People of Montague County

The earliest known photograph of Cynthia Ann Parker, a hand-colored tintype taken in 1861 by William Bridgers; she was captured by the Comanche as a child in 1836 and is the mother of Quanah Parker

Historical figure; wife of Peta Nocona; mother of Quanah Parker

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.

Cattleman, Town Founder, County Commissioner

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.

Surveyor, Soldier, Texas State Senator

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.

Founder, Nocona Boot Company

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.

Bootmaker, Founder of Justin Boot Company

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.

Spanish Fort

Wichita Falls businessman, banker, and irrigation pioneer; KMA Oilfield partner (1912)

Joseph A. Kemp

Wichita Falls businessman and civic leader whose 1912 land partnership with Munger and Allen led to the 1931 discovery of the KMA Oilfield — the principal petroleum resource straddling the Montague County boundary.

Sheriff, Cattleman, Frontier Settler

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.

Forestburg

Community Volunteer, the 'Chicken Lady of Bowie'

Mildred McCraw

Bowie's beloved 'Chicken Lady' — a medical technologist turned tireless community volunteer who championed Chicken & Bread Days and the Bowie Community Development Board for a quarter century, until her death in 2026 at age 87.

Bowie

Compilation

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.

Nokoni Comanche Band Chief

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.

Comanche chief Quanah Parker, photographed by E.W. Hamilton circa 1890; principal chief of the Comanche Nation 1875–1911

Last War Chief of the Quahadi Comanche; Principal Chief of the Comanche Nation

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.

Compilation

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.

Methodist minister and settler family; victims of 1876 murder case

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.