Cynthia Ann Parker

Who was Cynthia Ann Parker?

Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah, was an American who was captured and kidnapped at the age of nine by a Comanche war band, who massacred her family’s settlement. She was adopted by the Comanche and lived with them for 24 years, completely forgetting her European ways. She married a Comanche chieftain, Peta Nocona, and had three children with him, including the last free Comanche chief Quanah Parker. At age 34, she was finally rescued by the Texas Rangers but spent the remaining 10 years of her life refusing to adjust to life in white society. At least once she escaped and tried to return to her Comanche family and children, but was again brought back to Texas. She had difficulty in understanding her iconic status to the nation, which saw her as having been redeemed from savages. Heartbroken over the loss of her family, she stopped eating and died of influenza in 1870.