Life History

Notes

• Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Indian and Pioneer Historical Collection, 1937
  Cynthia Ann Parker
  Birth Date 1827
  Residence Place USA
  Death Date 1870
  Death Age 43
  Comanche Cemetery
  Burial Post Oak Mission
  
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  Posted by: Barry Kirkland       Date: July 31, 2001 at 10:49:37
  In Reply to: Re: Lineal descendants of Quanah Parker  by Debby Warren
  
  Cynthia Ann Parker, born 1827.
  
  Her father was Silas Mercer Parker born in 1804 in Bedford County, Tennessee and died on May 19, 1836 at Fort Parker, Limestone County, Texas. Silas was one of the first Texas Rangers. He was buried at the old fort grounds which became the Groesbeck Cemetery.
  
  Her mother was Lucinda "Lucy" Duty. Her mother was "Granny" Duty who was at Fort Parker when the men folk were killed by Indians, she was tortured by spared.
  Silas and Lucinda were married on Aug. 31, 1824 in Illinois and had four children.
  
  The first child born to Silas and Lucy was Cynthia Ann Parker born Oct. 28, 1827 in Charleston, Coles County, Illinois. Poem about Quanah and Cynthia
  The second child born to Silas and Lucy was John Parker born 1829 in Illinois. He was captured on May 19, 1836 by the Indians and lived with them until he was grown. He married Dona Juanita, a Mexican girl who nursed him through a bout with smallpox. They settled on some land across the Rio Grande River in Mexico, and he became a rancher.
  
  The third child born to Silas and Lucy was Silas Mercer Parker Jr. born on Jun. 4, 1833 in Illinois. He married Ann Elizabeth O'Quinn on Dec. 21, 1854 in Texas. They had six children; Jefferson J. Parker born Sep. 21, 1855, Rhoda M. Parker born Aug. 17, 1857 in Van Zandt County, Texas, Aaron George Parker born Jul. 3, 1859, Silas B. Parker born Feb. 5, 1865, Calvin R. Parker born Aug. 31, 1867, and John Ross Parker born Jun. 14, 1872.
  
  Jefferson married Emma Cook and Rhoda married Jeff Russell. Aaron married Sulie Bell Pool who was born on May 1, 1879 and died in 1968. Silas B. Parker died on Aug. 30, 1872 and Calvin R. Parker died on Sep. 6, 1867. John married Mary Jane Morrell on Jul. 17, 1877.
  
  The fourth child born to Silas and Lucy was Orlena Parker born on Jan. 1, 1836 in Limestone County, Texas and died on Jul. 23, 1863. She was married to Rufus O'Quinn. They had four children; John Rufus O'Quinn born 1855 in Van Zandt County, Texas, Christopher Columbus O'Quinn born 1857, Ann B. O'Quinn born 1859, and Benjamin O'Quinn born in 1861.
  
  --  Barry Kirkland, Genealogy.com Forum, http://genforum.genealogy.com/parker/messages/12090.html, July 31, 2001
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  Cynthia Ann Nadua Parker married Peta Wanderer Naconi in 1844 in Plains, Texas, when she was 17 years old.
  Peta Wanderer Naconi
  1827-1864
  1844 Plains, Yoakum, Texas, USA
  --  Parker Genealogy, Ancestry, http://person.ancestry.com/tree/43433131/person/12658460488/story
  
  In the 1870 census, if S R is Rufus, it appears that Rufus' wife is still Orlena.  However, even though Kirkland says Orlena died in 1863, her memorial on Find a Grave says she died in 1887.  The name in the census may be spelled Orpena, which is how Ancestry transcribes the faded name.  Besides the fading there are overwrites in the entries.
  
  In that 1870 famliy list there are three additional children:
  a girl named Tennessee, born about 1863, another named Mozella b abt 1866 and a son named Jefferson b abt 1869.  And the child Benjamin does not appear.  Either these are the same or Benjamin died before the census and Tennessee is another additional child.
  
  For reference, I am including here the Find-a-Grave memorial of Orlena Parker O'Quinn, which reports her death date as 1887, not 1863 as Kirkland says above.  Since she is reported in the 1870 census, we know the 1863 date is wrong.
  
