Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
I am always amazed at stories about the pioneers and those who went through hardships to settle our country. Some things we may never think about is just how hard and terrifying their lives must have been. One story caught my attention and that is one about Olive Oatman. Perhaps no one has heard of her and maybe some of you are familiar with this girl with a tattooed chin. Here are some fascinating facts about her incredible life.
It all began in 1850 when Royce and Mary Oatman packed their 7 children and a few meager possessions into a wagon and left their Illinois farm. They headed for Independence, Mo. where the family joined a wagon train bound for California.
When the group got to Santa Fe, New Mexico, an argument arose and the wagon train decided to split. Some families took the northern route to California, while others (including the Oatmans) took the southern route through Arizona.
Somewhere near Socorro, Arizona, another dispute caused further division within the group. Despite warnings from locals, Royce Oatman decided his family would carry on alone through the barren, Indian-controlled territory that stretched between them and California.
About 80 miles outside of Yuma, the Oatman family was attacked by Indians. Thought to be from the Western Yavapai, the assailants killed Royce, Mary and four of their children. Olive and her sister, Mary Ann, were kidnapped. At the time, Olive was 14 and Mary Ann was 7. A monument to the family was constructed here in 1954.
Their brother Lorenzo had been clubbed and left for dead by the Indians. When he awoke, he found six of his family members dead and two of his sisters missing. Lorenzo made it to a nearby settlement, received treatment, and returned a few days later to bury the bodies of his family members.
Olive and little Mary Ann were kept as slaves by their kidnappers for about a year after the attack. They were abused and beaten regularly. It is hard to imagine how frightened those little girls were.
The two girls were eventually traded to Mohave Indians, where they were taken in by tribal leader and his wife. In her many accounts of her long ordeal, Olive would always speak warmly of the tribal chief and his wife.
After being taken in, the girls received their now-famous tattoos to mark them as members of the Mohave tribe and to help ensure a good afterlife for them. The tattoos marked them also as slaves. They were blue and resembled pine needles. Plus, they could not be removed.
Around 1855, a severe drought struck the region. Mary Ann would die in the famine, along with many Mohave Indians. She was 12 at the time, Olive was 19. About this time, rumors began to spread about a white woman living with the Indians. Emissaries from a nearby town were sent to talk with the tribe, and after lengthy negotiations, it was determined that Olive would return to live with white settlers after five years with the Indians.
She was reunited with her brother soon after her return. Noted pastor, Royal B. Stratton, wrote a book about young Olive entitled, “Life Among the Indians”. The book generated enough money for Olive and Lorenzo to attend university, and Olive would join the book tour and become a noted speaker.
In 1865, Olive married John B. Fairchild, a cattleman who moved into real estate and eventually founded the city bank in Sherman, Texas. The couple was relatively wealthy compared to others in the region.Olive’s life has been portrayed in books and plays, most recently in AMC’s “Hell on Wheels”. The character Eva, played by Robin McLeavy, is based on Oatman’s life.Olive suffered from depression on and off throughout the remainder of her life. Olive died of a heart attack in 1903 at the age of 65. She and her husband are buried in Sherman, Texas.
I find this account very interesting and somehow I would love to obtain a copy of that book about her life in captivity. I shudder to think that these are the people who fought, suffered and died to settle our great land. Well, from now on, if anyone speaks of Olive Oatman, I will know who she is. There is also a town in Arizona named for the Oatman family.
Have you ever heard of the Oatman massacre? Can you imagine having all of your family ambushed right in front of you? Do you think when Olive got back into society that she must have hated those chin tattoos? Let me know and I’ll give you a Penny for Your thoughts.
