Royce Boise Oatman, Sr.

www.discoverseaz.com/History/Oatman.html

son of Lyman and Lucy (Hartland) Oatman, was born at Middletown Springs, Rutland County, Vermont, in 1809 and was killed by Yavapai Indians 18 February 1851 in New Mexico Territory.

He was educated in western New York and removed to LaHarpe, Illinois, where he married Mary Ann Sperry in 1832; she was born 11 February 1813 in East Bloomfield, New York, and died 18 February 1851 in New Mexico Territory. She was the daughter of Joy and Mary (Lamont) Sperry.

Royce conducted a mercantile business. During the hard time of 1842, his business was entirely wiped out. He removed to Pennsylvania for a time, but soon returned to Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in farming. Having received a serious injury while assisting a neighbor dig a well, Royce decided to go to New Mexico, where it was thought the milder climate would be beneficial.

In 1850 they joined a wagon train led by James C. Brewster, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), whose attacks on, and disagreements with, the church leadership in Salt Lake City, Utah, had caused him to break with the followers of Brigham Young in Utah and lead his fol- lowers--Brewsterites--to California, which he claimed was the "intended place of gathering" for the Mormons.

The Brewsterite emigrants, numbering 52, left Independence, Missouri, 9 August 1850. Dissension caused the group to split near Santa Fe, with Brewster following the northern route. Royce Oatman and several other families chose the southern route via Socorro, Santa Cruz, and Tucson. Near Socorro, Royce assumed command of the party. They reached New Mexico early in 1851 only to find the country and climate wholly unsuited to their purpose. The other wagons gradually abandoned the goal of reaching the mouth of the Colorado. The party had reached Maricopa Wells when they were told that the Indians ahead were very bad and that they would risk their lives if they proceeded further. The other families resolved to stay. The Oatman family, eventually traveling alone, was decimated on the banks of the Gila River about 80-90 miles east of Yuma in what is now Arizona.

Royce and Mary had seven children at this time, ranging in age from 16 to 1 year. On their fourth day out, they were approached by a group of Indians, asking for tobacco, food and trifles. At some point during the encounter, the Oatman family was attacked by the group, and all were killed except Lorenzo, age 15, who was clubbed and left for dead, Olive, age 13, and Mary Ann, age 7. Lorenzo awoke to find his parents and family dead, but no sign of Mary Ann and Olive. He eventually reached a settlement where he was treated. Three days later, Lorenzo, who had rejoined the emigrant train, found the bodies of his slain family; "we buried the bodies of father, mother and babe in one common grave." (The Tucson Citizen, 26 September 1913) The men had no way of digging proper graves in the volcanic rocky soil, so they gathered the bodies together and heaped a large pile of stones over them. It has been said the remains were reburied several times and finally moved to the river for reinterment by Arizona pioneer Charles Poston.

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