Connally, Ernest Allen

The Parker Family/Fort Parker Collection was assembled by Ernest Connally for his personal research. His research centered on the Fort Parker story, and included famous Texas figures Cynthia Ann Parker and Quanah Parker, the last major Comanche chief to give up warfare against the United States. The collection contains many printed materials, correspondence, and rare early photographs of the Mexia, Texas, area.

Ernest Connally was a citizen of Groesbeck, Texas, by 1936. It is possible that he was a member of the politically influential Connally family of Central Texas. In the 1930s, Connally was the president of the Fort Parker Association, the organization responsible for planning the centennial celebration for the fort. E.L. Connally, as he was popularly referred to, operated the Connally Funeral Home in Groesbeck, Texas, which is still in business as of 2011. Connally was active in many historic site projects in Central Texas, but he is most identified with Old Fort Parker. This collection reflects his interest in that park, primarily centering around the Parker family.

The Parker family came to Texas from Illinois in 1833, and settled north of Groesbeck in 1835. The small group built a fort for defense in case of Indian attacks, and concentrated on farming. On 1836 May 19 the fort was attacked by an Indian force of several hundred warriors, long understood by eyewitnesses to be Comanche Indians. Several Parker family members were killed and others were captured, but many escaped.

The few who were captured endured the loss of everything they knew. Different captives had different experiences. Eventually all of the captives were released and went back to their family in Texan society, but one girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, remained behind.

Cynthia Ann Parker, just twelve or thirteen when taken captive, was adopted into the tribe and became thoroughly Comanche. She married warrior Peta Nocona, who might have taken part in the attack on the Parker's fort. Cynthia and Peta had three children together, two boys and a girl, Quanah, Pecos, and Topsannah. Peta Nocona was killed in the Battle of the Pease River in 1860. Cynthia Ann was recaptured by Texas Rangers in this battle, and was identified as the Parker's Cynthia Ann, who had been with the Comanche for almost twenty-five years. Though she was returned to Texan society, Cynthia Ann never recovered from her capture and made several attempts to escape back to her life on the plains. She died in 1870, widely understood to have passed away from a broken heart. She was buried in Fosterville Cemetery, Anderson County, but was reinterred in the Post Oak Mission Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma, in 1910. Cynthia Ann was reburied a final time in 1957 in the Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma.

Cynthia Ann's son Quanah Parker, not captured at the Battle of the Pease River, became the last major Comanche chief to surrender to United States authorities. A warrior in the Quahada subtribe of the Comanche, Quanah surrendered with what remained of his people in 1875. He adjusted to reservation life easily, and became a very wealthy man considering the circumstances he and his people were in. Though increasingly powerful in Indian-government relations, he could not stop the movement to break up the reservations and distribute the land among the individual Indians, who were then forced to sell much of their land by unscrupulous land dealers. Quanah continued his efforts to help his people however he could. After a visit to the Cheyenne Reservation, Quanah became ill and died twelve days later, in 1911. His remains have been moved once, from Post Oak Mission Cemetery in Oklahoma to Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma.

The fort the Parkers built in 1835 was destroyed by the Indian raiding party. In the 1930s, the site was selected as a work area for the Civilian Conservation Corps, along with another nearby site along the Navasota River. A replica fort was built on the fort site, while a 670 acre lake was built on the river, together with camping and outdoor recreational facilities. Both sites took the name Fort Parker, both were operated after being built by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and for a time they were complexed together for more efficient operation by the department. Over time, locals began referring to the fort site as Old Fort Parker, and the lake site as Fort Parker State Park. The replica fort at the Old Fort site was rebuilt in 1967. Today, the Old Fort is operated jointly by the nearby cities of Groesbeck, Mexia, and Limestone County. Fort Parker State Park continues to operate as a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department site. Because of the close connection between both Fort Parkers, there is a limited amount of Fort Parker State Park materials within this collection. Several pictures from a third local historic site, the Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site, can also be found in this collection.