James W. Parker
Encyclopedia
James W. Parker was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker
and the Great-Uncle of Quanah Parker
, last chief of the Comanches. A man of Scots-Irish
descent, he was a member of the large Parker frontier
family that settled in east Texas
in the 1830s. He was present in 1836 during the raid of Fort Parker
by Comanches and allied tribes near present-day Groesbeck, Texas
.
During that raid, his daughter, Rachel Plummer
, his grandson, James Plummer, his niece Cynthia Ann Parker
, and his nephew John Richard Parker
were kidnapped by a Native American
raiding party. Parker made the search for his family a lifetime obsession. For nine years he roamed the Comancheria
searching for his lost relatives.
Many historians and Hollywood observers believe that Parker was the inspiration for John Wayne
's character Ethan Edwards in the John Ford
movie, The Searchers
.
1, the son of Elder John Parker
(1758-1836) and Sally (White) Parker. He had twelve siblings, including younger brothers Silas Mercer Parker, and Benjamin Parker. His older brother Daniel Parker
became a famous country preacher. After living his first six years in Georgia, Parker moved with his family to Dickson County, Tennessee in the summer of 1803.
Parker spent most of his youth in Tennessee. At the age of eighteen, Parker moved with his family to the Territory of Illinois in 1815. There, he married Martha (Patsy) Duty on July 14, 1816. From 1816 to 1829, he and his family farmed in Illinois, while considering moving to Texas. In 1830, he and his family moved to Conway County, Arkansas, which they used as a base while they made several exploratory trips into Texas. In 1832, Parker proposed to Stephen F. Austin
that the Parker Family be permitted to settle fifty families north of the Little Brazos River, in what was then considered part of the Comancheria
. Austin did not reply to this proposal.
Parker claimed to have been one of the men who found Josiah P. Wilbarger
in 1833, during one of his early trips to Texas, after Wilbarger had been scalped and left for dead by the Comanches.
. Changing his mind, he then registered on May 22, 1834, for admission under Mexican law to the Austin and Williams colony. But his persistence had interested authorities in awarding him his own grant, and this finally occurred on April 1, 1835.
He joined other Parker family members, including his brothers Silas and Benjamin and their families, in moving to Texas. They moved to their land grant, and built Fort Parker at the headwaters of the Navasota River
, near Groesbeck. It was completed in March 1834, before Parker had even been legally awarded the land it was built on. Their father, Elder John Parker, then joined them with his second wife, Sally “Granny” (White) Parker. Fort Parker's 12 feet (3.7 m) high pointed log walls enclosed 4 acres (16,187.4 m²). Blockhouses were placed on two corners for lookouts and to make defense of the fort possible. Six cabins were attached to the inside walls. The fort had one large gate facing south, and a small rear gate for easy access to the spring waters.
Though the families in the Parker group were beginning to build cabins outside the fort, the vast majority still slept inside for protection. Elder John Parker had negotiated treaties with local Indian chiefs, and believed they would protect the little colony. James Parker was not so sure, due to the fact that the Comanche were not a unified tribe as Americans understood the term, and he understood that all bands would not feel bound to accept a treaty made by only one. His brother Silas had raised and become captain of a local Texas Ranger
company, which James felt could attract the anger of Indians who felt abused by the Rangers.
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. Parker was working the fields when the attack happened. His daughter, Rachel Parker Plummer was captured along with her three-year-old son, James Pratt Plummer. His brother Silas's children, Cynthia Ann
and John Richard
were also captured, as well as his stepsister Elizabeth Duty Kellogg.
