[43], Josephine's life after Tombstone and with Wyatt Earp is not well known, although it isn't as obscured by stories of her life in Tombstone that she told to hide facts. Grace, her sisters, Alma, and her mother brought in meals. Blaylock and her sister Sarah, meanwhile, rejected their prospective suitors and soon hatched a plan to escape and see the world. [26]:52 Following Wyatt's return to San Francisco, Josephine began using the name of "Josephine Earp". Her real name was Leah Hirschberg, whose mother was a music teacher. "[2], In her Cason manuscript, Josephine or Sadie wrote that she and Dora were homesick and returned to San Francisco with Sieber's help. [8] "There was far too much excitement in the air to remain a child. Josephine said that Sieber, who was German and may have recognized Josephine's German accent, guessed her situation and sent a telegram from Fort Whipple to her brother-in-law Aaron Weiner. Three days later, Sieber and Sgt. Perhaps she became addicted to the substances and no longer knew her limits. Previous researchers of Matties life state there are court records of her prostitution during this time that name her as Celie or Sally. Today, you can travel to the ghost town of Pinal, near the town of Superior, Arizona and visit Matties marked grave in the historic cemetery. . Wyatt took a job managing a horse stable in Santa Rosa. It is undisputed, however, that he was arrested in a brothel raid in 1872. What did Wyatt Earps wife drink? The nine-man jury found her not guilty. Many wives of the prosperous mining engineers, merchants, and business owners lived in better class cities where they didn't have to contend with being confused for a prostitute. Mattie believed that her husband would soon grow tired of his new fling, but in reality, he was growing tired of her. Knowledge of her place in Wyatt's life was concealed by Josephine Earp, his later common-law wife, who worked ceaselessly to protect her and Wyatt's reputation in their later years. [21], In about 1923, Charles Welsh, a friend who Earp had known since his time in Dodge City in 1876, and a retired railroad engineer, frequently invited the Earps to visit his family in San Bernardino, Needles, and later in Los Angeles. She continued to work as a prostitute during their early years together. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday Weren't That Close It's true that Holliday and Earp were friends. It is possible she overdosed by accident and died of respiratory depression. Earp became angry and left. Earp had grown into a grizzled widower after his first wife, Urilla Sutherland, died of typhoid fever in 1870. [2] Earp was appointed assistant marshal in Dodge City under Marshal Lawrence Deger around May 1876. Prominent men were however expected to be discreet. Much of what is known about Blaylock and her life is legend, and after her early death, she became a secret piece of Earps past and one of Wyatt Earps four wives. When she was seven years old, the family moved to San Francisco. [48] The couple moved back to Prescott, Arizona Territory, where John had been working, and four months later, on June 15, 1869, she had her first child, Henrietta. She apparently expected to receive a telegram from Earp telling her where to meet him, but it never arrived. In the 1880 United States Census Blaylock is listed as Wyatt's wife though there is no record of a legal marriage. Meet Mattie Blaylock, The Abandoned Common-Law Wife Of Wyatt Earp By Marco Margaritoff | Edited By Erik Hawkins Published March 24, 2022 In the mid-19th century, Mattie Blaylock left her farm life in Iowa behind and eloped with Wyatt Earp, but ended up abandoned by the lawman after the Gunfight at the O.K. He lost an election for Mohave County deputy sheriff in Gillet in 1879, but was elected as Mohave's representative to the Tenth Territorial Legislature. Corral, Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday. [73]:38, After the Earp Vendetta Ride ended in April 1882, Wyatt left Arizona for Colorado. Born in Wisconsin in 1850, Mattie was raised in Fairfax, Iowa until she ran away from home at the age of 16. She said that she had believed Behan was planning to marry her, but he kept putting it off, and she grew disillusioned. Celia, or "Celie" as she was known as a child, attended Sunday school, learned Biblical parables, and was taught to live by the Ten Commandments. Earp's anger at Holliday's ethnic slur may indicate that his feelings for Josephine was more serious at the time than is commonly known. [2] In November 1879, Johnny Behan opened his new saloon for business. [32] In reconstructing her life story, Josephine said years later that she actually lived with Kitty Jones and her husband, a lawyer,[27]:117 while working as a housekeeper for Behan. [43], Josephine told the Earp cousins that she returned to San Francisco before the grand opening of Lucky Baldwin's luxury Baldwin Hotel and Theater on the northeast corner of Powell and Market St., which opened on March 6, 1876. The moment came between March and October of 1868, when the two adult sisters left town without money or permission from their parents. In early April, Wyatt left Arizona for New Mexico and then Colorado. Wyatt Earp in 1869 4. [105], While they lived in San Diego, Wyatt raced Otto Rex, the horse he had won in a card game. