caption relations death_date death_place religion nationality parents birth_date image article_title name
olive captivity of the oatman girls '' , 1857 -lrb- left -rrb- and mary oatman , '' olive oatman 1851 illinois mormon american us royce oatman , mary ann oatman 1844 file : oatman girls.jpg mary ann oatman
 mary ann oatman
mary ann oatman

mary ann oatman -lrb- 1844 -- 1851 -rrb- was the sister of olive oatman , and a survivor of abuse by the yavapai people -lrb- though many historians argue that it is impossible to know whether or not these were yavapai , or some other tribe -rrb- .
mary ann oatman was born to royce oatman and his wife , also named mary ann , in illinois .
the oatmans were members of the mormon religion .
believing that they were immigrating to a divine country , the oatmans travelled to arizona , where they were massacred by yavapai .
the only survivors of the oatman family massacre were mary ann , her sister olive and brother lorenzo , who was badly injured .
mary ann and her sister olive were taken as slaves by the yavapai .
tied with ropes and forced to walk along the arizonan desert , the girls ' health suffered deeply ; they became hungry and dehydrated .
whenever they asked for rest or water , they would be poked by the yavapai with lances .
mary ann and olive were forced to hard labor , and they would be bothered by yavapai children , who used sticks to burn them .
in 1851 , the sisters were traded to the mohave tribe for a couple of horses and bags of beans .
the mohave chief and his family welcomed the oatman sisters with love and care , giving them food and providing them with a family life .
unfortunately for young mary ann , the help came too late : her body affected by the hunger and illness she suffered as a captive , she died soon after being taken by the chief 's family .
shortly before dying , she tried to comfort her sister by telling her `` i have been a great deal of trouble to you , olive .
you will miss me for a while , but you will not have to work so hard when i 'm gone '' .
