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Submitted: 1/12/22 • Approved: 1/12/22 • Last Updated: 1/15/22 • R480970-G480970-S3
John F.
1863-1937
Father
Paralee
1869-1952
Mother
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*Photo/information, courtesy of Edith Guynes Stanley
*Obituary John F.
Texas Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 and 1966-2002
Name: Paralee London
Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 17 Apr 1890
Spouse: J. F. Witt
Marriage City: Denton
Marriage State: Texas
Source: Texas Marriages, 1851-1900
Texas Death Index, 1903-2000
Name: John F Witt
Death Date: 27 Mar 1937
Death County: Wheeler
Certificate: 18554
WHEELER, March 27, (HS) - John F. Witt, 73-year-old Wheeler County pioneer, died this morning at 5:30 o'clock following several months' illness.
John Witt and his wife filed on land in Wheeler County in 1900, moving here from Foard County.
He was born in Three Springs, Kentucky, and came to Texas in 1893.
He is survived by six daughters and three sons. The daughters are Mrs. Sarah Smith, Mrs. Bonnie King, Mrs. Stella Carver and Mrs. Margaret Arnett of Amarillo, Mrs. Eugenia Chandler of Endee, N.M., and Miss Lita Witt of Dallas. The sons are C.B. Witt of Wheeler, G.S. Witt of Lefors and Dr. John L. Witt of Groom.
Mr. and Mrs. Witt also reared two nephews, Thomas Graves, killed in the World War in 1917, and Dr. J.V. London of White Deer.
Also surviving the pioneer is one brother, F.J. Witt of Amarillo and three sisters, Mrs. Julia Wooten of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Mrs. Mattie Harper of Denton, and eighteen grandchildren.
John Witt was a member of the Church of Christ. Funeral services will be held at the Church of Christ in Wheeler Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock with Rev. C.C. Merritt, pastor, officiating.
Pallbearers will be W.L. Williams, Zack Coleman G.W. Potter, W.M. Hampton, Williard Ingram, Fred Farmer and Dick Craig.
Burial will be in the Wheeler cemetery.
(Published in Amarillo Sunday News & Globe, March 28, 1937)
*Obituary Paralee
Texas Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 and 1966-2002
Name: Paralee London
Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 17 Apr 1890
Spouse: J. F. Witt
Marriage City: Denton
Marriage State: Texas
Source: Texas Marriages, 1851-1900
Texas Death Index, 1903-2000
Name: Paralee Witt
Death Date: 25 Oct 1952
Death County: Carson
Certificate: 58436
One of Wheeler's real "Old Timers", Mrs. Paralee Witt, 83, passed away at 3:00 o'clock last Friday afternoon in a Groom hospital. Mrs. Witt was a resident of Amarillo at the time of her death.
Funeral services were held at 3:00 o'clock Sunday afternoon in the Wheeler Church of Christ with E.L. Dennis, minister of the Groom Church of Christ, officiating. Burial was in the Wheeler Cemetery.
Mrs. Witt, who was the oldest student at the Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, suffered a fractured hip on the Campus, October 17 when she fell. She was moved to Groom Osteopathic Hospital to be cared for by her son, Dr. John L. Witt, and a nephew, Dr. John V. London. She was apparently recovering until she went into shock last week.
She was born in 1869 in Pilot Point, Texas. She married John Foster Witt. They moved to Wheeler County in 1900 in a covered wagon. With them in their first home, a dugout southwest of Wheeler, were four of their own children and a nephew whom they had adopted. Four more children were born later and they adopted another nephew.
The Witts were instrumental in getting one of the first schools started in Wheeler County. They also helped organize the first Church of Christ in the county about 1906. Meetings were held in the new Witt home until a church building was erected.
Mr. Witt died in 1937. Mrs. Witt was buried beside him in the Wheeler Cemetery with Clayborn Funeral Home of McLean in charge.
Survivors include three sons and five daughters. They are C. Bryan Witt of Dallas; Griffith S. Witt, Amarillo; Dr. John L. Witt, Groom; Miss Lita Witt, Dallas, and Mrs. Sara Smith, Mrs. Bonnie Smith, Mrs. Stella Carver and Mrs. Margaret Arnett, all of Amarillo. She also had 22 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
(Published in The Wheeler Times, October 30, 1952)
Contributed on 1/12/22
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Record #: 480970