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. [35] Married women of the era were expected to avoid working outside the home, or risk being considered "public women," a euphemism for prostitute. She became addicted to laudanum. She passed away on July 3, 1888, at about the age of 38. William Vermillion, Nancy Owens. This is the book from which the movie Tombstone was based. For Josephine Earp, the pen was mightier than the sordid. "[25], In addition to Josephine's concealing Wyatt's past relationship with Blaylock, modern researchers think she may also have been concealing her own past as a "sporting lady" or prostitute. [36]:101, In a remarkable set of coincidences, the known life of Josephine Sadie Marcus overlapped the life of an otherwise unknown prostitute named Sadie Mansfield. Josephine and Wyatt went to great lengths to keep her name out of Lake's book, and she threatened litigation to keep it that way. Wells also owned a brothel in Prescott, Arizona. It is in large part due to Josephine's efforts to build and burnish the reputation of her common-law spouse that he has been depicted in books and movies as a champion of justice . In the book I Married Wyatt Earp (1967), based on a manuscript which she purportedly wrote, author Glenn Boyer quotes her as saying, "I liked the traveling sort of man better than the kind that sat back in one town all his life and wrote down little rows of figures all day or hustled dry goods or groceries and that sort of thing My blood demanded excitement, variety and change. Corral, but Virgil Earp, In the last half of the 1800s, the bustling port town of San Francisco, which grew out of, If you are a fan of the Paramount+ series Yellowstone (and who isnt? In I Married Wyatt Earp, author Glen Boyer states that Josephine took dance lessons and had a maid. Previously, Matties grave was unmarked. He continued his career in law enforcement in Dodge City. According to the 1860 census, Celia attended local schools. Wyatt Earp: Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Josephine Sarah "Sadie" Earp (ne Marcus; 1861 December 19, 1944)[1] was the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp, a famed Old West lawman and gambler. Her death was ruled a suicide. Pinafore, she ran away from home at age 18 to join the theatre. Wikimedia CommonsMattie Blaylock ran away from home when she was 18. The Epitaph reported on February 27, 1882 that S. Mansfield of Tombstone was returning from the west with other passengers, passing through Colton, California. Cason says she and her sister "finally abandoned work on the manuscript because she [Josie] would not clear up the Tombstone sequence where it pertained to her and Wyatt. Whether it was intentional or not, Mattie killed herself by overdosing on laudanum and alcohol. Instead, he married Marcus within weeks and never spoke of Blaylock again. Josephine eventually sold virtually all of her jewelry to Baldwin. Earp did mezuzah when entering the house." While they survived without a scratch after 30 seconds of gunfire, Blaylock had already been wounded as Earp had already met Josephine Sadie Marcus months ago. In the 1880 United States Census Blaylock is listed as Wyatt's wife though there is no record of a legal marriage. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (1861-December 19, 1944) was an American part-time actress and dancer who was best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp. San Francisco's population had boomed to 149,473, and housing was in short supply. [2] The 1880 census places the family in the 9th Ward, between San Francisco Bay, Channel, Harrison and Seventh streets. She didn't use either Marcus or Behan as her name, but asked a friend to send the postal order for her. Allegedly a runaway, she's said to have left . [citation needed], Josephine told others that when she and her friend Dora arrived in Arizona she learned that "some renegade Yuma-Apaches had escaped from the reservation to which they had been consigned and had