His stepsister Elizabeth Duty Kellogg was ransomed back almost immediately by Sam Houston. His daughter was ransomed back from the Comanche after almost two years of servitude, which she described as being cruel almost beyond the point of belief. (Including the murder of her newborn son by the Comanche, who she claimed felt he interfered with her work). The horrific condition his daughter was in when she was ransomed, and her subsequent death, left James Parker with a lifelong hatred of the Comanche. His determination to find his grandson, niece and nephew became obsessive. Though his daughter had desperately wanted to be rescued, and her son accepted rescue, his niece and nephew most emphatically did not want to leave the Indians. Cynthia Ann spent almost 25 years among the Comanches, and her brother at least 13 years. Cynthia Ann was asked at least twice if she wanted to be ransomed, but refused, asking the tribal council to allow her to remain with the Comanche. Her brother John was given no choice, and was forced to return to the whites after a ransom was paid, but he was allowed to return to the Indians when he ran away to do so.
. On the first page of his diary and written memories, James Parker dates his feelings about Indians from the War of 1812
and the death of his brother:
His hatred intensified after he heard his daughter's account of her captivity and the murder of her second child, writing, “there are no words for how I feel about my daughter’s suffering, and the murder of my grandchild.” In her account of her life among the Comanche, Plummer wrote that six weeks after giving birth to a healthy son, the warriors decided she was slowed too much by childcare, and threw her son down on the ground. When he stopped moving, they left her to bury him. When she revived him, they returned and tied the infant to a rope, and drug him through cactuses until the tiny body was torn to pieces. Of her own rape and torture, Plummer said
Parker searched from 1836 to 1845, a period of nine years, for his daughter, his grandson, and his niece and nephew. He saw his daughter ransomed, only to die less than a year after her recovery. Though medically she was listed as dying from complications after childbirth, Parker insisted she died from the mistreatment she suffered at the hands of the Comanche, the murder of one child, and not knowing what happened to her other child. At the time of her death, the twenty-year-old Plummer's fiery red hair had turned grey.
Parker appealed to the then-President of the Republic of Texas, then the Governor of Texas
attempting to raise sufficient troops to force the return of his family. Although many sympathized with James Parker and the Parker family for their loss, and some, including Sam Houston
, donated money, (Houston paid the ransom for Kellog), no official of the Republic of Texas
supported a full scale military expedition to recover the lost ones. Sam Houston
offered to negotiate with the Comanche, but Parker indignantly refused – nothing could have offended him more than offering to negotiate with the people who had murdered his infant grandson. Houston, did, however, pay the ransom for Kellogg. In the end, faced with going alone into the Comancheria, risking torture and death daily, or doing nothing to reclaim his family, Parker chose to go alone into the Comancheria, year after year. On at least five occasions he escaped from the Comanches after they had begun trailing him with the intent to capture and kill him. His many escapes and adventures bordered on the unbelievable, yet sufficient of them were collaborated by Indians or other Anglos that his story is accepted as true.
Parker's relentless pressing for action on the return of Comanche captives did, however, provide some impetus for the 1840 Council House Fight
.
If he could not do that, then Parker felt that Luther Plummer should have contributed to the searches financially. Parker claimed that Luther Plummer never even reimbursed him for the ransom and fees he incurred in searching for Rachel. Parker later reclaimed both John Richard Parker and his own grandson, James Pratt Plummer. John Richard was too old to adjust to Anglo life and soon ran away to the Comanche. James Pratt Plummer was younger, more adaptable, and perhaps more importantly, his grandfather watched him a great deal closer. Parker then refused to return his grandson to his father, claiming that Luther Plummer had not even paid his ransom. When the father appealed to the Governor of Texas, who found for him, Parker simply refused to honor the order to return his grandson. Luther Plummer, who had remarried and had a child by his new wife did not pursue the matter, and left his son with his grandfather.
After the death of his first wife on October 3, 1846, Parker married Lavina E. Chaffin on April 26, 1847. He died in 1864 in extreme northern Houston County and is buried in Pilgrim Cemetery in Anderson County, near Elkhart.
Although he stopped his personal search for his niece and nephew, Parker never stopped giving money to those claiming they had seen Cynthia Ann, his niece. He lived the remainder of his life with his wife and family. His nine-year search for his daughter, grandson, niece and nephew, had led him to adventures so incredible that he admitted in his published diary that he understood people not believing his tales.
Cynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah , was an American woman of old colonial stock of Scots-Irish descent who was captured and kidnapped at the age of nine by a American Indian band which massacred her family and...
and the Great-Uncle of Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker was a Comanche chief, a leader in the Native American Church, and the last leader of the powerful Quahadi band before they surrendered their battle of the Great Plains and went to a reservation in Indian Territory...
, last chief of the Comanches. A man of Scots-Irish
Scots-Irish American
Scotch-Irish Americans are an estimated 250,000 Presbyterian and other Protestant dissenters from the Irish province of Ulster who immigrated to North America primarily during the colonial era and their descendants. Some scholars also include the 150,000 Ulster Protestants who immigrated to...
descent, he was a member of the large Parker frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
family that settled in east Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in the 1830s. He was present in 1836 during the raid of Fort Parker
Fort Parker massacre
The Fort Parker massacre was an event in May 1836 in which members of the pioneer Parker family were killed in a raid by Native Americans. In this raid, a 9-year old girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, was captured and spent most of the rest of her life with the Comanche, marrying a Chief, Peta Nocona, and...
by Comanches and allied tribes near present-day Groesbeck, Texas
Groesbeck, Texas
Groesbeck is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,291 at the 2000 census. The community is named after a railroad employee.- History :...
.
During that raid, his daughter, Rachel Plummer
Rachel Plummer
Rachel Parker Plummer was the daughter of James W. Parker and the cousin of Quanah Parker, last free-roaming chief of the Comanches...
, his grandson, James Plummer, his niece Cynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah , was an American woman of old colonial stock of Scots-Irish descent who was captured and kidnapped at the age of nine by a American Indian band which massacred her family and...
, and his nephew John Richard Parker
John Richard Parker
John Richard Parker was the brother of Cynthia Ann Parker and the uncle of Comanches chief Quanah Parker. An Anglo-Texas man of Scots-Irish descent who suffered being kidnapped from his natural family at the age of five by a Native American raiding party, he returned to the Native American people...
were kidnapped by a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
raiding party. Parker made the search for his family a lifetime obsession. For nine years he roamed the Comancheria
Comancheria
The Comancheria is the name commonly given to the region of New Mexico, west Texas and nearby areas occupied by the Comanche before the 1860s.-Geography:...
searching for his lost relatives.
Many historians and Hollywood observers believe that Parker was the inspiration for John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
's character Ethan Edwards in the John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
movie, The Searchers
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
.
Birth and early years
James W. Parker was born in 1797 in Franklin County, GeorgiaFranklin County, Georgia
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It became Georgia's ninth county, incorporating on February 25, 1784, and was named in honor of patriot Benjamin Franklin...
1, the son of Elder John Parker
John Parker (pioneer)
Elder John Parker was an American Patriot, veteran of the American War of Independence, scout and minor diplomat for the American government, famous frontier Ranger, noted Indian fighter, Texan settler, and Predestinarian Baptist minister...
(1758-1836) and Sally (White) Parker. He had twelve siblings, including younger brothers Silas Mercer Parker, and Benjamin Parker. His older brother Daniel Parker
Daniel Parker
Daniel Parker was a leader in the Primitive Baptist Church in the Southern United States. As an elder, Parker led a group who separated from that church and formed the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists...
became a famous country preacher. After living his first six years in Georgia, Parker moved with his family to Dickson County, Tennessee in the summer of 1803.
Parker spent most of his youth in Tennessee. At the age of eighteen, Parker moved with his family to the Territory of Illinois in 1815. There, he married Martha (Patsy) Duty on July 14, 1816. From 1816 to 1829, he and his family farmed in Illinois, while considering moving to Texas. In 1830, he and his family moved to Conway County, Arkansas, which they used as a base while they made several exploratory trips into Texas. In 1832, Parker proposed to Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
that the Parker Family be permitted to settle fifty families north of the Little Brazos River, in what was then considered part of the Comancheria
Comancheria
The Comancheria is the name commonly given to the region of New Mexico, west Texas and nearby areas occupied by the Comanche before the 1860s.-Geography:...
