Cynthia Ann Parker

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Cynthia Ann Parker and her daughter in 1861
Cynthia Ann Parker and her daughter in 1861

Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah (also sometimes spelled "Nadua" and "Nauta"), was an Anglo-Texas woman of Scotch-Irish descent who suffered being kidnapped twice in her lifetime - once from her natural family at the age of nine by a Native American raiding party, and once from her Indian family at the age of 34 by Texas Rangers. Cynthia Ann was a member of the large Parker frontier family that settled in east Texas in the 1830s. She was captured in 1836 by Comanches during the raid of Fort Parker near present-day Groesbeck, Texas.

Cynthia Ann Parker was born 1826 in Crawford County, Illinois1, the oldest child of Silas Mercer Parker (1802-1836) and Lucy (Duty) Parker. Her younger siblings were John Richard, Silas Mercer Jr., and Orlena. This family and allied families, led by Silas' father John and brother Daniel, moved from Illinois to Texas in 1833. A large group under the family patriarch, Elder John Parker, settled near the headwaters of the Navasota River in present-day Limestone County. In 1834 they completed Fort Parker for their protection on the frontier. On May 19, 1836, a large force of Comanche and allied warriors attacked the fort, killing five men and capturing two women and three children - Cynthia Ann, her brother John and James Pratt Plummer (son of her first cousin). Cynthia Ann spent almost 25 years among the Comanches. James W. Parker, brother of Silas and uncle of Cynthia Ann, spent much of his life and fortune in what became an obsession of searching for her.

Cynthia Ann was named "Naduah" by the Comanches, which means "she carries herself with dignity and grace". She became an adopted member of the tribe and, as her unfortunate return to white society attests2, completely embraced "Indian ways". Cynthia Ann married Comanche warrior Puhtocnocony (called Peta Nocona by the whites), and they had two sons, Quanah (meaning "smell" or "fragrance") and Pecos (or "Peanuts"), and a daughter, Topsannah (or "Prairie Flower"). Peta Nocona became a leader of the Comanches.

In December 1860, Cynthia Ann and her daughter were among a Native American party captured at the Pease River by Texas Rangers led by "Sul" Ross.[1] Though some of the Rangers urged Ross to set her free to return to the Comanches, he considered it best to try to return her to her white family. Ross knew many settlers had lost children to the Indians, and many of them might feel this was their child or relative. Cynthia Ann and her daughter were sent to Camp Cooper, and there she was identified by her uncle, Colonel Isaac Parker. He took her to his home near Birdville. In 1861, the Texas legislature granted her a league of land, a pension of $100 per year for the next five years, and made her cousins, Isaac Duke Parker and Benjamin F. Parker, her legal guardians.

Cynthia Ann never adapted to her new life among the whites, and attempted to escape on several occasions. Her brother, Silas Jr., was appointed her guardian in 1862, and took her to his home in Van Zandt County. When Silas was mustered into the Confederate Army, Cynthia Ann went to live with her sister, Orlena. According to some accounts, the Parker family was negotiating to return her to west Texas and her adopted people when the American Civil War broke out. The chief cause of Cynthia Ann's unhappiness was that she missed her sons and never knew what had happened to them. In 1864, her daughter, Prairie Flower, caught influenza and died from pneumonia.

In her grief, Cynthia Ann stopped eating. She became sick and died in 1870. She was buried in Fosterville Cemetery in Anderson County near Frankston. Her son, Quanah, moved her body in 1910 to the Post Oak Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma. He was buried there in 1911. She and her son were moved in 1957 to the Fort Sill military cemetery in Oklahoma.

The city of Crowell, Texas holds the Cynthia Ann Parker Festival annually - a two day celebration to honor the memory of Cynthia Ann Parker. They advertise the event as "a fun and educational weekend showcasing both Native American and European settlers history of the region." The town of Groesbeck, Texas holds an annual Christmas Festival at the site of old Fort Parker every December. The original fort has been re-built on the original site to exact specifications.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Handbook of Texas Online - Pease River. Retrieved 30 October 2006.
  • Cynthia Ann Parker: The Life and the Legend, by Margaret S. Hacker
  • Frontier Blood: the Saga of the Parker Family, by Jo Ella Powell Exley

[edit] Footnotes

  1. There is some confusion about the correct birth and death dates for Cynthia Ann Parker. Different sources place her birth from 1825 to 1827 in Coles, Clark or Crawford counties of Illinois, and her death from 1864 to 1871 in Anderson County, Texas. However, her presence in the 1870 Anderson County census makes an earlier death date unlikely.
  2. Writing in the Crowell Index in October 8, 1909, Tom Champion opined, "...I am convinced that the white people did more harm by keeping her away from them than the Indians did by taking her at first."
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