returned to their old haunts on the war-path." He met another woman, Josephine Sadie Marcus, around 1882 and spent the rest of his life with her. Her poor lifestyle would see her age out of favor, while her laudanum addiction saw her die of suicide by opium poisoning on July 3, 1888. [106] During an investigation of the boxing match by a panel appointed by San Francisco Mayor Washington Bartlett, they learned Josephine Earp was a "degenerate horseplayer" and that she frequently took loans out against her jewelry. While Earp would be valorized by films like Tombstone (1993), Blaylocks story remains lesser-known, from her lifelong loyalty to her fatal addictions. [27], Based on the story she told the Earp cousins, when correlated with other sources, Josephine may have left her parents home in San Francisco for Prescott, Arizona, as early as October 1874,[2] when she was 13 or 14 years old,[25] not 1879 as she told everyone later on. No documentation proves they were married, but they claimed their wedding took place in Iowa or Nebraska. Corral shootout and the Earp Vendetta Ride. [71][86][29]:78, They boarded the steamship Rosalie for Nome, Alaska on September 21. She was peculiar. Generally accepted to be a picture of Earp in Prescott, Arizona Territory, in 1880. While some creative liberties have been taken in the film, its depiction of the events surrounding Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, along with the rest of the motley crew, is fairly . The name Sadie Mansfield was also recorded in Tombstone. [65], In his book, The Tombstone Travesty (later republished as The Earp Brothers of Tombstone), Frank Waters quotes Virgil Earp's wife, Allie, as saying that "Sadie's charms were undeniable. [34], The type of work available to unmarried women without means in that era was as waitresses, laundresses, seamstresses, or other dull work which Josephine avoided. After Wyatt died, Josephine spent her last years in Los Angeles. [26]:45, After Wyatt's death, Josephine collaborated with two of her husband's cousins, Mabel Earp Cason and her sister Vinolia Earp Ackerman, to document her life. From 1891 to 1896, the Earps lived in at least four different locations in San Francisco: 145 Ellis St., 720 McAllister St., 514A Seventh Ave. and 1004 Golden Gate Ave.[70] After moving to southern California in about 1903, they also lived in several different locations. Of the countless prospectors who rushed west to mine silver, only a few became rich. The memory of it has been a source of humiliation and regret to me in all the years since that time and I have never until now disclosed it to anyone besides my husband (Wyatt). In 2009, the Tonto National Forest, in conjunction with local citizens and preservation organizations, began preserving the historic cemetery, interpreting the history, and updating grave markers. She met Wyatt in 1881 in the frontier boom town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, when she was living with Johnny Behan, sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. Wyatt Earp is the most recognizable face of the Earp family. [5]:47[5]:65, Blaylock suffered from severe headaches and while in Tombstone, Arizona she became addicted to laudanum, a then-common opiate and pain killer. However, she was well aware that she would soon be married off to likely live out her life as a housewife. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. It's not known where she and Sarah spent the intervening time. [2], The events that Josephine "Sadie" Marcus claimed took place when she was 18 years old in 1879 don't correlate with known facts, but do closely correspond to the events in 14 year old Sadie Mansfield's journey to Prescott in 1874. [18] Behan claimed their daughter Henrietta wasn't his, and a request for support for Henrietta was stricken from the divorce petition. After Earp left Tombstone and Blaylock, she waited in Colton, California to hear from him, but he never contacted her. There were few employment possibilities for young girls. After Wyatt Earp's death, Josephine insisted on being called Josie or Josephine. To understand the homosexual representation by Jason Priestly in "Tombstone" well I think one must grasp that a couple of years before Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles, an embittered old man at the poor treatment he thought himself to have received in Breckenridge's own biography, "Helldorado" complaining to his own working biographer, Stuart Lake, that "Helldorado" was a kind of torpedo job . [26]:49 In a set of extraordinary coincidences, Sadie Mansfield and Sadie Marcus had very similar names and initials and were known by their friends