Parker Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This is the story of Parker Cemetery in Tarrant County. The land was donated on January 14, 1901, by a man named Isaac Duke Parker.

Simple enough on its face. But pull on that thread even a little, and what unravels is one of the most tangled, heartbreaking, legendary family stories the state of Texas has ever produced. So let's take it slow.

Isaac Duke Parker was the son of Isaac Parker, a pioneer politician of such standing that Parker County itself was named for him. Two Isaacs. Father and son.

Both of them, as it turns out, served as members of the Texas Legislature. That kind of public life runs in the blood. But here's where the story takes a turn that no novelist would dare invent.

Isaac Parker, the father, the pioneer politician, was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker. A white girl, captured by Comanche Indians in 1836, and reared as one of their own. She became the wife of a Comanche leader named Peta Nocona.

And together they had a son. That son was Quanah Parker. The last great Comanche war chief.

Think about what that family tree holds. A Texas legislator. A pioneer who lent his name to an entire county.

And through a niece taken in 1836, a direct line to the man who led the Comanche nation through its final chapter. Quanah Parker. Isaac Duke Parker, who donated this ground on that January day in 1901, is buried here.

So is a public burial section that has received the community's dead alongside him. One piece of land. One family name.

And enough history underneath it to fill the Texas sky.

What the marker says

Land for cemetery donated by Isaac Duke Parker, Jan. 14, 1901. He was son of Isaac Parker, pioneer politician for whom Parker County was named and who was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker, white girl captured by Comanche Indians in 1836 and reared as an Indian. She was the wife of Comanche Peta Nocona and mother of Quanah Parker, the last great Comanche war chief. Both Isaac Parker and Isaac Duke Parker served as members of the Texas Legislature. Isaac Duke Parker is buried here. Cemetery also contains a public burial section.