Cynthia Ann Parker

Cynthia Ann Parker, probably photographed in the late 1860s. She wears her hair short to express her sadness. In her arms she holds her daughter Topsannah (English: Prairie Flower, Eng .: Prairie Flower), who died within a year; Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Cynthia Ann Parker (* between 1825 and 1827 in Crawford County , Illinois ; † 1870 there ) was the eldest daughter of the settlers Silas Mercer Parker and Lucy (Duty) Parker. She was kidnapped by Comanches during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836 and later adopted by an Indian family. When she was seventeen, she married a war chief. One of their children is Quanah Parker , who later fought against European settlers for a long time as chief.

Cynthia Ann Parker was picked up by Texas rangers in 1860 and brought back to her family against her will. She tried several times in vain to return to her Indian family. She eventually refused to eat and died in 1870.

Childhood to kidnapping

If one does not follow the headstone that gives the year of birth 1827, but the Anderson County census in Texas, Cynthia Ann was born between June 2, 1824 and May 31, 1825. When she was nine years old, her family moved to Texas to build the wooden Fort Parker in what is now Limestone County. On the way there, her brother died in a fall when one of the cars lost a wheel and his chest was fatally injured by a splintered wood. The family's patriarch, John Parker, had contracts with local Indians that he mistakenly believed to be binding on all indigenous people living there.

On May 19, 1836, the nine- to eleven-year-old Cynthia Ann, her younger brother John, her fifteen-year-old cousin Rachel Plummer and their little son James Pratt Plummer and their aunt Elisabeth Kellogg were kidnapped in a robbery by about 500 Komantschen , who were kidnapped by allies Kiowa and Kichai were reinforced. A total of five men were killed in the attack and two women and three children were abducted. Except for Cynthia Ann, all of the abductees were released.

Life with the Indians

Cynthia Ann and her brother John were adopted by various Indian families and raised like their own children - in contrast to their cousin Rachel, who was enslaved and abused. Rachel Plummer was ransomed by her family after two years of imprisonment and moved back in with her husband. She wrote the book Rachel Plummer's Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee (Rachel Plummer's story of 21 months of bondage among the Comaniac). Born on March 22, 1819, she died on March 19, 1839.

Cynthia Ann initially kept her baptismal name. “Cynthia” sounded to the ears of the Comanche or Comanchee like the Indian word “Tsini-tia” (“Stay a while”), which suited the girl's situation with the Indians. With the Komantschen, however, name changes were common when the life situation of a person changed. So Cynthia Parker got a new name, the "Naduah" (also written Narua or Nadua) is reproduced. In Lucia St. Clair Robson's biographical novel "Ride the Wind" he is translated as "She keeps warm with us" ("She feels comfortable with us"), Robert D. Morritt translated 2011 in The Lure of Texas as "Someone Found ".

At the age of seventeen she married the chief Peta Nokona ("Wanderer"), with whom she formed a blood bond . He was one of the war chiefs who had formed their own "band", in his case called Nokoni . The fact that Peta Nokona, unlike most of the other chiefs of his tribe, had no concubines suggests a love marriage. The sons Quanah (“scent”), Pecos (“pecan nut”) and the daughter Toh-Tsee-Ah (“flower”) were born from the marriage.

Return to the Parker family

Cynthia Ann's uncle, James W. Parker, made it his life's work to find his niece and nephew.

An 1861 photograph, Cynthia Ann Parker still wears her hair long

In December 1860 - after nearly 25 years with the Comanches - Cynthia Ann was captured by Texas Rangers under the direction of Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross during the Battle of the Pease River. Ross and his chef Antonio Martinez had chased Peta Nokona, whom Ross shot three times. He fell from his horse, but was still alive. Martinez, who himself had been taken prisoner by the Comanches and whose family had been killed by them, shot the chief with Ross' permission. It was discussed whether the murdered man was actually Peta Nokona. Cynthia Ann had been separated from her husband and sons.

Ross discovered a blue-eyed woman among the prisoners. She didn't speak English. Although some of the rangers pushed for the prisoner to be taken to her tribe, Ross decided to hand her over to her white family, of whom she had little memories. First he sent her to Camp Cooper, sending a message to Colonel Isaac Parker, whose daughter had been kidnapped. Since Cynthia Ann repeatedly tried to escape, her older brother Silas was in 1862 to her minders ( guardian ). He took her to his home in Van Zandt County . When Silas was drafted for the Confederate Army, Cynthia Ann was living with her sister Orlena. According to some reports, the family was already negotiating their return to their tribe when the Civil War broke out.

What Cynthia didn't learn about was that two years after her return to the Parkers, her son Pecos died. After the death of her daughter Toh-Tsee-Ah, who fell ill with the flu and died of pneumonia , Cynthia Ann lost her remaining courage to live and henceforth refused to eat. According to the tombstone, however, she did not die until 1870. She was buried in Fosterville Cemetery in Anderson County near Frankston. Her son Quanah had her remains in 1910 in Post Oak Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma , where she was reburied in 1911. She and her son were again taken to the Fort Sill military cemetery in 1957 .

Lucia St. Clair Robson describes Cynthia Ann Parker's life in the above-mentioned novel. The author describes in detail the daily life and the closeness to nature of the Comanchee, but without painting a glorified picture of the Indians - their cruelty is not glossed over, but becomes part of a cultural and historical context.

literature

• Tracie Egan: Cynthia Ann Parker: Comanche Captive (Primary Sources of Famous People in American History). Publisher: Rosen Pub Group, ISBN 978-0-8239-4107-0
• Section Cynthia Ann Parker - Indian Captive , in: Robert D. Morritt: The Lure of Texas , Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, pp. 358-361.
• Margaret S. Hacker: Cynthia Ann Parker. The Life and the Legend , Texas Western Press, El Paso 1990.
• Sam C. Gwynne: Empire of the Summer Moon . Constable & Robinson Lgd, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-84901-820-3
• Rachel Plummer: Rachel Plummer's Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee. Houston, 1838.

Web links

• Cynthia Ann Parker in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Coles and Clark Counties were also given (Robert D. Morritt: The Lure of Texas , Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, p. 360 f.).
2. ↑ Years of life 1827–1870 according to the tombstone.
3. ↑ Rachel Plummer: Rachel Plummer's Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee. Houston, 1838; again under the title ..The .. Rachel Plummer Narrative ( digitalisat ), 1926 and again as Rachael Plummer's narrative of twenty-one months servitude as a prisoner among the Commanchee Indians by Jenkins 1977 published.
4. ^ Robert D. Morritt: The Lure of Texas , Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, p. 358.
5. ^ Robert D. Morritt: The Lure of Texas , Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, p. 360.