as "Sadie." Corral is quiet, and it's had an unremarkable existence for the two years it's been standingalthough . Corral, which may have contributed to their animosity. This family lived only a few blocks from where Josephine lived with her family. #wyattearp #oldwest #history #sanbernardino . The San Diego Union printed a report from the San Francisco Call on July 9, 1882 that Virgil Earp was in San Francisco (receiving treatment for his shattered arm) and that Wyatt was expected to arrive there that day. [101][102] Josie's three nieces, daughters of her half-sister Rebecca and husband Aaron Wiener, would frequently visit the couple during the winter months at their desert camp. Josephine is quoted in I Married Wyatt Earp as saying that on October 26, 1881, the day of the shootout at the O.K. Kate was a prostitute and Holliday a gambler. Her occupation was "Courtesan". Blaylock was said to have suffered from headaches, and while in Tombstone, Arizona, she became addicted to laudanum, a then-common opiate and pain killer. And you have no business risking money that way. [112] On July 7, 1957, grave-robbers dug into the Earp's grave in an apparent attempt to steal the urn containing his ashes, but unable to find them, stole the 300 pounds (140kg) grave stone. James Earp's wife, Bessie, was also a prostitute or madam, hailing from Wichita, Kansas, and she eventually moved with her husband to Tombstone. Later that year, Josephine's half-sister Rebecca Levy married Aaron Wiener,[7] an insurance salesman born in Prussia, as her parents were. Blaylock left Colton and returned to Pinal City, but the silver boom had died out and the bulk of the town's population had moved on. The Rufus Buck gangs exploits didnt last long, but they were brutal enough to quickly go down in, Wyatt Earp may be lionized for his role in the gunfight at the O.K. [71] Josephine was addicted to gambling on horse racing and her wagering increased until Wyatt gave her an ultimatum. Yes, 'Tombstone' is inspired by a true story. He participated in the notorious O.K. The two fought side by side in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881's famous gunfight at the O.K. That's why Mattie started taking laudanum for her headaches, which was a 19th century cure-all for everything, from colic to menstrual cramps. [3][1][4][5] Sophie was a widow with a 3-year-old daughter, Rebecca Levy, when she married Marcuse, who was eight years younger than she. [Henry] Jaffa told me later that Earps woman was a Jewess. And he definitely wasn't the infallible hero later accounts made him out to be. He was known to disappear for days at a time "to see property", the family euphemism for a drinking binge, and Earp was his regular partner. As an unmarried woman in frontier Tombstone, vastly outnumbered by men, she was likely regarded by some as a prostitute, regardless of her true status. Wyatt Earp, one of the most famous figures to emerge from the colorful 19th-century history of the American West, is best remembered known for his participation in a notorious 1881 gunfight at. He opened a small business catering to miners and joined a few posses pursuing bandits. Josephine Sarah Marcus was born in 1861 in New York City, the second of three children of immigrants Carl-Hyman Marcuse (later Henry Marcus) and Sophie Lewis. [19] Josephine sought to get her own life story published and gained the assistance of Wyatt's cousins Mabel Earp Cason and Cason's sister Vinolia Earp Ackerman. Wyatt Earp wasn't always on the right side of the law. When he delayed, she was ready to leave him. [11], Some modern writers believe that Wyatt Earp moved in with Josephine after she kicked Behan out. 5. [71] They moved frequently, even when living in the same town. On November 25, 1899, the Seattle Star reported Earp's arrival. [45], Behan married 17-year-old Victoria Zaff in March 1869 in San Francisco, her step-father's home town. [107] The San Francisco Examiner ran a series of stories over three days describing Earp's life in exaggerated detail that ridiculed him. She may have arrived in Prescott, Arizona as early as 1874. Josephine had to walk past the brothel every day on her way to school. They planned to head for Alaska to join in the Alaska Gold Rush, but their departure was delayed for three weeks when Wyatt fell while getting off Market Street streetcar and bruised his hip. [4] In the 1880 United States Census of Tombstone, Blaylock is listed as Wyatt's wife though there is no record of a legal marriage. She successfully kept both women's names out of Stuart Lake's biography of Wyatt and after he died, Josephine may have threatened litigation to keep it that