06/30/2026
Comanche leader Quanah Parker and his wife Tonarcy circa 1895, as seen by noted Vernon, Texas photographer Daniel P. Sink. We are all familiar with Quanah, but Sink himself was interesting. He came to Vernon in 1889 from Calvert, Texas and set up a photography studio in a tent on Main Street (where the present city administration building now stands). He specialized in the popular fad of the “cabinet card” photo, a portrait of individuals or families and a card which could be mounted and displayed, with their sturdy backing, be sent through the mail to friends and family. He sold his photography business in 1919 and moved to Glendale, California, where he died in 1931.
Incidentally, Vernon was still a pretty wild town when Daniel and wife Mary moved there in 1889. She later wrote "On Main Street proper were some frame buildings full of bullet holes from the pistols of cowboys who came to Vernon on pay day and would practice on the houses as they rode down the street. Some of my neighbors told me that they covered the windows at night to keep them from shooting out their lights."
