Quanah Parker is thought to have been born around 1850, although his exact date of birth is unrecorded, and he died in 1911. He was the son of Chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, who was taken captive by the Comanche during the Fort Parker Massacre in 1836 when she was 9 years old. Cynthia lived most of her adult life with the tribe and at the time of her recapture in 1860 had become virtually assimilated into the culture and the tribe. The circumstances of the battle which resulted in her recapture are debated, with Texas Ranger Sul Ross having claimed to have killed Peta Nocona while others claimed that Nocona was not at the battle. However, it is agreed that Cynthia was recaptured at the battle and that Quanah escaped and was captured later, at another location.
Continue reading Quanah ParkerIowa Park, Texas
Iowa Park (33°57′13″N 98°40′16″W) is located in Wichita County, west of Wichita Falls. It was founded in the 1880s by General Grenville M. Dodge. At that time, it was mostly miles of prairie grassland growing on what appeared to be miles of sandy loam. These conditions and the accessibility of surface water caused Dodge to feel that the location would be favorable for farming. The area was reached by the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway and first named Dagger Switch, becoming a recognized township in about 1882 . Shortly thereafter, the Texas Panhandle Company organized immigration trains to encourage settlers to relocate to the area, many coming from Iowa.
Happy New Year
This blog has been ongoing for exactly a year now. Thank you all for taking the time to share our stories. We’ll see you next year, Lord willing.
You have indicated that you like the variety of the weekly featured stories, also the unsolved mysteries, the real characters depicted in “Texas Rising” and most of all, the biographical sketches of those people who made the Lone Star State what it is today.
Special Event – Interurban Fans – 9/13/16
transcribed from Railspot’s Facebook announcement of 8/25/2016:
The official premiere of the new TEXAS ELECTRIC RAILWAY program is Tuesday evening, September 13th at the EVENT 1013 center located at 1013 E. 15th Street in historic Plano, Texas. The premiere starts at 7:30 pm and will feature 31 minutes of color and 20 minutes of rare B&W movies from the collection of Johnnie J. Myers.
Junius Peak (1845-1934)
Junius W. Peak was one of the more charismatic individuals in Texas history. His family moved to Texas from Kentucky in 1855. The family was large, with many brothers and sisters. Jefferson and Martha Reser Peak bought 229 acres of farmland close to the small Dallas settlement. Peak would recall that his father Jefferson paid $110 for the land.
Texas History Notebook 