. Austin did not reply to this proposal.
Parker claimed to have been one of the men who found Josiah P. Wilbarger
Josiah P. Wilbarger
Josiah Pugh Wilbarger was a legendary early Texan who lived for 11 years after being scalped by Comanche Indians.-Early life:...
in 1833, during one of his early trips to Texas, after Wilbarger had been scalped and left for dead by the Comanches.
Moving to Texas
In 1834, James Parker and most of the Parker clan moved to Texas. Parker first registered at Tenoxtitlán on January 29, 1834, and applied for legal admission to Robertson's colonyRobertson's Colony
Robertson's Colony was an empresario colonization effort during the Mexican Texas period. It is named after Sterling C. Robertson, but had previously been known by other names...
. Changing his mind, he then registered on May 22, 1834, for admission under Mexican law to the Austin and Williams colony. But his persistence had interested authorities in awarding him his own grant, and this finally occurred on April 1, 1835.
He joined other Parker family members, including his brothers Silas and Benjamin and their families, in moving to Texas. They moved to their land grant, and built Fort Parker at the headwaters of the Navasota River
Navasota River
The Navasota River is a river in east Texas, USA. It is about 125 miles long, beginning near Mount Calm and flowing south into the Brazos River at a point where Brazos County, Grimes County, and Washington County meet.-Name:...
, near Groesbeck. It was completed in March 1834, before Parker had even been legally awarded the land it was built on. Their father, Elder John Parker, then joined them with his second wife, Sally “Granny” (White) Parker. Fort Parker's 12 feet (3.7 m) high pointed log walls enclosed 4 acres (16,187.4 m²). Blockhouses were placed on two corners for lookouts and to make defense of the fort possible. Six cabins were attached to the inside walls. The fort had one large gate facing south, and a small rear gate for easy access to the spring waters.
Though the families in the Parker group were beginning to build cabins outside the fort, the vast majority still slept inside for protection. Elder John Parker had negotiated treaties with local Indian chiefs, and believed they would protect the little colony. James Parker was not so sure, due to the fact that the Comanche were not a unified tribe as Americans understood the term, and he understood that all bands would not feel bound to accept a treaty made by only one. His brother Silas had raised and become captain of a local Texas Ranger
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
company, which James felt could attract the anger of Indians who felt abused by the Rangers.
Fort Parker Massacre
- Main article Fort Parker massacreFort Parker massacreThe Fort Parker massacre was an event in May 1836 in which members of the pioneer Parker family were killed in a raid by Native Americans. In this raid, a 9-year old girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, was captured and spent most of the rest of her life with the Comanche, marrying a Chief, Peta Nocona, and...
.
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. Parker was working the fields when the attack happened. His daughter, Rachel Parker Plummer was captured along with her three-year-old son, James Pratt Plummer. His brother Silas's children, Cynthia Ann
Cynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah , was an American woman of old colonial stock of Scots-Irish descent who was captured and kidnapped at the age of nine by a American Indian band which massacred her family and...
and John Richard
John Richard Parker
John Richard Parker was the brother of Cynthia Ann Parker and the uncle of Comanches chief Quanah Parker. An Anglo-Texas man of Scots-Irish descent who suffered being kidnapped from his natural family at the age of five by a Native American raiding party, he returned to the Native American people...
were also captured, as well as his stepsister Elizabeth Duty Kellogg.
