what was wyatt earp's wife addicted to

Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock (January 1850 July 3, 1888) was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about six years. Some women in Tombstone operated restaurants, boarding houses, and apparel and millinery shops, and a few ran some of the dry goods stores. The case was tried the same day with only one witness for the defense, Jennie Andrews. [39] Josephine wrote that Dora was hired as a singer, and she was hired as a dancer. [citation needed]. [6] They traveled via ship to Panama, went over the Isthmus of Panama, and caught a steamship to San Francisco. #wyattearp #oldwest #history #sanbernardino . She was not recorded in the 1870 census but in 1871 she posed for a photo in Fort Scott, Kansas. Mattie believed that her husband would soon grow tired of his new fling, but in reality, he was growing tired of her. They rented a cabin from Rex Beach for $100 a month and spent the winter of 18981899 there. Mattie Blaylock Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock was involved with Wyatt Earp after the death of his first wife, and is often termed as Wyatt's "common law" wife. [120], The book has become an example of how supposedly factual works can trip up researchers, historians, and librarians. [21] Mattie resumed life as a prostitute and committed "suicide by opium poisoning" on July 3, 1888. [2], Later that same month, on October 24, 1874, the Arizona Miner reported, "Al Zieber, Sergeant Stauffer and a mixed command of white and red soldiers are in the hills of Verde looking for some erring Apaches, whom they will be apt to find." In 1884, Wyatt and his wife Josie, his brothers Warren and James, and James' wife Bessie arrived in Eagle City, Idaho, another new boomtown that was created as a result of the discovery of gold, silver, and lead in the Coeur d'Alene area. A second stone of flat granite was also stolen. She graduated from the University of Colorado with her Master of Arts in American history with a minor in public history and a certificate in historic preservation with high distinction. He had a "relationship with" Sadie Mansfield, likely the same girl who had traveled with Hattie Wells' prostitutes from San Francisco. But, in April 1881, less than eight months after Behan and Sadie built the house, she rented it to Dr. George Emory Goodfellow. As the oldest, Martha Jane Blaylock was the first to be married in 1860, when she was 17. 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. 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. With the provision that Wyatt's name be removed from the title, the movie was released as Frontier Marshal. 113K views 2 years ago Wyatt Earp and his common law wife Josephine of 44 years lived an adventurous life to say the least. He was named after his father's commanding officer in the Mexican-American War, Captain Wyatt Berry Stapp, of the 2nd Company Illinois Mounted Volunteers. Of those three, there's a "maybe" around Marcus, but it should come as no surprise that Mattie Blaylock, the woman usually described as the "second Mrs. Wyatt Earp," had a history of prostitution. She is the author of The Queen of Denver: Louise Sneed Hill and the Emergence of Modern High Society. May 9, 2014. To feed her gambling habit, Josephine would pawn the jewelry to millionaire Lucky Baldwin, but Wyatt would later buy the jewelry back. [34] Many madams and prostitutes had more control of their lives and greater independence than "respectable" women, who often ostracized them. The Jewish Women's Archive describes Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp as "impulsive, adventurous, and outspoken." The daughter of German-Jewish immigrants, she was born in New York in 1861 and moved to San Francisco with her folks at age seven. They hunted down some of the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys they believed responsible for maiming Virgil Earp and killing Morgan. "She didn't go to his funeral, even. There is some evidence that she lived from 1874 to 1876 in Prescott and Tip Top, Arizona Territory under the assumed name of Sadie Mansfield, who was a prostitute, before becoming ill and returning to San Francisco. [8] She had been using laudanum and alcohol to excess for some time. Wyatt would often go on long walks to get away from her. 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. But, no other corroborating evidence has been found supporting the thesis that Josephine used May Bell as a stage name, and she never claimed so. During the same week, Behan registered at the Bank Exchange Hotel in Phoenix, and on March 5 the Prescott Weekly Journal-Miner reported that Sadie had returned to Gillette from Phoenix on March 2. He became a deputy before settling in Dodge City as assistant marshal. He opened the Northern Saloon in Tonopah and served as a Deputy U.S. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (1860 - December 19, 1944) was the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp, a famed Old West lawman and gambler. "[84][19][21], Among the facts Josephine wanted scrubbed from Earp's history, she persuaded biographers Flood, Lake and Burns to write that Earp was a non-drinker. With no intentions to waste time and wait to be married off, Blaylock took destiny into her own hands and ran off then met a man named Wyatt Earp. Mattie Blaylock ran away from home when she was 18. [45], Behan married 17-year-old Victoria Zaff in March 1869 in San Francisco, her step-father's home town. Eugenia and Lottie McCarthy taught us to dance the Highland Fling, the Sailor's Hornpipe, and ballroom dancing. Meet Mattie Blaylock, The Abandoned Common-Law Wife Of Wyatt Earp. Earp developed a reputation as a sportsman as well as a gambler. [71] Director John Ford said that whenever Josephine left town for religious conventions, Earp would come into town, play poker, and get drunk with the cowboy actors. Josie had two miscarriages during her life and was apparently unable to have children. Death of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp, widow of Wyatt December 19, 1944 Josephine Sarah Marcus, born to German Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, NY, in 1861, grew up in San Francisco. While Blaylocks first few years as a drifter are largely undocumented, by around 1872, she was working as a prostitute in Fort Scott, Kansas, then later settled in Dodge City where shed meet Earp. [37] One block away on the 1000 block of Clay Street in a neighborhood known for prostitution was a brothel, owned by Hattie Wells. 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. Who was at Wyatt Earp's funeral? 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. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp, by Ann Kirschner", "Testimony of Wyatt S. Earp in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case", "The Earps, Doc Holliday, & The Blonger Bros", "Long Green's Bodyguard Swears he is a Poor Man", "San Diego Walking Tour: Gaslamp Quarter", "Wyatt Earp: The Missing Years, San Diego In The 1880s", "Shady Ladies in the "Stingaree District" When The Red Lights Went Out in San Diego", "The Story of New San Diego and of its Founder Alonzo E. Horton", "Seattle newspaper reports on November 25, 1899, that Wyatt Earp will open a gambling house in the city", "1900 United States Federal Census for Mrs W S Earp", "Earp Historical Timeline San Francisco and Alaska", "Earp Historical Timeline Page 12 The Final Years", "Cemetery of the Week #116: Wyatt Earp's gravesite", Rare Original Letters: Josephine "Sadie" Earp, 1914 "Kaloma" valse hesitante by "Gire Goulineaux", a pseudonym of Johann C. Schmid (19701951), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Josephine_Earp&oldid=1152582421, Hills of Eternity Memorial Park, Colma, California, frontier adventurer; gambler; possibly prostitute, This page was last edited on 1 May 2023, at 03:08. Wyatt began a relationship with Josephine "Sadie" Marcus, who had during 1880-81 been in a relationship with Johnny Behan in Tombstone. In June 1881, Sadie sent a postal money order to her mother using the name Josephine Behan,[43] and Wyatt Earp was still living with his common-law wife Mattie Blaylock. [43], In early 1881, Josephine returned to Tombstone after a trip to San Francisco. Later that year, Josephine's half-sister Rebecca Levy married Aaron Wiener,[7] an insurance salesman born in Prussia, as her parents were. 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. It was here that he met Mattie Blaylock, with whom he started an affair and moved to the town of Tombstone on Dec. 1, 1879. Wyatt meets Josephine "Josie" Marcus, who is a traveling actress, and the two begin an affair. She gambled away the filing fees and lied to Wyatt about what happened to the lease, which later turned out to be valuable. [18]:36 Josephine worked hard to conceal Wyatt's prior relationship to his common-law wife and former prostitute Mattie Blaylock, with whom Wyatt was living when Josephine first met him in 1880. Grace recalled that Josie, who had never had many domestic skills, did very little housekeeping or cooking for Wyatt. "[19], As late as 1936, Josephine took legal action to suppress certain details of her and Wyatt's life in Tombstone. [17] She was also in need of money, and tried to sell a collection of books to Lake while he was writing the book. "[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. "[2] She apparently resented treatment by her teachers in the San Francisco schools, describing them as "inconsistent of a tolerant and gay populous acting as merciless and self-righteous as a New England village in bringing up its children." Heartbroken and addicted, Blaylock tried her best to prevail. To her the women appeared not as "soiled doves" but nicely dressed women living a life of leisure. However, Waters' book has been criticized as biased for its negative portrayal of Wyatt Earp and for including details not mentioned in the original manuscript by Allie Earp (the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp's brother Virgil).[7]. [26]:52 Following Wyatt's return to San Francisco, Josephine began using the name of "Josephine Earp". On June 1 or 2, 1880, William V. Carroll, the census enumerator for the 9th ward in San Francisco, visited the Marcus home. [19] Josephine could be controlling. [19] The Yuma Arizona Sentinel reported on October 25, 1879, "Tuesday arrived a Pinafore Company for Tucson, composed of Misses Pauline Markham, Mary Bell, Belle Howard, and Mrs. Pring, and Messrs. Borabeck and McMahon. 