way. Instead . From Wichita to Dodge City, to the O.K. She wanted him to look like a church-going saint and blow things up. [19], Each may have engaged in extramarital affairs. [19] Wyatt had a mischievous sense of humor. She was buried in the Pinal Cemetery in Pinal, Arizona. [5]:65 It is not known exactly when Earp and Blaylock ended their relationship. Wyatt's commonlaw wife, Matty Blalock, became addicted to opium in . ", Mattie was born Celia Ann Blaylock in Monroe Township, Johnson County, Iowa, near Fairfax, Iowa, to Henry Blaylock and Elizabeth "Betsy" Vance. Josephine was apparently too full of grief to assist or to attend the funeral itself. [36]:154, "Josephine Marcus" redirects here. [21] No public record of their marriage has ever been found. [1] She was their third child and second daughter. Wyatt Earp had a total of three wives. She often appeared on stage and in publicity photos wearing a corset and pink tights: shocking attire for the 1870s. [83] Josephine frequently griped about Wyatts lack of work and financial success and even his character and personality. Earp named a mining claim he filed on February 16, 1880 "Mattie Blaylock. [1], The University of Arizona Press published the book in 1976 under the title I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus. After learning about Mattie Blaylock, read about Wyatt Earps other wife Josephine Earp. She wasn't that upset. She gambled away the filing fees and lied to Wyatt about what happened to the lease, which later turned out to be valuable. [49] Behan was on the surface an upstanding citizen, married with a child, but he also frequented brothels. The book I Married Wyatt Earp (1967), based on a manuscript allegedly written in part by her, describes events she witnessed in Arizona that occurred before 1879, the year she claimed at other times to have first arrived in Tombstone. [118], Beginning in about 1994, critics began to challenge the accuracy of the book, and eventually many parts of the book were refuted as fictional. Considine tried to keep Earp from succeeding, and arranged for his establishment to be raided. The Earps returned briefly to San Francisco in April 1900, but they returned to Seattle before boarding the steamer SS Alliance. [43] Rather than leave Tombstone, Josephine later wrote that Behan convinced her to use the money to build a house for them[32] and continued their relationship. [71] Josephine got pregnant at the same time, and she thought she could persuade Earp from heading to Alaska. [42]:p275-198[77], After the Coeur d'Alene mining venture died out, Earp and Josie briefly went to El Paso, Texas before moving in 1887 to San Diego where the railroad was about to arrive and a real estate boom was underway. [2], As an adult, Josephine claimed her father was German and ran a prosperous mercantile business. Jaffa was also Jewish. After Wyatts notorious gunfight at the O.K. [43], While there are no records that her father sent her money, researchers have located records of money orders totaling $50 sent by Josephine to her family in San Francisco. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (1860 - December 19, 1944) was the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp, a famed Old West lawman and gambler. Josephine gambled so recklessly that Wyatt cut her off and asked other gambling houses to do the same. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. When the Comstock Lode production began to fade, San Francisco suffered. Bat Masterson, a friend of Wyatt Earp's who was in Tombstone from February to April 1881,[29]:41[30] described her to Stuart Lake as "an incredible beauty"[31] and as the "belle of the honkytonks, the prettiest dame in three hundred or so of her kind. [11][22][23][24]:47[24]:65, The facts about Josephine's life in the Arizona Territory and in Tombstone have been obscured by her legal and personal efforts to keep that period private. Tombstone diarist George W. Parsons never mentioned seeing Earp and his next common-law wife, Josephine "Sadie" Marcus, together and neither did John Clum in his memoirs. In the gunfight, Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt Earp joined Doc Holliday to . Earp was apparently heavily affected by his first wife's death and started acting out. [5][9] In early 1880, Henry was living with his son-in-law Aaron, who was employed as a bookkeeper. [57], In retelling her life story, Josephine Marcus retold many elements of her experience that corroborated facts in Sadie Mansfield's history. Earp and partner Charles E. Hoxie built the Dexter Saloon, the largest in Nome. All in a day's work!
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