our neighbor: A MUST SEE
Some of it is in
Parker County.
Some of it is in Palo Pinto County.
But we love it just the same.
C olorful H istory • N ovel S ights
G reat S hopping • N oteworthy P eople
No Country for Young Women
Rachel Parker-Plummer, the forgotten Parker – Part 1
By MARSHA BROWN
T
84
hey used to say, “Texas is a great place for men and
dogs, but hell on women and horses.”
Rachel Parker Plummer’s life story is proof of the truth
of that statement.
Rachel Parker Plummer was described as “red haired
beauty of rare courage and intelligence.” The description
came from her father in a book he wrote about Rachel
and the ordeal she survived.
Born Rachel Parker she was the middle child of James
and Martha Duty Parker born in 1818 in Illinois. She was
one of the Parkers’ three children to survive infancy.
Rachel was clearly her father’s favorite from the
beginning. Her childhood was uneventful until her
immediate and extended family along with a few friends
moved to Texas in 1834. By then, Rachel was a young
matron who’d married Luther M. Plummer when she was
14-years-old.
The newlywed Plummers were among the entourage
that made the trek to Texas along with other sons of Elder
John Parker and his Sally White-Parker. Shortly after arriv-
ing in Texas, the young couple welcomed their first child,
a son, James Pratt Plummer.
The group constructed a fort as a protection with log
walls that enclosed four acres. Blockhouses were placed
on each corner for lookouts and to make defense of the
fort possible. Six cabins were inside the walls. The fort
had a large front gate on its south and a small rear gate
for hauling water.
Fort Parker was farther into Comanche Country than
any other white settlers had ventured into, much less
build. Fort Parker sported 12-foot-walls, blockhouses and
corrals. It should have been enough for protection if all
but five of the men of the settlement had not been outside
the fort that day and the front gate not been left wide
open.
By May of 1836, Luther and Rachel Plummer were
looking forward to the birth of their second child. By then
Rachel was 17 years old.
The morning of May 19 dawned clear and bright,
Rachel would recall in her memoirs she wrote two years
later. There seemed to be nothing unusual about that late
spring morning, when most of the men of the settlement