His stepsister Elizabeth Duty Kellogg was ransomed back almost immediately by Sam Houston. His daughter was ransomed back from the Comanche after almost two years of servitude, which she described as being cruel almost beyond the point of belief. (Including the murder of her newborn son by the Comanche, who she claimed felt he interfered with her work). The horrific condition his daughter was in when she was ransomed, and her subsequent death, left James Parker with a lifelong hatred of the Comanche. His determination to find his grandson, niece and nephew became obsessive. Though his daughter had desperately wanted to be rescued, and her son accepted rescue, his niece and nephew most emphatically did not want to leave the Indians. Cynthia Ann spent almost 25 years among the Comanches, and her brother at least 13 years. Cynthia Ann was asked at least twice if she wanted to be ransomed, but refused, asking the tribal council to allow her to remain with the Comanche. Her brother John was given no choice, and was forced to return to the whites after a ransom was paid, but he was allowed to return to the Indians when he ran away to do so.
Search
Parker had no use for Native Americans even before the Fort Parker massacreFort Parker massacre
The Fort Parker massacre was an event in May 1836 in which members of the pioneer Parker family were killed in a raid by Native Americans. In this raid, a 9-year old girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, was captured and spent most of the rest of her life with the Comanche, marrying a Chief, Peta Nocona, and...
. On the first page of his diary and written memories, James Parker dates his feelings about Indians from the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
and the death of his brother:
-
- ”This awakened in me feelings of the most bitter hostility towards the Indians, and I firmly resolved, and impatiently awaited, for an opportunity to avenge his death…though I may despise their treachery, I pity their ignorance and mourn the wrongs I have received at their hands, yet I pray to God to enable me to forgive them, and to sincerely pray for the speedy civilization and christianization of their whole race.”
His hatred intensified after he heard his daughter's account of her captivity and the murder of her second child, writing, “there are no words for how I feel about my daughter’s suffering, and the murder of my grandchild.” In her account of her life among the Comanche, Plummer wrote that six weeks after giving birth to a healthy son, the warriors decided she was slowed too much by childcare, and threw her son down on the ground. When he stopped moving, they left her to bury him. When she revived him, they returned and tied the infant to a rope, and drug him through cactuses until the tiny body was torn to pieces. Of her own rape and torture, Plummer said
-
- ”To undertake to narrate their barbarous treatment would only add to my present distress, for it is with feelings of the deepest mortification that I think of it, much less to speak or write of it.”
Parker searched from 1836 to 1845, a period of nine years, for his daughter, his grandson, and his niece and nephew. He saw his daughter ransomed, only to die less than a year after her recovery. Though medically she was listed as dying from complications after childbirth, Parker insisted she died from the mistreatment she suffered at the hands of the Comanche, the murder of one child, and not knowing what happened to her other child. At the time of her death, the twenty-year-old Plummer's fiery red hair had turned grey.
Parker appealed to the then-President of the Republic of Texas, then the Governor of Texas
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
attempting to raise sufficient troops to force the return of his family. Although many sympathized with James Parker and the Parker family for their loss, and some, including Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, donated money, (Houston paid the ransom for Kellog), no official of the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
supported a full scale military expedition to recover the lost ones. Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
offered to negotiate with the Comanche, but Parker indignantly refused – nothing could have offended him more than offering to negotiate with the people who had murdered his infant grandson. Houston, did, however, pay the ransom for Kellogg. In the end, faced with going alone into the Comancheria, risking torture and death daily, or doing nothing to reclaim his family, Parker chose to go alone into the Comancheria, year after year. On at least five occasions he escaped from the Comanches after they had begun trailing him with the intent to capture and kill him. His many escapes and adventures bordered on the unbelievable, yet sufficient of them were collaborated by Indians or other Anglos that his story is accepted as true.
Parker's relentless pressing for action on the return of Comanche captives did, however, provide some impetus for the 1840 Council House Fight
Council House Fight
The Council House Fight was a conflict between Republic of Texas officials and a Comanche peace delegation which took place in San Antonio, Texas, on March 19, 1840. The meeting took place under a truce with the purpose of negotiating peace after two years of war. The Comanches sought to obtain...
