by Wendy Lawton
The day finally came to leave.
Saying farewell to the chief ’s family nearly made Olive decide to stay. But she longed to see if Lorenzo lived.
“You will always have Mohave in your heart, daughter.” Topeka’s mother folded one of her blankets for Olive to take with her.
At least she did not have to say goodbye to Topeka immediately.
“I will walk with you as you travel back to your people,” Topeka said.
“Oh, Topeka, it’s such a long journey . . .”
“I must.” Topeka looked hard into Olive’s face, as if to memorize her. “My father still worries about you.”
“I’m strong now. I can make this journey.”
“He worries that treachery may be involved and this Yuma wishes to take you as his slave. When I see that you are safe, I will leave.”
Olive looked at Topeka, her lips pressed tightly together. Once again, God had showed Olive His love through her Mohave friend.
They walked long distances each day over rough terrain and dry desert. Olive missed Mary Ann on this journey, even though the pace would have been too difficult for her little sister. She remembered her sister’s words of so long ago—“I will die, but you will return.”
As they approached the fort, Olive became quieter and quieter.
“What troubles you, sister?” Topeka finally asked.
“I wonder, to what do I return?”
Francisco sent an Indian running back to the fort to alert the soldiers that they camped nearby and would arrive on the morrow. As the runner came back to the camp, he brought a bundle for Olive.
Olive untied the twine and unwrapped the brown paper. Out tumbled undergarments, a corset,hoops,and a dress for her to replace her bark skirt. Olive turned the soft fabrics over in her hands, shaking her head. “Oh, Topeka. I don’t belong to the white man’s world any longer.”
“It will take time. Just like when you came to us. Remember when all you could talk about was Ill-a-noy?”
“Yes. But my ki-e-chook means I will never fully belong to the white man’s world. I do not think I can rejoin the people of my birth.”
“As my mother says, Olive, you will always have Mohave in your heart. You need to remember that you belong to neither the Mohaves nor the whites. You belong to your God. He is the one who sent me to ransom you. He is the one who kept your brother alive and touched the heart of my mother and father.”
Topeka wiped Olive ’s tears off her chin, gently tracing the lines of her tattoo. “Every time you look into the glass and see the ki-e-chook, you must remember God’s love for you. It is the mark of ransom—of greatest love.”
Olive heard the truth of Topeka’s words. As Olive reached into the pile to pull a shift over her head, Topeka spoke.
“I take leave now, sister of my heart. I will tend the burial place of our sister for as long as I live.”
Olive embraced Topeka, hating to let go. “Tell Chief Aespaniola and your mother that I will never forget their love and kindness.”
Olive fastened the ties of the corset with clumsy fingers as she watched the figure of Topeka become smaller and smaller as she walked away from Olive back toward the Mohave village.
From somewhere deep inside her, Olive remembered bits and pieces of that psalm she had memorized all those years ago in Illinois:“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust . . . The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. . . . In my distress I called upon the Lord. . . . He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me . . . He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.”
Yes, He had delivered her. She turned toward the fort to see a figure far in the distance—Lorenzo. As she stepped back into the world of her people, Olive knew that God would continue to walk alongside her.
Epilogue
Perhaps no saga of the journey west is more memorable than the story of Olive Oatman. When pioneers left the States to travel overland by wagon train they expected hardship and sometimes tragedy. The Oatman family, however, encountered catastrophe at every turn of their journey.
Olive Oatman’s story is considered an important captive narrative because she recounted her ordeal in great detail and came to understand and respect the Mohave captors who ransomed her from the Yavapai. In 1903, ethnographer A. L. Kroeber interviewed the Yuma, TokwaOa, who accompanied Olive Oatman to Fort Yuma. TokwaOa’s account yields rich detail about Olive’s life among the Mohaves.
In her memoir, Olive calls their attackers Apaches, but according to ethnologists, they were of the Yavapai tribe— and, more specifically, an outcast, renegade band of the Yavapai who spread terror over the southwest United States and Mexican Territories.
Lorenzo Oatman survived the attack, and the story of his journey back to the Pima Villages is an adventure in itself. Soon after reaching safety, he was able to go back to the site of the massacre with the Kellys and the Wilders to bury his family. During Olive’s five years in captivity, Lorenzo worked tirelessly to find his sisters, with almost no help from the United States Army. The attack occurred in what is now Arizona, but, because at that time it was part of Mexico, the event occurred outside of United States jurisdiction.
