Her father, Pale Thunder, was a respected medicine man of the Tsitsistas (Cheyenne.) Around 1835, her father gave her in marriage to William Bent. She worked at Bent's fort and was often in charge of Bent’s supply trains. However, preferring the outdoors, she frequently stayed in the village outside the walls of the Fort. She raised their first three children, Mary, Robert and George, there with their Cheyenne, Arapaho, American, and Mexican neighbors. The children learned about Cheyenne ways from their mother and her mother, Tail Woman. Boys learned hunting and horse riding, while girls learned to tan hides, make clothing, and do beadwork. When they were older, their father sent them to schools in St. Louis, where he had been raised. By the time they were grown, the Bent children could live in either world, but found trouble in both. Owl Woman died in 1847, shortly after giving birth to fourth child Julia. She and William had lived between two worlds. Instead of being buried, her body was placed on a high platform, exposed to weather and birds, so that it could quickly return to the earth. In 2011, Owl Woman was inducted in Colorado Women's Hall of Fame for her role in managing relations between Native Tribes and American settlers.
Her father, Pale Thunder, was a respected medicine man of the Tsitsistas (Cheyenne.) Around 1835, her father gave her in marriage to William Bent. She worked at Bent's fort and was often in charge of Bent’s supply trains. However, preferring the outdoors, she frequently stayed in the village outside the walls of the Fort. She raised their first three children, Mary, Robert and George, there with their Cheyenne, Arapaho, American, and Mexican neighbors. The children learned about Cheyenne ways from their mother and her mother, Tail Woman. Boys learned hunting and horse riding, while girls learned to tan hides, make clothing, and do beadwork. When they were older, their father sent them to schools in St. Louis, where he had been raised. By the time they were grown, the Bent children could live in either world, but found trouble in both. Owl Woman died in 1847, shortly after giving birth to fourth child Julia. She and William had lived between two worlds. Instead of being buried, her body was placed on a high platform, exposed to weather and birds, so that it could quickly return to the earth. In 2011, Owl Woman was inducted in Colorado Women's Hall of Fame for her role in managing relations between Native Tribes and American settlers.
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