Old West Lifestyle & Stories

Search Results for: Comanche

Old West Book Review: Riding For The Brand

Riding For The Brand. Author, rancher, researcher and historian, Michael Pettit is a Cowden family descendant who chronicles his sentimental journey about trailing his family history in this book.  His ancestors began migrating toward Texas in the 1850s, seeking land and opportunities in a country where few white settlers had gone before them.  From place […]

Old West Book Review: Myth, Memory and Massacre The Pearl River Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker

Students of Texas history are familiar with the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, the nine-year-old white girl taken captive by Comanches, May 19, 1836.  For the next 24 years, Cynthia Ann lived with her Comanche captors, bore at least four children and somehow survived the rigors of life among the Indians until her rescue in […]

William Becknell Creates the Santa Fe Trail

In the early 1800’s the Southwest was part of Mexico, and Mexico was under the domination of Spain. Because the Spanish were afraid of the expansion of the Anglos, they closed the area to anyone from the states. Any American trader they found in the area ended up in jail.   In 1821 William Becknell […]

Old West Book Review: Texas Ranger N.O. Reynolds

Parsons and Brice have chosen Texas Ranger (Nelson Orcelus) N.O. Reynolds not because he is well-known, but because he is deserving of recognition.  Reynolds was one of those brave, dedicated individuals who believed in justice, law and order.  He was willing to ride hard, shoot straight and suffer all of the hardships and dangers in […]

Medicine Man Isatai At War

In 1843 a trading post was built in what is now Hutchinson County, Texas. Over the years the trading post was abandoned, and it fell into disrepair. Thirty years later, about a mile away from the original post, another trading post was established. It comprised of a store, saloon, blacksmith shop and another building. Whites […]