After the joy of being reunited, Olive and Lorenzo stayed with the family of Susan Thompson in California for a short time. They eventually left to rejoin their extended family. Several newspapers immediately carried the Oatman story, and the public clamored for more. Little more than a year after Olive returned, a clergyman, R. B. Stratton, wrote and published The Captivity of the Oatman Girls, with the help of Olive and Lorenzo.
Although Olive remained shy about appearing in public because of her ki-e-chook, she became a much-requested speaker—making appearances from coast to coast, including one in the New York birthplace of her mother, where the original Sperry lilac grew. She eventually fell in love and married, retiring from public life. She and her husband, Major John Brant Fairchild, settled in Sherman, Texas, and were lifelong members of St. Stephens Episcopal Church.
A plaque in LaHarpe, Illinois, marks the Oatman Lilac Bush in the LaHarpe City Park, started from a slip cut off the bush in the Oatman yard in Whiteside County, Illinois.
Olive’s own words give vibrant testimony of her faith. In The Captivity of the Oatman Girls, when speaking of her narrow escape from death because of the success of the Cocopa war, she says: “I buried my face in my hands and silently thanked God. I sought a place alone where I might give full vent to my feelings of thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father. I saw his goodness, in whose hands are the reins of the wildest battle storm, and thanked him that this expedition, so freighted with anxiety, had issued so mercifully to me.”
Mary Ann’s words to Olive, recorded by her sister, stand as her testimony: “I shall die soon. I already know it. I shall die, but you shall live and get away. You cannot grieve for me. . . . I don’t like to leave you all alone, but God is with you, and our Heavenly Father will keep and comfort those who trust in him. I’m so glad we were taught to love and serve the Savior.”
Glossary
Adobe. Sturdy walls made with clay and straw.
Camaraderie. A feeling of friendliness.
Catastrophe. A terrible event.
Chaffed. Complained.
Corset. Stiff hourglass-shaped fabric with wire or bone sewn in that was worn by women to shape their torsos.
Dooryard. The part of the yard closest to the front door of a house.
Emigrants. Those who move to a new country.
Gigot sleeves. Long sleeves that were very full, puffed at the shoulders, and narrow at the wrist.
Graniteware. Speckled, enamel-coated metal cookware.
Hoop iron. Long strips of iron used in barrel making.
Hoops. Also called hoop skirts, they were big round pieces of wire stitched into a slip and worn under a dress to make
a woman’s skirt bell-shaped.
Lay-a bed. One who lies in bed too long.
Linch pins. Metal rods that fit into the axle to keep the wheel in place.
Mary Stuart cap. Small heart-shaped hat.
Mercantile. General store for groceries and other supplies.
Pemmican. Dried seasoned beef and berries pounded together.
Pinafore. A type of apron worn over a younger girl’s dress.
Ruff. A large, round collar of pleated muslim or linen.
Skeins. Wound yarn or thread.
Slops bucket. Used as a nighttime toilet.
Stones. Refers to what Brewster called his “seer stones,” used by him for fortune-telling and decision making.
Tableau. A scene that has been painted or represented using actors and props.
Theology. The study of God.
Toilette. Bathing, dressing, and grooming.
Wanderlust. A desire to travel to new places.
Watered silk. Silk cloth with a wavy pattern.
Courage to Run
* * *
Harriet Tubman was born a slave on a Maryland plantation in the 1800s. She trusts in God, but her faith is tested at every turn. Should she obey her masters or listen to her conscience?
The story of Harriet’s childhood is a record of courage. Even more, it’s the story of God’s faithfulness as He prepares her to eventually lead more than 300 people out of slavery through the Underground Railroad.
The Tinker’s Daughter
* * *
John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, mentions only one of his six children in his memoirs—Mary. Born blind in 17th-century England, she held a special place in her father’s heart.
When Mr. Bunyan is arrested for unlawful preaching, young Mary travels the streets of Bedford each day, bringing soup to the prison. She resolves to prove she is independent and not hindered by her blindness. Only when she realizes she needs help does she turn to the Lord, the source of all strength.
Almost Home
* * *
Mary Chilton was one of 102 passengers who stepped on board the Mayflower in the fall of 1620 for their long-awaited journey to the New World. This odd collection of “saints” and “strangers” sailed bravely together into the unknown.
All Mary can think about is finally finding a home—a place to belong. As she experiences the adventure and hardship of the ocean voyage, the struggle of starting the new Plymouth colony, and the happiness of the first harvest festival, she learns that home has bigger meaning than she thought.
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