Olive was born the third of seven children to Royce Boise Oatman (1809-1851) and Mary Ann Sperry Oatman (1813-1851) in La Harpe, Hancock County, Illinois. In 1839, her parents left the Methodist church and joined … See more

The Oatman family, traveling alone, was nearly annihilated in what became known as the "Oatman Massacre" on the banks of the Gila River 84 miles east of modern-day Yuma, Arizona. The seven Oatman children ranged in a… See more

After the attack, the Native Americans took some of the Oatman family's belongings, along with Olive and Mary Ann. Although Olive Oatman later identified her captors as members of the Tonto Apache tribe, they were proba… See more