The Doss Heritage and Culture Center by Bea Tifton

 The town of Weatherford, Texas, is located in Parker County, Texas. Parker County was created in 1855 and named for the pioneer Isaac Parker, who was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker, the woman famous for being stolen by the Comanches and eventually becoming the mother of Comanche Chief Quanah Parker.  Weatherford was named for the Texas state senator Thomas Jefferson Weatherford (1811-1867). Weatherford is located 30 miles west of the city of Fort Worth. It's in West Texas and is still ranching and cattle country, rich with the history of cowboys and ranching. 

The Doss Heritage and Culture Center's website reads that it is a "Texas and Parker County History museum dedicated to bringing history to life for all generations to experience and enjoy."  Three years ago, my friends and I did just that. 

The first exhibit is the original chuckwagon, created in 1866 by legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight. I've heard of chuckwagons and seen pictures, but it was fascinating to see the first one.

The museum has a covered wagon. What struck me is that it wasn't as big as I had would have thought. Just imagine having to pack all your worldly goods in this vehicle to ride across an undeveloped country to a fierce, new land.

 In addition to the covered wagon, there's a reproduction of a stagecoach with an exhibit board that includes a video showing the process by which the man built it and some samples of the things he used. I love museums that have videos and I never fail to punch any available buttons. 

My favorite exhibit is Gracie, an almost complete 6,000 year old baby bison skeleton, unearthed when Weatherford residents were adding a water line for their cattle pen. Fortunately, they contacted experts at the University of North Texas who did a careful excavation. The archeologists also found some rudimentary tools and a fire pit. Seeing the actual skeleton was a heady experience for me as I am very interested in paleontology and archeology.

Museums with interactive displays have a special place in my heart. The Doss Heritage didn't disappoint with one room full of things for children with which to play and explore. Oh, and it's also open to those who are young at heart, like my friend Terri. 

The Doss is a treasure for Weatherford, Parker County, and Texas and would be appreciated by anyone who loves western history. It has educational programs and revolving exhibits as well as the interesting regular exhibits I've highlighted. Since I've been, the museum has relocated five cabins that were located in various places in Parker County, so I'll have to go back. Admission is free, but donations are always appreciated (and needed!). If you're ever in the Weatherford area, stop by the museum and spend an enjoyable few hours reliving the history of the Old West.

 

 

For more information, visit the website: http://dosscenter.org/home/about/

AMERICAN INDIAN CAPTIVES

Guest Post By Elysa Hendricks

Elysa Hendricks,
Award Winning
Author

Growing up in the mid-west, aside from John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies and TV westerns, I had little contact with the real West. My images were of tall, handsome, heroic cowboys fighting off savage Indians and outlaws, all the while never having to shave or bathe, while wearing white hats that never got dirty or fell off during a chase or gun battle. But despite my obviously misguided idea of what being a cowboy or a pioneer really was like, the American Old West fascinated me.

When I read Lucia St. Claire Robson's RIDE THE WIND and Larry McMurtry's LONESOME DOVE, my eyes were opened to the gritty reality of the Old West and the subject of Indian captives captured my imagination.


Cynthia Ann Parker and her
daughter, Prairie Flower or
Topsannah

 Robson's book fictionalizes the true story of Cynthia Ann Parker, a nine-year old girl kidnapped by a Comanche war band, who massacred her family’s settlement. Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah, meaning "Keeps Warm With Us" was then adopted by the Comanche and lived with them for 24 years. She married Chief Peta Nocona and had three children with him.

Big Bend area of Texas,
one of the Comanche's habitat

At the age of 34, the Texas Rangers 'rescued' and returned her to her family. There she spent the remaining 10 years of her life unable to adjust to life in white society. On at least one occasion she tried to escape and return to the Comanche, but was again rescued and brought back to Texas.

Cynthia Ann's childhood home

Though she didn't speak of her life with the Comanche, she apparently couldn't understand her iconic status in society's eyes as being redeemed from the savages - who she considered her people. In 1870 she died of influenza. Her only surviving child, Quanah Parker, later became the last Comanche chief. His story is every bit as interesting as Cynthia's.



