Life History

Notes

• "Cathie, two of Rudolph Fischer's daughters by Kahchacha (Bertie and Helen) married two of Quanah Parker's sons (Len and Thomas). Everything that I was able to learn about Fischer I incorporated into my book 'The Captured.'"
  Scott Zesch
  --  Ancestry Discussion Boards, "Rudolph Fischer, Indian Captive," http://boards.ancestrylibrary.com/surnames.fischer/717.2.1.1.2/mb.ashx
  
  Quanah's sons with A-er-wuth-take-um are in a mission school on the reservation.  I see that the enumerator has reported Lenn and both his parents as Kiowas, but has it right for Thomas.
  
  1900 Federal Census, Oklahoma Territory, 1 June, Apache, Kiowa & Comanche Reservation, District 25, page 29B, Methvin Institute Mission School
  Parker, Lenn Pupil Ind M Oct 1890 9 OklaTerr OklaTerr OklaTerr Horse Herd [No rpt of ownership] Kiowa Father Kiowa Mother Kiowa [Should all be Comanche]
  Parker, Thomas Pupil Ind M Mar 1893 6 OklaTerr OklaTerr OklaTerr Comanche Comanche Comanche
  
  Len's reported birth date was October 1890.  He reported that year without a more specific date in his 1917 WWI Draft Registration.  In the 1905 Comanche census his age of 15 matches that year of birth.  But on his grave the reported date of birth is October 1888.  His mother was not reported in the list of wives with Quanah in 1900.  In 1905 she is reported after all the other wives, but she is married to a different husband, and has three other children with that husband's name, the oldest born about 1896.  So A-er-wuth-take-um married her second husband Taum-mer-ra-da about 1895, meaning she divorced Quanah before that.
  
  1905 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma, 30 June, Kiowa Agency, Page 22
  Taum-mer-ra-da       Eng Name Sidney Mah-seet  Male Husband 36
  A-er-wuth-take-um   Female wife 41
  Ne-hio                  Eng Name Len Parker  Male Stepson 15
  Tit-tah                 Eng Name Thomas Parker  Male Stepson 13
  Eng Name Mary Taum-mer-ra-da  Female Dau 9
  Eng Name Josephine Taum-mer-ra-da  Female Dau 4
  Eng Name Dyson Mah-seet Male Son 1/4
  
  In 1914 Len married Bertie Asewaynah Fisher.  A marriage list reports a marriage for Len on 27 February 1914.  However, this marriage record repots that Len's wife was Ah-way.  Then there is a matching divorce record, only about one month later!  I ahve not found an other source to tell us that story.
  
  Caddo County Oklahoma Marriage Records
  Book #6, Record #546, 27 Feb 1914
  Ah-way
  Parker, Len
  --  RootsWeb, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okcaddo/marriage/marbk6b.txt
  
  Parker, Len
  Parker, Ah-Way
  28 Mar 1914
  --  Caddo County, Oklahoma, Divorce Records, OKGenWeb, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okcaddo/divorce/divorce-p.html
  
  But in the 1914 Comanche census, Len and Bertie are listed separately, Len with his family group, and Bertie with hers.  No other indivdiaul is lsited in Len's household, next door to his brother Thomas and family.  So they must have married after that 1 July census date.
  
  ----------------------
  1914 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma, 1 July, Kiowa Agency, Comanche Tribe, page 2
  Tit-tah (Thomas Parker)  6.25 Head 1891 M
  Victoria Wer yack we Wife 1898 F
  Ruth Dau 1913 F1913 F
  
  Ne hio (Len Parker) 6.5  1890 M
  ----------------------
  
  In the 1917 Comanche census, they are reported living with her Fisher family on the Comanche Reservation where he was born.  Their first child Vera is reported born in1915.
  
  ------------------
  1917 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma, 30 June, Kiowa Agency
  #1184 A se way nah (Rudolph Fisher) Head b abt 1850 M Fam #529
  #1185 Tissy chau er Wife b 1854 F
  #1186 Lottie Fisher Dau b 1901 F
  #1187 Mamie Fisher Dau b 1905 F
  
  #1188 Mary A se way nah Head b 1896 F #529 1/8
  #1189 Augusta Bosin, Jr  Son [sic] b 1915 F
  #1190 Caroline Bosin, Jr  Dau b 1917 F
  
  #1186 Henry Ase way nah (Willie Fisher) Head b 1896 M #529.25
  
  #1192 Ne hi o (Len Parker) Head b 1890 M #529.5
  #1193 Bertie A se way nah Wife b 1892 F
  #1194 Vera Parker Dau b 1915 F
  #1195 Iona Parker Dau b 1917 F
  ------------------
  
  Nehio's US WWI Draft registration reports his birthplace as Cache, Oklahoma, in 1890.  In this year, it would have been Oklahoma Territory, which was declared on 2 May 1890.  He was born on the Comanche Reservation where his father had brought his band in 1875 (some report the year as 1874).
  
  U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
  Len Parker
  Residence Caddo County, Oklahoma
  Birthplace Oklahoma [Was Oklahoma Territory from 2 May 1890]
  Age 27, Birth Date 1890
  Married, Farmer, Race Indian (Native American) [Comanche]
  Short, Stout, Black Eyes, Black Hair
  Registered Apache Precinct, Kiowa Agency, Oklahoma, 4 June 1917
  
  Len Nehio Parker was born in Oklahoma Territory, in land that had been within the roaming area of the Comanche bands.  His father had lived on the Comanche Reservation since 1875, and his parents married there.
  
