Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (1848 – 1929) was an American farmer, teamster, buffalo hunter, officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, gambler, saloon-keeper, and miner. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with two of his brothers, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday.

Wyatt Earp, son of Nicholas Porter Earp (1813 - 1907) and Virginia Ann Cooksey (1821 - 1893), was born in Monmouth, Illinois on 19 March 1848 at Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois; he died at the age of 80 on 13 January 1929 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. He was cremated and the ashes were interred at in the Jewish section of the Hills of Eternity Cemetery, Colma, San Mateo County, California. Wyatt Earp had three wives, but no children.

Marriages

1. Urilla Sutherland (c1853 - 1870), married 1873 Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois
2. Celia Blaylock (1850 - 1888), married 1873 Dodge City, Ford County, Kansas; this was probably a common-law marriage, there is no record of a legal wedding
3. Josephine Marcus (c1861 - 1944), married 8 May 1878 Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona; there is no record of a legal marriage ceremony

Early Years

He grew up on an Iowa farm, and moved with his parents to California in 1864. His first jobs included working as a stagecoach driver, buffalo hunter, and then as a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, and then Dodge City, Kansas, where he established his reputation as a lawman and gambler. His first wife died and a second marriage failed.

Tombstone and the O.K. Corral

In Tombstone, Arizona, he acquired the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon, and married his third and final wife, Josie, and participated in the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.

Wyatt and Josie moved often. Between 1885 and 1887, they lived in San Diego. Here Wyatt gambled and invested in real estate and saloons in what is now the Gaslamp Quarter. He even refereed at local prize fights. Then they moved to Nome, Alaska, where they operated a saloon during the gold rush. From Nome they moved to the gold rush boom town of Tonopah, Nevada, where operating a saloon, gambling and mining again proved profitable.

The Final Years

Wyatt Earp spent his final years working mining claims in the Mojave Desert during the winters while summering in nearby Los Angeles.

During all his years of law enforcement and gunfights Wyatt was never so much as grazed by a single bullet. He died peacefully at the age of 81 with his wife Josie at the bedside. She was unable to attend his funeral because of her grief. His pallbearers were John Clum and George Parsons; his attorney from the Tombstone days, W.J. Hunsacker; Wilson Mizner, a friend from the Alaska days; and early Hollywood Western film stars Tom Mix and William S. Hart.

Legacy

Wyatt Earp has become an iconic figure in American folk history. He is the major subject of various movies, TV shows, biographies and works of fiction.

Sources

• Wiki Profile