEARS NOLAN COUNTY TEXAS (published 1985 by Nolan County Genealogical Society), Page 97
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