olive oatman

A deadly encounter in the mid- 1850s left pioneer teenager olive Oatman  with distinctive tattoos and a story that raises more questions than answers. In 1851 the Oatman  family  was traveling through the southwestern united states when a confrontation with native Americans from the yavapai tirbe lief six of the nine family members dead. fifteen-year  old lorenzo was left for members dead while his sisters olive,14 and mary Ann 7 were kept as laborers until being traded a year  later  to mohave tribe. The sisters spent years at village  where they received blue cactus needle tattoos on their faces and arms. Sadly due to famine mary ann died of starvation at the age of 10. olive was finally reunited with here brother lorenzo in 1856 after u.s government  intervention. According to interviews given  soon after here return  olive had many opportunites   to reveal herself as abductee as  hundreds of white man traded with the mohave tribe but she chose not to. She  often spoke with fondness of the  women who took care of the two sisters and snuck  here food during the famine. She suffered severe depression upon her return to western society and many of her  friends  believed her unhappiness  was linked her separation from her second family the  mohave tribe.She was later interviewd  by author  royal stratton for his book life among the indians later renamed captivity of the boatman girls but much of what she said contradicted her previous statements of a caring mohave family. In her lectures to promote the book She claimed that her blue chin tattoos were a means of identification  should she escape .conflicting with her story however facia tattoos  were common amongst mohave women to ensure recognition of fellow tribal  members in the  afterlife. Olive stopped lecturing  after marrying a rancher in 1865 and the tow adopted a baby girl settling in sherman  Texas. Despite what may seem like a happy ending letters found after her death reveal that she battled depression and headaches throughout her life haunted by the loss of not one but two families.She died in 1903 at the age of 65 taking the  true story of her time living with the mohave with her.