.
James Pratt Plummer
During Parker's incessant searching, his family lived in relative poverty, often dependent on charity. His son-in-law, on the other hand, remained home and became relatively prosperous. Parker felt extremely strongly that Luther Plummer should have accompanied him on his trips into the Comancheria to search for Rachel Plummer and her son.If he could not do that, then Parker felt that Luther Plummer should have contributed to the searches financially. Parker claimed that Luther Plummer never even reimbursed him for the ransom and fees he incurred in searching for Rachel. Parker later reclaimed both John Richard Parker and his own grandson, James Pratt Plummer. John Richard was too old to adjust to Anglo life and soon ran away to the Comanche. James Pratt Plummer was younger, more adaptable, and perhaps more importantly, his grandfather watched him a great deal closer. Parker then refused to return his grandson to his father, claiming that Luther Plummer had not even paid his ransom. When the father appealed to the Governor of Texas, who found for him, Parker simply refused to honor the order to return his grandson. Luther Plummer, who had remarried and had a child by his new wife did not pursue the matter, and left his son with his grandfather.
Retirement
In 1845, Parker’s wife Martha could no longer bear his yearly searches. His other five children had grown up without him, and she was tired of living in poverty. Further, rumors of Parker’s activities included murder and robbery, and he place an ad in the paper to deny any involvement in the murder of the Taylor family, or any of the other crimes rumor attached to his name. Parker indignantly pointed out he was in a completely different part of the country from where these crimes were committed.After the death of his first wife on October 3, 1846, Parker married Lavina E. Chaffin on April 26, 1847. He died in 1864 in extreme northern Houston County and is buried in Pilgrim Cemetery in Anderson County, near Elkhart.
Although he stopped his personal search for his niece and nephew, Parker never stopped giving money to those claiming they had seen Cynthia Ann, his niece. He lived the remainder of his life with his wife and family. His nine-year search for his daughter, grandson, niece and nephew, had led him to adventures so incredible that he admitted in his published diary that he understood people not believing his tales.
-
- “another reason for omitting a detail of many of my sufferings and miraculous escapes is, that I am confident, few, if any, would believe them…what I have narrated is nothing next to the awful reality…My readers express some surprise that I always went on these tours alone. A moments reflection will convince them of the propriety of my doing so. I was not permitted to take a sufficient number of men to fight the Indians and my only hope was to steal or buy the prisoners from the enemy. The fewer in my company then, the less was the danger of my being discovered by the savages and killed.”
Legacy
For many years historians and film critics have speculated on the inspiration for the character of Ethan Edwards in the John Ford movie "The Searchers", with many saying that the character was based on James Parker. Critics and historians noted that James W. Parker, Cynthia Ann's uncle, spent much of his life and fortune in what became an obsessive search for his niece, like Ethan Edwards in the film. In addition, the "rescue" of Cynthia Ann, during a Texas Ranger attack on the village where she lived, resembles the rescue of Debbie Edwards when the Texas Rangers attack Scar's village.External links
Sources
- Bial, Raymond. Lifeways: The Comanche. New York: Benchmark Books, 2000.
- Fehrenbach, Theodore Reed The Comanches: The Destruction of a People. New York: Knopf, 1974, ISBN 0394488563. Later (2003) republished under the title The Comanches: The History of a People
- Foster, Morris. Being Comanche.
- Frazier, Ian. Great Plains. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.
- Lodge, Sally. Native American People: The Comanche. Vero Beach, Florida 32964: Rourke Publications, Inc., 1992.
- Lund, Bill. Native Peoples: The Comanche Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books, 1997.
- Mooney, Martin. The Junior Library of American Indians: The Comanche Indians. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993.
- Native Americans: Comanche (August 13, 2005).
- Powell, Jo Ella ExleyFrontier Blood: The Saga of the Parker Family,
- Cynthia Ann Parker