One of the really fun things about genealogy research is finding new cousins.  Our latest cousin discovery is James A. George of Santee, California.  His great grandfather was James S. George and he was married to Henry M. Anderson’s daughter Elizabeth Anderson.  Henry M. would be our great, great Grandfather.

Cousin James has sent me a wealth of information passed down through the George family.  Many of the stories match the stories that our Anderson kin folks have passed down through the years.  James writes “the story of the George family in Texas cannot be told without a mention of the colorful Henry Madison Anderson family.  Henry was born in Louisiana about 1809, just six years after the Louisiana Purchase.   By the late 1820s, he was living in Montgomery County, Arkansas where he married Sarah Collier about 1830.  Sarah was the daughter of the first family in southwest Arkansas, Martin and Mary Collier.  Family traditions say that Sarah was half Cherokee.  Henry and Sarah had ten of their eleven children in Arkansas ” (our Anderson stories question whether Henry’s middle name was Madison or Mitchell and whether his wife Sarah’s last name was Collier or Lowry).

The Anderson clan has told the story of our great, great uncles finding the Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of the famous Quanah Parker..  Cousin James sent me the George family version of this same story.

” In 1836, a large party of Comanche and Kiowa warriors attached Parker’s Fort near Groesbeck.  The raiders carried off nine year old Cynthia Ann Parker and adopted her into the tribe.  She was seen by traders over the years and attempts were made to ransom her but her Indian family would not bargain  The Comanche birth rate was extremely low and young female captives were viewed as essential parts of the tribe.

Cynthia Ann quickly adjusted to Indian life and grew to become the wife of Peta Nonona, a noted war chief.  She bore him three children including Quanah, who would later become the noted war chief of the Kwahadi Band of Comanches.

During their period of enlistment in the Rangers, Phil George, Mitchell and John Henry Anderson participated in a raid on the Comanche camp on the Pease River south of Vernon (Texas).  During the attack the Rangers and U.S. Army regulars captured several squaws.  After the hostilities ended, the Rangers noticed that one  of the Indian women had fair skin and blue eyes.  There was a great deal of discussion about her identity and it was eventually suggested that she might be Cynthia Ann Parker.  Though she could barely speak English, Cynthia Ann identified herself as the little girl who had been captured yeas before.

Cynthia Ann Parker was re-united with her Anglo relatives but she did not adjust well to the life of a white woman.  She grieved herself to death after a short while.  An Anderson family tradition states that is was one of the Anderson brothers who first noticed the Anglo features of Cynthia Ann.  There is not proof for this one way or the other but it is definite that Mitchell and John Henry Anderson participated in the battle.”

( Note, I have read stories of finding Cynthia and an Military Officer took the credit,  however I think the George story is probably correct, the enlisted men, our great uncles, found Cynthia and the Officer got the credit).

MAY YOU ALL HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

JIM LEE