author
R. B. (Royal Byron) Stratton
1827–1875
Best known for shaping the famous story of Olive Oatman, this 19th-century Methodist minister wrote one of the era’s most widely read captivity narratives. His work helped bring a dramatic frontier story to a broad American audience.
1 Audiobook
Captivity of the Oatman Girls Being an Interesting Narrative of Life Among the Apache and Mohave Indians
by R. B. (Royal Byron) Stratton
About the author
R. B. Stratton, also listed as Royal Byron Stratton, was an American Methodist minister and writer active in the mid-19th century. He is remembered chiefly for Captivity of the Oatman Girls, the book based on the story of Olive and Lorenzo Oatman after their family was attacked while traveling west.
Contemporary catalog and archive records identify him as R. B. (Royal Byron) Stratton, 1827–1875. Sources connected with the Oatman story describe him as a pastor who worked with Olive Oatman and helped present her experiences to the public in print and in lectures.
Today, Stratton is read less as a literary celebrity than as an important figure in the history of American captivity narratives and western storytelling. His best-known book remains a window into how dramatic frontier experiences were edited, published, and shared with readers in the 1850s.