Parker, Cynthia Ann (1827–1870?), was a white woman who lived much of her life with the Comanche people. Her son was the Comanche chief Quanah , who was also called Quanah Parker. Ann was taken captive by the Comanche as a child. Her uncle spent years looking for her. His quest served as the inspiration for Alan Brown LeMay’s novel The Searchers (1954). The film adaptation of The Searchers (1956), starring Natalie Wood and John Wayne , is considered one of the greatest westerns ever made.
Cynthia Ann Parker was born in Illinois around 1827. Her family moved to the Texas frontier in 1834. They settled in Comanche territory, far from other settlements. On May 19, 1836, a band of Comanche and Kiowa raided the family compound, killing several people. They took five captives, including Cynthia Ann and her brother. The other captives were eventually released. Cynthia Ann, however, chose to remain with the Comanche for 24 years.
As a young girl, Cynthia Ann quickly adopted Comanche culture. She took the Comanche name Nautdah and learned their ways and language. Over the years, settlers and traders made contact with her. For example, a United States Indian agent met her in Oklahoma in 1846. He reported she had married a Comanche named Peta Nocona and refused to leave her Comanche family.
Encroachment (intrusion) by white settlers caused great turmoil in Comanche life in the years Cynthia Ann lived with them. The Comanche population declined due to outbreaks of disease. In the late 1800’s, white American hunters slaughtered millions of bison. This killing deprived the Comanche of their main source of food. Cynthia Ann and Peta Nocona were forced to move often with their young sons, Quanah and Pecos.
In 1860, Texas Rangers and United States cavalry attacked Parker’s camp. Historical accounts vary greatly, but the Comanche camp held mostly women, children, and the elderly. Cynthia Ann and her infant daughter Topsannah were two of only a few survivors of the massacre. Cynthia, holding her baby, was spared when soldiers noticed she was white. The soldiers took her captive and sent her to relatives in Texas. She never saw her husband or sons again.
Cynthia Ann never became comfortable in white society. She was devastated when Topsannah died of influenza. Cynthia Ann longed to reunite with Quanah, but her white relatives would not allow it. With little to live for, Cynthia Ann stopped eating and died some time in 1870 or 1871 and was buried in Texas. Quanah later moved her grave to Oklahoma. Today, she is buried next to him in Lawton.
