Jan 05 2009
Quanah
Between Vernon and Childress on US287 in Texas, a small town called Quanah sits quietly on the plain. Named after Quanah Parker, the last Comanche chief in the United States and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, the town seems pretty calm compared to its namesake.
As I drove with my husband to my parents’ home over the holidays, I remembered visiting a museum that talked about this man as a child. I think I must have gone with my grandparents. I remember being fascinated at his story.
His mother was a white woman, Cynthia Ann Parker, who was captured in 1836 at Parker’s Fort, Texas by Native Americans. His father was Chief Peta Nocona. He grew up and lived between the two worlds. Quanah was a battle chief, never losing a fight to a white man. Eventually, after seeing signs indicating he should surrender, Quanah brought his people to live on a reservation. He was a tough businessman, and accumulated a lot of wealth in his dealings with white men. He even invested in a railroad. He refused to give up polygamy or peyote, too.
There’s more to this man than what I remember in the museum, or what I can read online. He’s more of a cloudy, but powerful memory to me.
