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February 19, 2012
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM NOTES Busy Week! The Texas Plains Trail held their meeting in Muleshoe on Thursday. I journeyed down on Wednesday and made it home around 8 pm on Thursday. This is the group that is sponsoring the Quanah Parker Arrow project. Another project soon to be released is a museum guide published by Travel Host for our 52 counties. This guide will have a listing and description of all the 50 plus museums in our area. We will have copies available at the museum. In the issue will be a passport that you can have stamped or signed when you visit a museum then after so many visits send it in for a prize. The instructions will be explained in the issue. I will keep you informed about the project. The Sports memorabilia is coming in. Thank you. We still can use more so keep it coming. It is the time of the year, that we are preparing our annual reports and starting the new year. Our membership drive for 2012 will start in March so watch for your invitation to become a museum supporter. It is through your support that we can keep the museum going and producing exhibits and programs. We are planning programs for 2012 so if you know of good speakers or entertaining individuals that we could book for a program, call or email us their information. The last week to view the Student Art will be next week Feb 26 thru Wed the 29th when we take it down and prepare for Rebecca Ashley's Exhibit. So plan to come out and visit. HISTORICAL MUSING On February 19, 1838, Indian captive Rachel Plummer was reunited with her husband after spending over a year with the Comanches. Born Rachel Parker in Illinois in 1819, she moved to Texas with her father, James W. Parker, and her family and married Luther Plummer in 1833. In May 1836 their settlement was attacked by a large group of Indians. Five settlers were taken captive: Rachel and her son James Pratt Plummer, Cynthia Ann and John Parker, and Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg. James Pratt was taken from Rachel, and she never saw him again. Rachel became a slave to the Comanches, and traveled thousands of mils with the band. She was pregnant at the time of her capture and bore a second son about October 1836. The Indians thought that the baby was interfering with Rachel's work, so they killed him when he was about six weeks old. Rachel was ransomed by Mexican traders north of Santa Fe in June 1837. Several months later, Rachel's brother-in-law escorted her back to Texas, where she was reunited with her husband. In 1838 she published an account of her captivity entitled Rachael Plummer's Narrative of twenty one months servitude as a prisoner among the Commanchee Indians. This was the first narrative about a captive of Texas Indians published in Texas. Rachel bore a third child in 1839 and died in Houston shortly thereafter; the child died two days later. Source: Handbook of Texas Online by Texas State Historical Association. Interesting contrast between Rachel's relationship with the Comanche and the one Cynthia Ann Parker developed. |
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