Chief Quannah Parker
in Comanche dress
And . . .

Chief Quanah Parker
dressed as a
white businessman

While researching my western romances I devoured everything I could find about the 'real' Old West, Cynthia Ann Parker and other accounts of Indian captives. Here of just a few of the books written about this fascinating and unfortunate woman:

WHERE THE BROKEN HEART STILL BEATS by Carolyn Meyer
THE CAPTURED: A TRUE STORY OF ABDUCTION BY THE INDIANS ON THE TEXAS FRONTIER by Scott Zesch
RIDE THE WIND by Lucia St Claire Robson
LIFE WITH THE COMANCHES: THE KIDNAPPING OF CYNTHIA ANN PARKER by Nancy Golden
RETURN: THE PARKER STORY by Jack K. Sheldon
COMANCHE MOON: A PICTURE NARRATIVE ABOUT CYNTHIA ANN PARKER by Jack Jackson

The subject of Indian abductions goes far beyond Cynthia Ann Parker.
THE CAPTURED: A TRUE STORY OF ABDUCTION BY THE INDIANS ON THE TEXAS FRONTIER by Scott Zesch
KIDNAPPED AND SOLD BY INDIANS -- TRUE STORY OF A 7-YEAR- OLD SETTLER CHILD (First-Hand Account Of Being Kidnapped By Indians) by Matthew Brayton
NINE YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS by Herman Lehmann

What I found most interesting about the first-hand accounts of those abducted and then adopted by Indians was how they bonded with their capturers and became Indian in their hearts. The younger they were at the time of abduction the less likely they were to ever adjust back into white society, but even those that were older, in their teens, often felt more affinity to their Indian families than their birth families. And those who were older, especially women, had a difficult time when they returned to their original homes. Many had married Indian men and given birth to children, which didn't set well with a society that often feared and hated Indians.

T.R. Fehrenbach in his book COMANCHES: A DESTRUCTION OF A PEOPLE talks about how the two societies - western European and American Indian had little chance of co-existing. Though neither side of the conflict was totally good or purely evil, their needs, wants and belief systems were too divergent to live side-by-side without clashing. One or the other had to adapt or be destroyed. History shows us the outcome in our American West, but the same outcome has been seen across the globe when two opposing cultures clash.

When I decided to set my romances in the Old West, I wanted to convey to the reader the harsh realities of the frontier, both for the pioneers and the cowboys, and for the Indians who were losing their way of life. But I also wanted to provide the reader with a strong romance and a satisfying happy ending. Not every pioneer ended up abducted, scalped or dead. Some settled down to raise families and build the communities that exist today.

Blurb for HER WILD TEXAS HEART:

In a lawless west Texas border town, a woman has two choices: death or dishonor. Doctor's apprentice and former Comanche slave, KC O'Connor finds a third--she buries her femininity and longing for love beneath a boyish disguise. But the arrival of an injured greenhorn shatters the shell around her hidden heart.
Excerpt from HER WILD TEXAS HEART:

                             CHAPTER TWO

Near a small creek, Red Buffalo stopped his horse. Four days and nights of hard riding brought his raiding party hundreds of miles from the site of their successful raid. Any who sought to pursue them had been left behind long ago. Swinging his leg over his horse's back he slid to the ground and led his sweat lathered animal to the water. They would make camp and rest here for a while.

Half-a-dozen warriors joined him at the creek. They drank in silence. Quiet, determined and intense, during the hard ride, they now looked to him, their leader. At his almost imperceptible nod, the air erupted with bloodcurdling howls and shrieks of delight. Red Buffalo grinned in satisfaction. They deserved to celebrate. They had done well.

The raid on the hated Tejanos had been almost too easy. He and his warriors swept through the unsuspecting Texan settlement like a sharp knife through flesh. In minutes, it ended. Tejano men lay dead and dying, their bodies broken and bloodied, arrows and lances piercing their hated, pale skin. Fire purged the land of their obscene dwellings. Acrid smoke filled the air, which echoed with the screams of women and children's cries of terror. Not one of his warriors bore even a scratch.

