Cynthia Ann Parker
Makynah Howard
Dr. Anderson
US History 1301
November 19, 2017
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Cynthia Ann Parker a pioneer woman who was held captive by the Comanche tribe. Her parents were Lucy and Silas Parker. There is no hard evidence, but most believe that Cynthia Parker was born between 1824 and 1825. When she was only 9 years old, she was traveling with her family and got attacked by the Comanche tribe. While with the Comanches, she got married and had a child. Some believe that she had the choice to leave the tribe but chose to stay because of her husband and child. Over the years she learned the new ways of the Comanche tribe and forgot her old white ways.
Starting from age 9, Cynthia Ann Parker learned the ways of the tribes. When she was kidnapped, her family was killed. Her and her brother, John Parker, were the only family members that had been taken from their camp. In the 1840s, the Comanche tribe decided to let her and John Parker go. By this time, Cynthia Ann Parker had already married Peta Nocona and started a family. Together, they had 2 sons Quanah Parker and Pecos Parker and a daughter Topsannah Parker. In December of 1860, more tribes called by the name of the Texas Rangers attacked the Comanche tribe and kidnapped three indians. They noticed one Non-English speaking woman who had an infant baby with her. She was identified later as the niece of Colonel Isaac Parker. Cynthia Ann Parker then agreed to accompany her
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uncle as long as she could see her sons again they were to be found. When traveling to Fort Worth with her Isaac Parker, her uncle, there was a photograph taken of her with her hair cut and her daughter on her breast. This picture was made as a sign of a Comanche mourning. The whole time that she was with her uncle she thought that her husband Peta Nocona was dead. Because this thought kept running around in her head that the father of her children was dead, she feared that her 2 boys would never be seen again. In 1861, Cynthia Ann Parker was given one hundred dollars every year for five years and about 4,500 acres of land. With these things given to her, Isaac and Benjamin Parker were said to be her legal guardians. She was opposed to this because she had been away from the white culture and surrounded by the Comanche tribe's way of living for so long that she didn't want to live any other way. She did not enjoy living with her legal guardians and tried to run away multiple times. After three months of living with her uncle in Birdville, her brother had to get her out of there. Her brother, Silas, took her back to his home in Van Zandt County. After staying there for a little while, she moved in with her sister where she became legal and was given the age of 45 years old. There is no hard evidence of when Cynthia Ann Parker officially died. When she died of pneumonia, she was buried in a cemetery in Anderson
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County. In 1910, her son, Quanah Parker, returned to move her body. He moved his mother's body to a cemetery in Cache, Oklahoma. No one ever found out what had happened to her Indian family and her other children. She was the thing that bridged the gap between the whites and the indian tribes. By doing this, she became the most important leader of the era for the Comanches. Her son, Quanah Parker, carried on her legacy for her continued to bridge the gap between the people.
A book was written about Cynthia Ann Parker's life to show just how important she was to so many people. After everything that she went through, she never broke down and that is why she became that important of a woman. They kept Cynthia Ann Parker hidden and gave no one information. Because of this, when she returned back to the white culture to the census they had no information on her. This is when people started guessing when she was kidnapped and when she left the Comanches because they surrounded themselves with the indians. When you do research on Cynthia Ann Parker you realize that there are many different sides to her story because of what they believe to be true about her life.
Cynthia Ann Parker was a stand out woman for the Comanche tribe. They kidnapped her unaware of how beneficial she could actually be to them. When
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they figured out how valuable she actually was, they knew that they couldn't let her go. She had been brainwashed by the Comanche tribe, not in a bad way, just in the way of their culture. They made her completely forget her background and her family and chose to leave it all behind because she thought at this tribe was her new family. Cynthia Ann Parker is in fact a true pioneer woman because she unexpectedly bonded the whites and tribes together, how no one was able to ever do.
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Primary Sources: “Cynthia Ann Parker.†Cynthia Ann Parker | Rosen Publishing, rosenpublishing.com/product/cynthia-ann-parker.
“Cynthia Ann Parker: Comanche Captive (Primary Sources of Famous People in American History) Paperback – June 1, 2003.†Cynthia Ann Parker: Comanche Captive (Primary Sources of Famous People in American History): Tracie Egan: 9780823941797: Amazon.com: Books, www.amazon.com/Cynthia-Ann-Parker-Comanche-American/dp/0823941795.
Secondary Sources: Meyer, Carolyn. Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: the Story of Cynthia Ann Parker. Graphia, 2012.
HACKER, MARGARET SCHMIDT. “PARKER, CYNTHIA ANN.†HACKER, MARGARET SCHMIDT, 14 June 2010, tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpa18.