  -------------------------
  Orlena Parker O'Quinn
  Birth Jan. 1, 1836 Limestone County, Texas
  Death Nov. 5, 1887
  Married to a J.Rufus O'Quinn {Lds records}
  Parents:
  Silas Mercer Parker (1804 - 1836)
  Lucinda Duty Roberts (1811 - 1852)
  Burial Unknown
  Created by P Fazzini Mar 09, 2010
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #49456747, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49456747
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  1870 Federal Census, Anderson County, Texas, [no date], PO Palestine, page 212, Hse #1540, Fam #1527
  Oquinn, J R 37 M W Lumber Merchant $2000 Real Estate $800 Personal born Georgia
  Oquinn, Orlena (?) 40 [b abt 1830] F W  Keeping House born Texas
  Oquinn, John 15 M W Lumber Mill Worker born Texas
  Oquinn, Columbus 13 M W At Home born Texas
  Oquinn, Ann E 11 F W At Home born Texas
  Oquinn, Tennessee 7 F W At Home born Texas
  Oquinn, Mozella 4 F W At Home born Texas
  Oquinn, Jefferson 1 M W At Home born Texas
  Parker, Cynthia 45 F W House Keeper b Illinois
  
  Family Data Collection - Individual Records
  Cynthia Ann Parker
  Spouse Pete Nocona
  Parents Silas Parker, Lucinda Duty
  Birth 28 Oct 1827 Coles Co, Charleston, Illinois
  Death 28 Oct 1864 [error, since she is reported in the 1870 census in Anderson Co] Anderson Co, Texas
  
  -------------------------
  PARKER, CYNTHIA ANN (ca. 1825-ca. 1871).
  
  Cynthia Ann Parker, a captive of the Comanches, was born to Lucy (Duty) and Silas M. Parker in Crawford County, Illinois. According to the 1870 census of Anderson County she would have been born between June 2, 1824, and May 31, 1825. When she was nine or ten her family moved to Central Texas and built Fort Parker on the headwaters of the Navasota River in what is now Limestone County. On May 19, 1836, a large force of Comanche warriors accompanied by Kiowa and Kichai allies attacked the fort and killed several of its inhabitants. During the raid the Comanches seized five captives, including Cynthia Ann.
  
  The other four were eventually released, but Cynthia remained with the Indians for almost twenty-five years, forgot white ways, and became thoroughly Comanche. It is said that in the mid-1840s her brother, John Parker, who had been captured with her, asked her to return to their white family, but she refused, explaining that she loved her husband and children too much to leave them. She is also said to have rejected Indian trader Victor Rose's invitation to accompany him back to white settlements a few years later, though the story of the invitation may be apocryphal.
  
  A newspaper account of April 29, 1846, describes an encounter of Col. Leonard G. Williams's trading party with Cynthia, who was camped with Comanches on the Canadian River. Despite Williams's ransom offers, tribal elders refused to release her. Later, federal officials P. M. Butler and M. G. Lewis encountered Cynthia Ann with the Yamparika Comanches on the Washita River; by then she was a full-fledged member of the tribe and married to a Comanche warrior. She never voluntarily returned to white society. Indian agent Robert S. Neighbors learned, probably in 1848, that she was among the Tenawa Comanches. He was told by other Comanches that only force would induce her captors to release her. She had married Peta Nocona and eventually had two sons, Quanah Parker and Pecos, and a daughter, Topsannah.
  
  --  Margaret Schmidt Hacker, "PARKER, CYNTHIA ANN," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpa18), accessed March 02, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on November 3, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
  -------------------------
  
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  Cynthia was soon integrated into the tribe. She was given to a Tenowish Comanche couple, who adopted her and raised her like their own daughter. She forgot her European ways, and became Comanche in every sense. She married Peta Nocona, a chieftain. They enjoyed a happy marriage, and as a tribute to Peta Nocona’s great affection to Cynthia, he never took another wife, although it was traditional for chieftains to do so. The couple had three children, famed Comanche chief Quanah Parker, another son named Pecos (Pecan), and a daughter named Topsannah (Prairie Flower).
  --  Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Ann_Parker
  -------------------------
  
  Cynthia Ann Parker
  Birth 1827
  Death 1870
  Inscription:  State of Texas Historical Plaque
  Note: Former Gravesite.......Now Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.......Mother of Quanah Parker Comanche Cheif
  Burial Foster Cemetery, Anderson County, Texas
  Created by Bob Richie Mar 09, 2012
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #86487147, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=PARK&GSfn=C&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=46&GScntry=4&GSsr=721&GRid=86487147&
  
  "My great grandfather and great grandmother helped build his [Quanah's] mother's coffin and dress her....Cynthia Ann Parker. In later years, my grandfather helped exhume her remains for re burial in Oklahoma. Very sad that his mother grieved herself to death after the white men recaptured her."
  --  Sue Sparks, Texas Escapes on Facebook, Comment on a photo of Quanah Parker, https://www.facebook.com/TracesofTexas/photos/a.162532927112178.34097.105810232784448/916016738430456/?type=1&theater
  
  -------------------------
  Cynthia Ann Parker
  Birth Oct 29, 1827 Crawford County, Illinois
  Death Oct 28, 1870 Anderson County, Texas
  
  Folk Figure. The details of her early life are clouded in confusion. Sources place her birth year between 1825 and 1827. One source narrows it to between June 2, 1824 and May 31, 1825 according to the 1870 census. Her place of birth has been listed as Coles, Clark, and Crawford Counties in Illinois. She was born to Silas M and Lucy (Doty) Parker. Even her time of death has been listed from 1864 to 1871. [But she was enumerated in the 1870 census, with her sister Orlena Parker O'Quinn and family.]  She did die in Anderson County, Texas, and is listed in the 1870 census. So she probably died sometime after that. Between birth and death she suffered the extreme agony of being kidnapped twice in her lifetime. Around the age of 9 or 10, her family moved to Texas and settled at the headwaters of the Navasota River in what is now Limestone County. The family developed a little community around the church of her uncle who headed the local branch of the Primitive Baptist Church.
  
