James W. Parker (July 4, 1797 – 1864) was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker and the great uncle of Quanah Parker, last chief of the Comanches. A man of English American descent, he was a member of the large Parker frontier family that settled in east Texas in the 1830s. Many historians and Hollywood observers believe that Parker was the inspiration for John Wayne's character Ethan Edwards in the John Ford movie, The Searchers.