Red Buffalo allowed himself a small smile as he relished the memory of the Texans shrieking in pain and pleading for mercy. He hated the Texans. Someday he would drive them from Comanche land forever. He chose to ignore the fact his own mother came from that hated breed. Only his greenish-gray eyes and the striking red highlights in his shoulder length hair gave evidence of the white blood flowing through his veins. In all else, he was Eka kura, Red Buffalo, Comanche, son of, Tomooru Tosa nakaai, Winter Hawk.

Not joining in his men's celebration, Red Buffalo surveyed the spoils of their raid. Twenty fine ponies crowded the banks of the creek, herded by the youth brought on the raid for just that purpose. Goods of all kinds lay across the backs of his warrior's ponies, bolts of colored cloth, pots, rifles and jugs of firewater.

He frowned. Red Buffalo did not like the white man's poison; it made strong men weak and weak men foolish. But he knew, now that they were safe from pursuit, he could do little to prevent the warriors from drinking it.

Their captives crouched on the ground, where the warriors had dropped them. One man, two women and three children. Red Buffalo had limited the number his warriors took. With only himself, a boy and six warriors, more captives would have slowed them down too greatly. By keeping their number small, Red Buffalo led his warriors deep into country the Tejanos thought safe from Comanche attack. The illusion of safety made the Texans lax. They paid for their carelessness with their lives.

Even his father could not object to this small number of captives. Of late, Winter Hawk spoke openly of his desire for peace with the whites. In order to keep the soldiers from their camps, he said, they must not take captives. But like all warriors of the Comanche, Red Buffalo was free to make his own decisions. While Winter Hawk might promise the white emissaries he would not raid their settlements or steal their women and children, Red Buffalo was not bound by his father's word.

The male captive looked half-dead. A broken arrow shaft protruded from his left thigh and blood matted his graying hair. His eyes stared vacantly upward. Red Buffalo nudged the man. No flicker of awareness crossed his face. His death would provide little amusement, his mind already gone from his body. One of the women knelt next to him, crooning softly. Plump and gray, well past her prime, she held little interest for Red Buffalo. If she caused no trouble and survived his men's attention, the women of the tribe would decide her fate.

Red Buffalo looked briefly at the children, two boys and a girl child of less than two summers. A boy, about ten, glared defiantly at Red Buffalo. The younger one, about six, clung to the older boy's leg. As Red Buffalo drew closer, the older boy stood up and pushed the smaller boy behind him.
Good, the boy had courage. Now, if he had sense he might someday be a Comanche. Children were always welcome among the Comanche.

HER WILD TEXAS HEART is available for $3.99 from Amazon at

http://www.amazon.com/HER-WILD-TEXAS-HEART-ebook/dp/B007464OSM/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330120250&sr=1-9

Also at Amazon for western historical fans:

THIS HEART FOR HIRE blurb:
A convent reared innocent and a gunslinger with no memory struggle to survive and find love while crossing the dangerous west Texas frontier.

Abandoned by his father and betrayed by his half-brother and fiancee on the eve of his wedding, JAKE GALLAGHER no longer believes in love. Though he longs to go home, his undercover work for the Texas Rangers keeps him in a lawless Texas border town. Even though it jeopardizes his mission he refuses to stand by and watch outlaws rape and murder a young woman. Getting shot and losing his memory wasn’t part of his plan.

While fleeing from her stepfather’s plans to steal their ranch, CHRISTINA GOODWIN witnesses her brother’s murder and is left in the hands of a merciless band of outlaws. Raised in a strict convent, Christina has little knowledge of men or the world, its dangers and temptations. Frightened and alone, she is forced to accept the help of the dark gunslinger who rescues her. Though drawn to Jake’s potent masculinity, she hesitates to trust him, fearing her stepfather has sent him to bring her back. Unsure of Jake’s motives for helping her, she struggles against him, determined to find a way to avenge her brother’s death and regain control of her ranch from her stepfather.
THIS HEART FOR HIRE is at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/THIS-HEART-FOR-HIRE-ebook/dp/B005VF01TY/ref=sr_1_8?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330124023&sr=1-8
 

Learn more about Elysa and her other books at http://www.elysahendricks.com/