The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman (Women in the West)

Product Information

Lawton, Wendy. Ransom's Mark: A Story Based on the Life of the Young Pioneer Olive Oatman. Moody Publishers, 2003. ISBN 978-0802436382 a b "Fairchild, Olive Ann Oatman". Texas State Historical Association. 2010-06-12 . Retrieved August 10, 2012. She finds herself falling in love with a factory worker, Danny, whose mother once did housework for her family. Danny's wages are low and he makes extra money fist fighting in bars. Wallace follows Danny and Elizabeth on their dates and persuades Danny that he is too low-class for Elizabeth and can never give her a good future. A despondent Danny leaves for Boston to start a new life. He soon learns about the Halifax Explosion and manages to get a place on the Boston medical train and is heading home. He worries about his mother whose home was in the most devastated part of the city and has never stopped loving Elizabeth.

Olive's childhood friend Susan Thompson, whom she befriended again at this time, stated many years later that she believed Olive was "grieving" upon her forced return because she had been married to a Mohave man and had given birth to two boys. [3] :152 [18] Maybe you’ve come across this story. The protagonist’s serene face draws us in. But then her eyes, and most of all, her wild, tribal tattoo contradict her overall appearance. She is clearly more than a nice, well-educated 19th century lady. Lawrence, Deborah; Lawrence, Jon (2012). Violent Encounters: Interviews on Western Massacres. University of Oklahoma Press. pp.27–28. ISBN 978-0-8061-8434-0.Powelson, Benjamin F. (6 December 2015). "Olive Oatman, circa 1863". 58 State St, Rochester, NY. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: location ( link) After her return to civilization, everything moved very fast for Olive Oatman. A book was written about her story. She was offered part of the royalties, which she took advantage of. The money helped her study at a university and pay for her brother’s training. Later, she began lecturing throughout the United States, talking about her experience with the Yavapai and Mojave. After all, they knew nothing of these lands, and they refused to listen to the warnings either. Their purpose was so firm and their faith so blind that they didn’t realize the land already had owners. The owners were a wild and quite violent tribe: the Yavapai.

Putting that subplot aside it was still a good historical novel. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn about the Halifax Explosion. The book started out well, but I just can't accept the author's premise that Olive, after her return from living with the Mohave tribe, was essentially held "captive" by the Reverend Royal B. Stratton, who wrote a highly falsified book about her life. Stratton's book portrayed the Mohave as ignorant savages and claimed Olive's tattoo was a mark of slavery, when the reality-- according to Olive's own testimony before meeting Stratton-- was that the tattoo was a sign of membership in the tribe, and Olive had a deep fondness, affection, and gratitude to the Mojave, who had rescued her from another tribe who had killed most of her family, kidnapped Olive and her sister, and treated them harshly. In fact, Olive had ample opportunities to escape or be rescued and never availed herself of these chances. Clearly she was not unhappy with the Mohave. Stratton was something of a white supremacist, and it has been suggested that Olive was so much under his thrall that she altered her testimony of her time with the Mojave against her own will to fit Stratton's twisted portrayal. I would have loved a detailed author's note about his research, as well as what was fact and where he took artistic liberties. I had some disappointment in the frequency of times Mifflin deviates from Olive's tale to discuss other happenings of the time. It more or less began to feel like there wasn't enough source material to create an accounting and she was filling in gaps to create a book.

Author Bio

To demonstrate their union with the community, they were given a traditional tattoo. With this tattoo, their union with the others was guaranteed in the afterlife, a religious symbol of communion with the Mojave. However, when two ships collide in Halifax Harbour on December 6, 1917, and the greatest explosion the world had ever known is unleashed on the city, their eyes are opened to new truths. Elizabeth is swept up in the chaos that follows the explosion and works courageously at a local hospital, overrun with the horribly injured. She finds dwindling medical supplies and worsening conditions, only to face a once-in-a-generation snowstorm that promises to take away whatever hope remains. Without fresh medical supplies, hundreds will soon die. a b "The Murder at Oatman Flat". The Tucson Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. September 27, 1913. p.4 . Retrieved August 1, 2020– via Newspapers.com.

Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle (October 1998). "The Captive and Her Editor: The Ciphering of Olive Oatman and Royal B. Stratton". Prospects. 23: 171–192. doi: 10.1017/S0361233300006311.

There were many times while reading about the deaths where I start to tear up. I was moved by Danny's bravery and Elizabeth's courage. After reading, I learned that altruism prevails, especially at times when people most need it. Dillon, Richard H. (1981). "Tragedy at Oatman Flat: Massacre, Captivity, Mystery". American West. Vol.18, no.2. pp.46–59. I happened on the cover picture in a blog recently, and like many people, immediately thought "Hey, that's the tattoo from Hell on Wheels". Apparently the character's tattooing in that series was borrowed explicitly from Olive Oatman's. It's ironic that the TV character was a prostitute, as the Oatman's history as a captive of the Yavapai and Mohave raised questions about her sexuality in her own time. Both Oatman and Mary Brown, Sallie Fox's mother and Rose–Baley Party survivor, lived in San Jose, California, at the same time. Mary Brown refused a meeting. [24]

In 1865 she married a rich rancher. He only asked of her one thing: to forget her past. To leave the lectures behind and put on a veil to cover the tattoo. She did so, letting time go by like that, drop by drop. Year after year. From award-winning author Steven Laffoley comes a compelling tale of love and loss, despair and hope, based on real people and real events. It brings to life one of the most extraordinary stories of our time – The Halifax Explosion. Named in her honor, the historic town of Olive City, Arizona, near the present town of Ehrenberg, was a steamboat stop on the Colorado River during the gold rush days. Other namesakes in Arizona are Oatman Mountain and the adjacent Oatman Flat. [33] [30] Oatman Flat Station was a stage stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail from 1858 to 1861. [5] :183 In popular culture [ edit ] Television and film [ edit ]

Awards

The trials that Olive and her younger sister, Mary Ann, went through at the hands of the Yavapai were so sad. I cannot imagine the terror they endured, as well as the physical challenges. Oatman Flat". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2022-08-06. Another thing that suggests Olive and Mary Ann were not held in forced captivity by the Mohave is that both girls were tattooed on their chins and arms, [14] [15] in keeping with the tribal custom. Oatman later claimed (in Stratton's book and in her lectures) that she was tattooed to mark her as a slave, but this is not consistent with the Mohave tradition, where such marks were given only to their own people to ensure that they would enter the land of the dead and be recognized there by their ancestors as members of the Mohave tribe. [5] :78 The tribe did not care if their slaves could reach the land of the dead, however, so they did not tattoo them. It has also been suggested that the evenness of Olive's facial markings may indicate her compliance with the procedure. [5] :78 a b Rowe, Jeremy (2011). Early Maricopa County: 1871–1920. Arcadia Publishing. p.7. ISBN 978-0-7385-7416-5. Leonard, Elmore. The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories. Delacorte Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0385323864