Comanche Research Paper
I. Introduction
A few months ago, my dad started using ancestry.com to further his genealogical knowledge. Initially, I did not think that it would lead him anywhere, seeing as he knows nothing about his family; but sure enough, he found a plethora of information. He found information about his mother’s side and information about his father’s, including the biography of Quanah Parker, the last chief of the free Comanche people. When my dad started telling me the story of Quanah Parker, I suddenly got very interested in my Native American background. How often does someone come across such a puzzling and unusual aspect of his/her background? I always thought that I was just half-Korean and half-White, but learning that I am also Native American really got my gears turning as far as learning more about my ancestral background. My dad told me about how Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah’s mother, was captured as a hostage at age nine. At first she was treated horribly; she was beaten and starved on a daily basis, but after marrying Peta Nacona, the chief, she became an integrated part of the Comanche and adopted their ways. She denied all requests from her White family to return to them because she had fallen in love with the land, the community, and the lifestyle of the Comanche (Williams, “Cynthia Ann Parker”). I found this fact very interesting because the basis of all the stories between Whites and Indians that I have heard always included hatred between the two races. Having just a brief introduction into my Native background, I now have the opportunity to write a research paper and really analyze my ancestry. The only thing that I knew about the Comanche prior to this research paper was that they were known as the most violent and brutal of all Indians and that they were the finest horsemen of all other tribes (Moore, “The Texas Comanches”). I found that there was so much more to the Comanche than my initial stereotypes. My goal in writing this
A few months ago, my dad started using ancestry.com to further his genealogical knowledge. Initially, I did not think that it would lead him anywhere, seeing as he knows nothing about his family; but sure enough, he found a plethora of information. He found information about his mother’s side and information about his father’s, including the biography of Quanah Parker, the last chief of the free Comanche people. When my dad started telling me the story of Quanah Parker, I suddenly got very interested in my Native American background. How often does someone come across such a puzzling and unusual aspect of his/her background? I always thought that I was just half-Korean and half-White, but learning that I am also Native American really got my gears turning as far as learning more about my ancestral background. My dad told me about how Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah’s mother, was captured as a hostage at age nine. At first she was treated horribly; she was beaten and starved on a daily basis, but after marrying Peta Nacona, the chief, she became an integrated part of the Comanche and adopted their ways. She denied all requests from her White family to return to them because she had fallen in love with the land, the community, and the lifestyle of the Comanche (Williams, “Cynthia Ann Parker”). I found this fact very interesting because the basis of all the stories between Whites and Indians that I have heard always included hatred between the two races. Having just a brief introduction into my Native background, I now have the opportunity to write a research paper and really analyze my ancestry. The only thing that I knew about the Comanche prior to this research paper was that they were known as the most violent and brutal of all Indians and that they were the finest horsemen of all other tribes (Moore, “The Texas Comanches”). I found that there was so much more to the Comanche than my initial stereotypes. My goal in writing this
Cited: 2000. Web. 27 May. 2011. Web. 24 April. 2011. County TXGen. Web, 2009. Web. 26 April. 2011.