  The community was enclosed with substantial walls and a company of Texas Rangers were formed for protection from the Indians. The settlement became known as Fort Parker. On May 19, 1836 she suffered her first kidnapping when a band of Comanche braves raided the settlement. Several people were killed and 5 others were kidnapped with her. Within six years, all the victims were returned to their family except Cynthia Ann. She was to remain with the tribe for almost 25 years. During this time she was to forget the ways of the white people and become a complete Comanche. At first she was beaten and abused, but she soon integrated into the tribe. She was given to a Comanche couple who raised her as their own.
  
  She was given the Comanche name of Naduah, which was also spelled as Nadua and Nauta. She became devoted to her adopted family and memories of the white ways quickly vanished. When requests for her ransom were received, she asked the tribal council to refuse them. A young chief by the name of Peta Nocona won her heart and they were married. He was quite famous for successful raids on white settlements in the territory. It was the custom of prominent Comanche warriors to take several wives. Peta only took Cynthia Ann, a mark of extraordinary devotion and honor to her. Cynthia Ann presented Peta with two sons and a daughter, Quanah, Pecos, and Topsannah, or Prairie Flower as she was also to be known. Her son Quanah was to become one of the fiercest Comanche warriors in tribal history. He is often noted as the last Comanche chief, although he was never named chief by the Comanche people.  [Comanche people never had a "Chief" over all the Comanche people.  "Chief" is a white man's term.  They had band leaders.]
  
  He was made chief by the white man when he did an about face and became a great proponent for peace. In December of 1860, Peta's camp was attacked by a group of Texas Rangers in what is known as the Battle of Pease River. Realizing that the battle was lost, Peta fled with the two sons. Peta was wounded and whether or not he survived is unknown as history does not mention him again. Cynthia and Topsannah were taken to Camp Cooper for her second "kidnapping". She was identified by her uncle and taken to his farm in Birdville, Texas. She made repeated attempts to escape and return to her people and each one failed. She was heartbroken being away from her family and not knowing whether Peta was dead or alive. In 1863, she received word that Pecos had died of small pox and a few months later Topsannah died of influenza.
  
  In 1870, at the age of only 43, she could take no more, she stopped eating and her health failed. Some say she died of influenza and some think she starved herself to death. She was buried in Fosterville Cemetery in Anderson County near Frankston, Texas. Quanah searched for his mother for many years and upon learning of her death had her body and that of his sister moved to the Post Oak Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma. When Quanah died in 1911, he was laid next to his devoted mother. In 1957, all three bodies were moved to the Post Cemetery at Fort Sill and buried on what is known as Chief's Knoll.  [A Houston Chronicle photo story in Oct 1965 reports that Prairie Flower's body was being moved form Van Zandt County, Texas, to Ft Sill at that time.  The photo shows an honor guard of Texas Rangers carriying Prairie Flower's coffin for the reburial.]
  
  The city of Crowell, Texas holds a two day event every year known as the Cynthia Ann Parker Festival. The town of Groesbeck, Texas holds an annual Christmas Festival at the original site of old Fort Parker which has been rebuilt on the old site to exact specifications. Her story is told in the book, Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker.
  (bio by: Tom Todd)
  
  Parents:
  Silas Mercer Parker (1804 - 1836)
  Lucinda Duty Roberts (1811 - 1852)
  Spouses:
  Peta Nocona (1820 - 1864)
  Children:
  Quanah Parker (1845 - 1911)
  Pecos Parker (1849 - 1862)
  Prairie Flower [Topsana] (1858 - 1863)
  
  Burial Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Fort Sill, Comanche County, Oklahoma
  
  Maintained by Find A Grave, Record added Jan 01, 2001
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #1220, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1220/cynthia-ann-parker
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  Her daughter Prairie Flower's body was also moved to the Ft Sill Cemetery in October 1965, according to a photo story in the Houston Chronicle at that time.  The story reports that Prairie Flower's body was moved from Van Zandt County to the Ft Sill site in Oct 1965, rather than in 1957 when some sources report the government moved all three graves to Ft Sill.  Quanah had their mother's body moved to Post Oak Cemetery in Comanche County OK in 1910.  Apparently Prairie Flower was not moved until 1965.  There is a photo of the event.
  
