tribes and tribal leaders – TEXAS HISTORY NOTEBOOK

Quanah Parker’s Family Tree

Quanah Parker was likely born around 1850 at Elk Creek Winter Camp in the Wichita Mountains of what is now Oklahoma. From time to time, Quanah recalled other stories and locations where he might have been born. Throughout this article, the names you see used will probably be a combination of attempts at phonetic spellings and Anglicized versions of the names that tribe members went by or were called. Quanah’s father was Peta Nocona (born about 1820 and died about 1864) and his mother was Cynthia Ann Parker (1827 – 1871). Peta’s father is believed to be Po-bish-e-quasho “Iron Jacket” Kwasu (1790 – 1858) and his mother is thought to be White Hawk Sioux Woman. Cynthia’s parents were Silas Mercer Parker (1804 – 1836) and Lucinda Duty Parker (1801 – 1852).

Rev. White Parker

One of Quanah Parker’s sons was White Lewis Parker. He was born in 1887 to Quanah Parker (1846 – 1911) and Maheheet-To-Wook-Ky (1862 – 1914), one of the wives of Quanah Parker. In the Comanche tradition, Quanah Parker had more than one wife.

Rev. Parker was drawn to ministry as a young man, having first served as an interpreter for missionary J. L. Reid who was then a missionary on behalf of the Dutch Reformed Church. Parker attended Cooks Theological school in Phoenix, Arizona. After he completed his studies, he joined the Methodist church. Parker later served as pastor of churches in Broken Bow, Kildare, Ponca City, Kingfisher and various other congregations in and around Comanche County, Oklahoma.

Big Tree, Koiwa Warrior

Neither the year nor place of his birth is precisely known, but he is believed to have been born around 1850. He is most often mentioned along side other Kiowa warriors such as Satank and Satanta. Big Tree (Ado-ete) is associated with numerous raids including the Kiowa attack of May, 1871 on the Henry Warren wagon train. Big Tree was arrested later that month, tried in June of that year in Jacksboro in the court of Judge Charles Soward. The prosecutor was future Texas governor S. W. T. Lanham. The Kiowa defendants were represented by a local attorney named Joseph Woolfolk.

Mow-way (Shaking Hand or Hand Shaker)

This individual was a Comanche leader of the Kotsoteka branch or band of the tribe. He is thought to have been born about 1826 and he died in 1886. He was known to have been a warrior and participated in some of the earliest treaties between the tribe and the Confederate government in 1861. The Confederate negotiations were led by Albert Pike (1809 – 1891) who had been appointed in March of 1861 to serve as Indian Commissioner by Confederate President Jefferson Davis to attempt to draw up agreements with the tribes west of the Arkansas River. Pike was trained as an attorney and in the past had represented other tribes in negotiations with the United States government. In the summer of 1861, Pike worked on treaties with the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Osage, Senaca and Shawnee. In August, 1861 he met with representatives of four bands of the Comanche tribe and Mow-way was a representative of the Kotsoteka. The agreement with the Comanche tribe seems to have been that they would give up their captives and receive compensation and confine themselves to agreed areas. Pike went on to serve in the Confederate Army. He eventually resigned his command after a disagreement over leadership decisions and did not serve to the end of the Civil War.

The Death of Quanah Parker

Quanah Parker is likely the best known member of the Comanche tribe. He was born in the mid 1800s to Chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Parker, a captive taken from her family in Central Texas in 1836. His actual date of birth is not precisely known but the year is generally thought to have been around 1846-1848, when Cynthia was in her early twenties. He escaped an attack in 1860 led by Capt. Sul Ross on a “meat camp” of the Quahada band while the warriors were away. In this event, his mother Cynthia and his sister Topsana (Prairie Flower) were captured. Others in the camp were killed. Quanah would never see his mother or sister again alive. Both would die in the years following the event. (Image is in the public domain.)