KNOWLEDGE
People of Montague County
Forty-one biographies of people who built, broke, or left a mark on Montague County. Surveyors, bootmakers, librarians, ranchers, mayors, and the ones who are still here.
Big Tree (Adoeette): Kiowa War Chief and the Warren Wagon Train Raid
Big Tree (Adoeette) was a Kiowa war chief and Kaitsenko warrior whose 1871 trial at Jacksboro marked the first civil-court prosecution of Native American leaders in Texas history.
Cynthia Ann Parker: Captured, Raised Comanche, and Forcibly Returned
Cynthia Ann Parker was captured by Comanche raiders at age 9 in 1836, lived as Comanche for 24 years as the wife of Peta Nocona and mother of Quanah Parker, and died in March 1871 after being forcibly returned to Anglo-Texan society.
D.C. Jordan
Kentucky-born cattleman and civic founder who drove 15,000 head of cattle into Montague County in 1873, negotiated the railroad route through his land, and donated 640 acres to establish the town of Nocona in 1887.
Daniel Montague
Surveyor, soldier, and Texas state senator whose north Texas career earned him the honor of having Montague County named for him on Christmas Eve, 1857.
Enid Justin
Daughter of H.J. Justin who founded the Nocona Boot Company in 1925 after her brothers moved Justin Boot to Fort Worth — becoming the first woman to found a major American bootmaking company and running it for 56 years.
H.J. Justin
Indiana-born bootmaker who founded what became the Justin Boot Company in Spanish Fort, Texas in 1879, moved the operation to Nocona in 1889, and built a family business dynasty that reshaped the identity of Montague County.
Levi Perryman
Confederate cavalryman, frontier Indian fighter, two-term sheriff of Montague County (1873–1880), and community philanthropist whose papers — 418 items — are fully digitized at the University of North Texas.
Notable Montague County Figures
A biographical roster of the leaders, builders, athletes, artists, and trailblazers who have shaped Montague County — from a Texas governor born in Bowie to a Fort Worth media titan born in Crafton.
Peta Nocona: Nokoni Comanche Chief and Namesake of a Montague County Town
Peta Nocona was chief of the Nokoni Comanche band, husband of Cynthia Ann Parker, father of Quanah Parker, and the figure for whom the town of Nocona, Texas was named in 1887.
Quanah Parker: Last War Chief of the Comanche and Son of a MoCo Family Story
Quanah Parker was the last great war chief of the Quahadi Comanche, son of Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, who led resistance until 1875 then rebuilt Comanche political and economic life through the reservation era until his death in 1911.
Sheriffs of Montague County
Historical roster of Montague County sheriffs from the county's 1858 organization through the present — from frontier law enforcement under Levi Perryman to the nationally reported Henry Lee Lucas case of 1983–1984.
William and Selena England
Methodist minister and his wife murdered in Montague County in August 1876 — a crime that produced five trials, five appeals, three life sentences, and the involvement of five Texas governors in one of the most legally significant cases in the county's frontier history.