Page 31 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

opponent of his boss. Earp immediately left Wichita, following his brother James to Dodge City, Kansas,
where he became an assistant city marshal. In the winter of 1878, he went to Texas to track down an
th
outlaw, and he met John "Doc" Holliday (12 Cousin, 2 times removed, whom Earp credited with saving
his life.

Earp moved constantly throughout his life from one boomtown to another. He left Dodge City in 1879
and moved with brothers James and Virgil to Tombstone, where a silver boom was underway. The Earps
clashed with an informal group of outlaws known as the "Cowboys." Wyatt, Virgil, and younger
brother Morgan held various law-enforcement positions which put them in conflict with Tom
McLaury, Frank McLaury, Ike Clanton, and Billy Clanton who threatened to kill the Earps on several
occasions. The conflict escalated over the next year, culminating in the shootout at the O.K. Corral on
October 26, 1881, where the Earps and Doc Holliday killed three Cowboys. During the next five months,
Virgil was ambushed and maimed, and Morgan was assassinated. Wyatt, Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, and
others formed a federal posse which killed three more Cowboys whom they thought responsible. Wyatt
was never wounded in any of the gunfights, unlike his brothers Virgil and Morgan or his friend Doc
Holliday, which only added to his mystique after his death.
As a lifelong gambler Earp was always looking for a quick way to make money. After leaving Tombstone,
he went to San Francisco where he reunited with Josephine Marcus, and she became his common-law
wife. They joined a gold rush to Eagle City, Idaho, where they owned mining interests and a saloon. They
left to race horses and open a saloon during a real estate boom in San Diego, California. Back in San
Francisco, Wyatt raced horses again, but his reputation suffered irreparably when he refereed
the Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey boxing match and called a foul which led many to believe that he fixed the
fight. They moved briefly to Yuma, Arizona, before joining the Nome Gold Rush in 1899. He and Charlie
Hoxie paid $1,500 (about $51,000 in 2018) for a liquor license to open a two-story saloon called the
Dexter and made an estimated $80,000 (about $2 million in 2017). The couple left Alaska and opened
another saloon in Tonopah, Nevada, the site of a new gold find. Around 1911, Earp began working
several mining claims in Vidal, California, retiring in the hot summers with Josephine to Los Angeles. He
made friends among early Western actors in Hollywood and tried to get his story told, but he was
portrayed only very briefly in one film produced during his lifetime: Wild Bill Hickok (1923).
Earp died on January 13, 1929. Known as a Western lawman, gunfighter, and boxing referee, he had a
notorious reputation for both his handling of the Fitzsimmons–Sharkey fight and his role in the O.K.
Corral gunfight. This began to change only after his death when the extremely flattering
biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal was published in 1931, becoming a bestseller and creating his
reputation as a fearless lawman. Since then, Earp has been the subject of numerous films, television
shows, biographies, and works of fiction which have increased both his fame and his notoriety. Long
after his death, he has many devoted detractors and admirers. His modern-day reputation is that of the
Old West's toughest and deadliest gunman.

References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. LDS Family Tree #

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