New Book Tells Stories of Pioneer Girls
February 1, 2007
by Ed Kuehneman
Jan Cleere, author and freelance writer from Oro Valley, AZ, has written “Amazing Girls of Arizona,” a collection of tales gathered from the vaults of historical societies and brought to enthusiastic life by a connoisseur of a good story. Cleere’s previous book, “Outlaw Tales of Arizona,” contains the story of Lafayette Grime, lynched in Globe. “Outlaw Tales” was a National Winner of the Federation of Press Women.
One chapter of “Amazing Girls” tells the story of Olive Oatman. Olive’s family was massacred by an unknown Indian tribe, and she and her sister were taken away and roughly treated. Later they were sold to Mojave Indians and treated more kindly. Still, they went hungry when the tribe did, and Olive’s sister died. Alone among strangers, Olive gave up hope of ever being rescued, learned the Mojave language and customs, and received tattoos from the corners of her mouth, wrapping around her chin. When she was returned to civilization, she discovered that her brother had somehow escaped death as well.
Olive began to travel and give lectures on her experiences. The late 1800’s had no TV or movies, and folks loved to read long books and go to interesting lectures. To tell the truth, many also liked to be amazed with the bizarre, and this nice proper white lady with her “brutal” tattoos may have brought stares and an involuntary shudder or two. The customs of Native Americans were not well known and the idea of actually living in another culture must have seemed very adventurous and fascinating to folks used to long hours of drudgery at home.
Perhaps she got tired of being an oddity, for Olive settled down in Sherman, TX. She learned to cover the tattoos pretty much with make-up, and her husband said there would be no more mention of her former adventures in their home.
Olive’s full story, and several others, are available in “Amazing Girls of Arizona,” available at amazon.com.
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