John Wayne and the Searchers

Some of you may have watched the John Wayne movie-- The Searchers --wherein a blonde blue-eyed young girl was kidnapped in Texas by the Comanche in 1836. But did you know this story is loosely based on a girl with local ties? 

Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Silas M and Lucy Parker, originally from Virginia was born near Palestine after the family settled there about 1824.  The family later moved to central Texas where on May 19,1836 a large force of Comanche warriors attacked the fort and killed several of its inhabitants and took five captives.   Cynthia married Chief Nocona and remained with the Indians for almost 25 years.