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

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.
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From FIRST 100 YEARS NOLAN COUNTY TEXAS (published 1985 by the Nolan County Genealogical Society)

ROBERT L. AND LIZZIE WITT

Robert Lee (Bob) Witt came to Nolan County in 1890 from Lamar County, Texas, as a teenage boy with his father, John Wesley Witt. His mother, Lina Catherine Collins Witt, died in January 1890 in Lamar County, four days after the birth of her baby daughter, Annie. She is buried in Lamar County.

Shortly after his mother's death, his father moved to Nolan County to establish a new home, bringing with him his three sons, Bob, Sam and Walter, and two daughters, Ida and Ada. The oldest son, Henry, remained in Lamar County and the baby girl, Annie, was left with family friends in Lamar County until the new home could be established. She was brought to Nolan County several months later. Bob Witt, as a young single man, worked for the Newman Ranch and was once on a trail drive into northeastern New Mexico where the ranch hands worked as many as 10,000 cattle on the open range.

In January of 1908, Bob Witt married Nannie Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bardwell, a native of Nolan County, who was the daughter of Brainard and Ada Fly Bardwell, in the Bardwell home south of Lake Sweetwater. This ranch house still stands and has been restored by the present owners, the J. C. Pace family.

In 1914, Bob Witt was elected Nolan County Commissioner of Precinct Two and served until 1918. In that same year, he sold his farm in the Lake Sweetwater area and moved into Sweetwater, where he opened a grocery store. He was in the grocery business until he was elected, for a second time, in 1934, Nolan County Commissioner, Precinct Two. He served as commissioner until his death in 1944. Lizzie Witt died in Sweetwater in 1967. Both are buried in the Sweetwater Cemetery.

Bob and Lizzie Witt had four children, two daughters and two sons, all born in Nolan County. All four graduated from Sweetwater High School.

* Gertrude Witt Christopher died in March 1980.

* Estelle Witt lives in Reno, Nevada, where she retired from Western Union.

* John Percy Witt attended the University of Texas at Austin. He married Violet Naomi Stewart in Sweetwater in 1935.. They have two daughters, Joy and Annalee, both born in Sweetwater and both graduates of Sweetwater High School. Joy is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio. Annalee attended Tarleton State and Texas Tech. She married Albert Michael Schubert in Sweetwater in 1966. They have one daughter, Jessica, and one son, Jason Albert.

* Robert Eugene Witt graduated from Cameron College in Lawton, Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma at Norman. He served in the U. S. Navy as a Chief Petty Officer for three years during World War II. In 1939, he married Norene Binnion in Sweetwater. They have one son, Robert Wayne Witt, who graduated from Sweetwater High School and Trinity University in San Antonio. In 1967, Wayne married Barbara Jane Chase in San Antonio where they make their home. They have two daughters, Julie Ann and Amy Jo.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Witt, their two daughters, their two sons and three grandchildren have all been members of the First Presbyterian Church of Sweetwater. Mrs. Witt's mother, Mrs. Brainard Bardwell, was a charter member of the church. Their two sons, Percy and R. E. Witt, have served as deacons and elders in the same church.
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NOLAN COUNTY DEATH CERTIFICATE

Name: Nannie Elizabeth Witt
Death date: 04 Mar 1967
Death place: Simmons Memorial Hospital, Sweetwater, Nolan, Texas
Cause of death: Uremia
Gender: Female
Race or color (on document): White
Age at death: 80 years 11 months 16 days
Birth date: 18 Mar 1886
Birthplace: Nolan County, 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: 207 Musgrove, Sweetwater, Nolan, Texas
Cemetery name: Sweetwater
Burial place: Sweetwater, Texas
Burial date: 06 Mar 1967
Informant: R. E. Witt (son)
Film number: 2138495
Digital GS number: 4027135
Image number: 501
Reference number: CN18973
Collection: Texas Deaths, 1890-1976
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