  Prairie Flower's FAG also reports that Prairie Flower was buried in Fosterville (where Cynthia Ann was), but other sources, as her gravestone, report Prairie Flower was originally buried in Van Zandt Co.  The Houston Chronicle story oddly reports that Prairie Flower was buried in Van Zandt 55 years before (in 1910, when Cynthia Ann was moved to Post Oak).  It appears the Van Zandt County birial was the original burial site in 1863 when she died, though the Houston Chronicle says she had been buried there only 55 years, since 1910.
  
  This is probably due to a confusion of the 1910 date when her mother's body was first moved.  Some sources also indicate or leave the impression that Prairie Flower was moved by Quanah in 1910 when he moved Cynthia Ann, but that would appear not to be the case.
  
  A story in the San Antonio Express in 1935 brought to light the existence of the now famous painting (or photograph?) of Cynthia Ann with her 2.5 year-old daughter Prairie Flower.
  
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  Echos of the Indian Wars in Texas during the middle of the 18th Century are recalled by a picture in the possession of J R Hunnicutt, customs agent here.
  
  One of the outstanding events of the Indian Wars was the capture of Cynthia Ann Parker, her marriage to an Indian chief and her later recapture by the whites and return to her parents.
  
  In Hunnicutt's possession is a picture of Cynthia Parker nursing her two-and-one-half-year-old daughter, taken shortly after her recapture by Gov L S Ross, then a ranger captain.  The father of the chidl was Peta Nocona, Comanche war chief, whom Ross killed in making the capture.  [This was never confirmed, though Peta never surfaced again in any other historical reference.] ...
  --  San Antonio Express, San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, 17 Nov 1935
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  The White Woman Captive Among Indians
  On June 2, 1841, the Morning Star of Houston contained the following item:  A Company of about 180 volunteers and 10 or 12 Indian spies went out with Captain Lewis some six weeks since in pursuit of Comanches, and for sport generally.  A determination was expressed at that time to remain out during the whole summer unless a respectable body of Indians could be found sooner.
  
  Many of the frontier Indian fighters experienced the last extremeties of suffering -- agonizing death itself -- in pursuit of savages; but there is no denying that often the Indian chase appeared to them as a sport.  Before Buffalo Bill dreamed of making the Indian fight a pageant in his wild west show, the idea of American boys was to go out west and kill Indians.
  ...
  On May 19, 1836, a horde of Indians captured a 9-year-old girl named Cynthia Parker; her brother, John; her cousin, Mrs. Rachel Phimmer; Mrs. Plummer's baby, and another woman from Parker's Fort in LImestone County, Texas; a number of whites having been killed.  The stories of three of these captives have become a living chapter in the historical romances, both written and unwritten, of Texas. ...
  --  J Frank Dobie, "The Flavor of Texas" Column, The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas, 5 May 1936
  -------------------
  
  Cynhia Ann Parker, captured by the Comanche as a child and raised a Comanche, married a young leader named Peta Nocona.  Recaptured after the Battle of Pease River, she was returned to her white family, but tried to escape several times.
  Died at the Parker home in 1864, Anderson, Texas.
  Her son Quanah Parker became a great Comanche leader, died in 1911.
  Quanah was buried at Post Oak Mission Cemetery near Indiahoma (Comanche County), Oklahoma.
  Cynthia's body was moved to the Post Oak Cemetery.
  In 1956 Quanah's daughter Neda Birdsong and her daughter Nona Wilkinson deeded 600 acres of the Parker Ranch for the expansion of Fort Sill artillery range.  They moved to Cache.
  The Parker burials in Post Oak Cemetery were moved to the Fort Sill Cemetery in 1957.
  --  Abilene Reporter-News, Abilene, Texas, 1 January 1957

Sources

• 1. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 2. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962
  • Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;
• 3. Encyclopedias
• 4. Abilene Reporter News
• 5. Family Data Collection - Individual Records
• 6. 1870 Federal Census, Anderson County, Texas
  • [no date], PO Palestine, page 212, Hse #1540, Fam #1527
• 7. Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Indian and Pioneer Historical Collection, 1937
• 8. Texas Escapes
• 9. Barry Kirkland, Genealogy.com Forum
• 10. Ancestry Trees
• 11. 1910 Federal Census, Comanche County, Oklahoma
  • 17 May, Quanah Township, Apache, Kiowa & Comanche Reservation, District 29, page 20A, Hse/Fam #7
• 12. U.S., Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940
  • Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2007;
  • Year: 1905; Roll: M595_213; Line: 1; Agency: Kiowa Indian
• 13. 1900 Federal Census, Oklahoma Territory
  • 11 June, Apache, Kiowa & Comanche Reservation, District 12, page 74A, Hse #744, Fam #749
• 14. Wikitree
• 15. Wikipedia