The book "Quaker Sarah and the Indian" explores the possibility of two young people from distinct cultures falling in love. It describes the life of Quakers and also the outlook and lives of New Jersey's "first nations", the Lenape Indians. It reminded me of the true life story of Cynthia Ann Parker who actually lived this experience.
Cynthia Ann Parker who was taken captive by the Comanche Indians in 1836 during a raid in Texas. She was taken with several of her family members, including her younger brother John. Cynthia Ann Parker's later married a Comanche, the chief Peta Nocona, a prominent warrior with whom she lived for 24 years, raised a family. Cynthia became fully assimilated into Comanche culture before her recapture by Texas Rangers in 1860.
Cynthia and her young daughter were taken back to her original family, by an uncle. But then the difficulties began. She barely spoke any English, and cried most of the time, missing her Comanche husband and sons. Frequently she would attempt to leave, running through a forest nearby. Too much time has passed, Cynthia was now a Comanche in outlook and feelings.
On the American frontier there were many "white" captives who often did not want to return to European culture or to be released. Eunice Williams of Deerfield, Massachusetts married a Mohawk Indian and did not return to her original family. Also Mary Jemison of New York, stayed with the Seneca Indians.
In the book "Quaker Sarah and the Indian" a Quaker girl and a Lenape or Delaware native meet and fall in love. It may seem farfetched but love has crossed many cultural divides before. Many American settlers had already felt cultural upheaval by leaving Europe and coming to the New World.
The life of Cynthia Ann Parker often saddened me. She only lived a few short years with her "white" family. Her daughter died from the flu and Cynthia died soon afterward, perhaps from a broken hart.
In "Quaker Sarah and the Indian" a more optimistic viewpoint is taken, that it was a possible love story.
