Polly the Parrot

1867-1920

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Legends & Lore

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Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 26, 2025

1. Polly the Parrot Marker

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Excerpt:  Polly Langston was a Cuban immigrant to the United States, who came to New Orleans soon after the Civil War. When she arrived, she spoke only Spanish, but she quickly learned English, and by the time of her death at 53 years old, her “gift of gab” was noted in newspapers across the country. Polly also happened to be a parrot.
Dr. Thomas Bradford

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 26, 2025

2. Polly the Parrot Headstone

It is located near the base of the historical marker.

bought Polly in 1867 or 1868 and began teaching her the English language. A couple years later, Polly joined the Bradford family in their move to Marshfield, Missouri, where Dr. Bradford served as a prominent town physician.
On April 8, 1880, tragedy struck when a Marshfield tornado killed Dr. Bradford, his son Sydney, and a hundred other townsfolk, and left hundreds more hurt and homeless. Mrs. Bradford was severely injured, but survived, as did Polly.
Polly proved a most loyal companion, remaining at Mrs. Bradford’s bedside while she recuperated. Polly never forgot the tornado and feared wind and thunderstorms for the rest of her life. When she returned home, Polly took to crying out for her lost father and brother, lamenting “Oh Pa!” and “Oh Sydney!” The incessant wailing proved a too constant reminder of Mrs. Bradford sorrow, and she decided to relocate Polly to her daughter Mrs. Langston’s home in West Plains, where Polly would spend the remainder of her life and become nationally renowned for her vocal skills.
Polly was considered the most gifted bird in Missouri. She could pray and sing stanzas of old hymns. She was known for

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 26, 2025

3. Polly the Parrot Marker

Looking north across the Langston family plot. Evans Street (inside the Oak Lawn Cemetery) is on the left.

her soliloquies, could carry on long conversations with herself, and would repeat bits of gossip overheard from Mrs. Langston’s neighbors. To Mrs. Langston’s embarrassment, Polly could also swear fluently in both English and Spanish.
Polly was so beloved by her family that upon her death she was laid to rest in a little casket in the Langston burial grounds at Oak Lawn Cemetery, the resting place for the town’s most prominent early citizens, and her grave beside Mrs. Langston is marked with an inscribed granite tombstone, the only non-human buried in Oak Lawn.

(From the West Plains Daily Quill, May 10, 2023)   Excerpt:  A West Plains “citizen” that was a minor celebrity in her time will now have the added distinction of a special grave marker dedicated to her fame and talent that has been recognized by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation as part of its Legends and Lore program.
Polly, Sallie (Bradford) Langston’s parrot, rose to notoriety as recounted in a detailed and colorful story published

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 26, 2025

4. Langston Family Plot in Oak Lawn Cemetery

Looking northwest; Polly the Parrot marker is on the right.

in the 1930s issue of Literary Digest. The Literary Digest story, author not credited, recalls that Polly was taken by the Bradfords to a Methodist Camp meeting and “shouted and sang and prayed as loud as any other good Methodist present.”
During a visit to Marshfield by the P.T. Barnum circus, as the story goes, Polly saw the circus animals being led back and forth to a spring for watering and shouted and spoke to the circus workers from her porch. Polly's talent caught the attention of a circus manager, who eventually offered $100 for her; the offer was turned down by the Bradfords, as Polly was considered a beloved family member. During her time in West Plains, and until her death in 1920, Polly continued to be a town celebrity.

(Oak Lawn Cemetery, West Plains, Howell County, Missouri, USA)  Excerpt:  Daughter of Dr. Thomas Bradford and Laura (Kibble) Bradford. Married Thomas Jefferson Langston 10/Oct/1876 at Webster Co., MO. Per MO Death certificate #888, burial 19/Jan/1932.

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Headstone has birth year as 1854.