  "The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma.  The 1890 Oklahoma organic act organized the western half of Indian Territory and a strip of country known as No Man's Land into Oklahoma Territory.  Reservations in the new territory were then opened to settlement in land runs later that year and in 1891 and 1893."
  --  "Oklahoma Territory," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Territory
  
  However, the birth date on his grave differs from that he reported in 1917.  His memorial on Find a Grave reports his birth date as 15 October 1888, two years earlier, and thus before the establishment of Oklahoma Territory.
  
  Len "Nehio" Parker
  Birth Oct. 15, 1888
  Death Feb. 21, 1960
  Parents:
  Quanah Parker (1845 - 1911)
  Takewm Aerwuth (1853 - 1948)
  Children Cynthia Ann Parker
  Burial Memory Lane Cemetery, Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma
  Created by Cokeman2 Jan 12, 2011
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #64113958, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64113958
  
  In the 1920 census, Nehio is still living with his wife's family group.  No new children have been born since 1917.
  
  ------------------
  1920 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma, 30 June, Kiowa Agency
  #1193 Ase-way-nah (Rudolph Fisher) Head b 1850 M Fam #529
  #1194 Tissy-chau-er Wife b 1854 F
  #1195 Mamie Fisher Dau b 1905 F
  
  #1196 Lottie Fisher Dau b 1901 F #529.75
  
  #1197 Mary Asewaynah [sic, no hyphens or spaces] Head b 1896 F #529 1/8
  #1198 Augusta Bosin, Jr  Son b 1915 M
  #1190 Caroline Bosin Dau b 1917 F
  #1200 Eleanor Bosin Dau b 1919 F
  
  #1201 Henry Asewaynah [sic] (Willie Fisher) Head b 1896 M #529.5
  #1202 Verbera [Verbena] Fisher Dau b 1917 F
  #1203 Bernice Fisher Dau b 1919 F
  
  #1204 Ne hi o (Len Parker) Head b 1890 M #529.25
  #1205 Bertie Asewaynah [sic] Wife b 1892 F
  #1206 Vera Parker Dau b 1915 F
  #1204 Iona Parker Dau b 1917 F
  ------------------
  
  1930 Federal Census, Comanche County, Oklahoma, 10 April, Chandler Township, District 4, page 5A, Hse/Fam #81
  Parker, Len Head Owns M Ind 39 Married at age 18 Oklahoma Mixed Blood Comanche Farmer
  Parker, Bertie Wife F Ind 35 Married at age 20 Oklahoma Mixed Blood Comanche
  Parker, Vera Dau F Ind 14 OK  Mixed Blood  Comanche
  Parker, Iona Dau F Ind 13 OK  Mixed Blood  Comanche
  Parker, Geraldine Dau F Ind 9 OK  Mixed Blood  Comanche
  Parker, Harold Head M Ind 5 OK  Mixed Blood  Comanche
  Parker, Lenord M Ind 3yrs3mos OK  Mixed Blood  Comanche
  
  1930 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma, 1 April, Kiowa Agency, Page 22
  #2810 Ne-hio (Len Parker)  Male 49 Comanche 1/4 Married Head
  #2811 Asewaynah, Bertie Female 38 Comanche 1/4 Married Wife
  #2812 Parker, Vera Female 15 Comanche 1/4 Dau
  #2813 Parker, Iona Female 13 Comanche 1/4 Dau
  #2814 Parker, Geraldine Rosella Female 10 Comanche 1/4 Dau
  #2815 Parker, Harold Male 5 Comanche 1/4 Son
  #2816 Parker, Leonard Male 4 Comanche 1/4 Son
  
  I see that Nehio is reported as 1/4 blood.  With this report, and his wife as 1/4 also, the children are correctly, or at least consistently, reported as 1/4.  This is unexpected, in light of previous records and reports I have seen.  I have not seen any other information or records to indicate his mother was not fulblood, which should make him 3/4 Comanche.  With half-blood Quanah Parker as his father, for Len Nehio to be 1/4 blood, his mother A-er-wuth-take-um would have had to be 100% white!

Sources

• 1. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
• 2. 1917 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma
  • 30 June, Kiowa Agency
• 3. 1930 Federal Census, Comanche County, Oklahoma
  • 10 April, Chandler Township, District 4, page 5A, Hse/Fam #81
• 4. 1914 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma
  • 1 July, Kiowa Agency, Comanche Tribe, page 2
• 5. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 6. 1905 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma
  • 30 June, Kiowa Agency, Page 22
• 7. 1920 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma
  • 30 June, Kiowa Agency
• 8. U.S., Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940
  • Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2007;
  • Year: 1930; Roll: M595_218; Line: 1; Agency: Kiowa
• 9. OKGenWeb
  • Caddo County, Oklahoma, Divorce Records
• 10. Ancestry Discussion Boards
  • "Rudolph Fischer, Indian Captive"
• 11. 1900 Federal Census, Oklahoma Territory
  • 1 June, Apache, Kiowa & Comanche Reservation, District 25, page 29B, Methvin Institute Mission School
• 12. Caddo County Oklahoma Marriage Records
  • Book #6, Jul 1912 - Jun 1914; Record #546, 27 Feb 1914
• 13. Parker Heritage Website
• 14. 1931 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma
  • 1 April, Kiowa Agency, Page 3, Death Register
• 15. 1930 Indian Census Rolls, Comanche Tribe, Oklahoma
  • 1 April, Kiowa Agency, Page 22