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. [63] One version of the story is that she had taken Behan's son Albert, who was hearing impaired, to San Francisco for treatment. Corral gunfight, which took out three of the Cochise County Cowboys. Her death was ruled a suicide. Enchanted by a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. The Epitaph reported on February 27, 1882 that S. Mansfield of Tombstone was returning from the west with other passengers, passing through Colton, California. When he delayed, she was ready to leave him. Then Blaylock and Earp stopped in the booming silver town of Pinal City, Arizona Territory, for two months in 1879. Corral, Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday. The opening date of the Baldwin Hotel is much earlier than the date Josephine said she left for Arizona with the Pauline Markham Troupe in 1879. Sarah returned home to Iowa less than a year later. [71]:117 Other researchers and writers aren't even sure she was in town that day. The horse was a frequent winner and sometimes Wyatt bought Josephine some jewelry with the proceeds. "[18]:79 Victoria cited liaisons with several woman, but specifically mentioned a "Sadie or Sada Mansfield", a 14-year-old "woman of prostitution and ill-fame" as co-respondent in the divorce action. [85], On August 5, 1897, Earp and Josie once again joined in a mining boom and left Yuma, Arizona for San Francisco. If Josephine, as she said, left San Francisco at age 18, it's unclear why she would still be attending school upon her return two years later. She described the harsh discipline meted out, including the "sting of rattan" and "being slapped for tardiness". [44][52][53] The area in which Behan campaigned was also near Cave Creek, where Al Sieber was looking for Indians. After the Gunfight at the O.K. She wasn't that upset. It's not known where she and Sarah spent the intervening time. [95] In February 1902, they arrived in Tonopah, Nevada, known as the "Queen of the Silver Camps," where silver and gold had been discovered in 1900 and a boom was under way. However, she was well aware that she would soon be married off to likely live out her life as a housewife. He managed a small store during the spring of 1899 in St. Michael on the Norton Sound, a major gateway to the Alaskan interior via the Yukon River. In between, they had crossed paths, but it's not as if they went everywhere together. Mattie Blaylock spent her entire childhood learning scripture and attending church. Corral. [44] She said that Sieber and his scouts led her stagecoach and its passengers to a nearby adobe ranch house. This page is not available in other languages. Wyatt took a job managing a horse stable in Santa Rosa. Josephine or Sadie Marcuss name was never included among those on the Markham troupes rolls in 1879. But the collision of Jewish and cowboy cultures that epitomized their union goes on. [14]:101[15] At one point in their contentious relationship, Josephine described Lake's book as made up of "outright lies". [6]:235 Frank Waters wrote in The Earp Brothers of Tombstone of public fights between Sadie Marcus and Blaylock and how the affair was a public scandal. [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. They stayed for about four years, living most of the time in the Brooklyn Hotel. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. He lived so long, passing away in 1929 at the ripe old age of eighty, that he had time to mold and nurture his public image after it had become a bit ragged . Billy Clanton (Thomas Haden Church) Billy Clanton, Ike's younger brother, played here by Thomas Haden Church, isn't so lucky and isn't afforded the opportunity to throw down his red sash. . 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. Previous researchers of Matties life state there are court records of her prostitution during this time that name her as Celie or Sally. . Wyatt Earp in 1869 4. She likely enjoyed the social life and independence that accompanied her role. The moment came between March and October of 1868, when the two adult sisters left town without money or permission from their parents. She may have arrived in Prescott, Arizona as early as 1874. [43] (In the 1920 census, Sadie reported to the census taker that her family was from Hamburg, Germany, bordering Prussia. What did Wyatt Earps wife drink? Earp moved to Wichita, Kansas, and worked as a shotgun guard for Wells Fargo. Shortly after that election his young wife, Urilla Sutherland, died. Raised by devout parents on Iowa farmland, she yearned for freedom and a life of adventure. Later in life Josephine described her first years in Arizona as "a bad dream". For Josephine Earp, the pen was mightier than the sordid. [63] They bought the only home they ever owned, a small cottage in Vidal, and lived there during the fall, winter and spring months of 1925 1928, while he worked his Happy Days mines in the Whipple Mountains a few miles north. Who Killed Johnny Ringo? [40], Author Roger Ray thoroughly researched Josephine's story about joining the theater company and found many inconsistencies. She lived on the family farm, had local friends & activities. Josephine had to walk past the brothel every day on her way to school. Josephine and Wyatt moved throughout their life, from one boomtown to another, until they finally bought a cottage in the Sonoran Desert town of Vidal, California on the Colorado River, where they spent the cooler seasons. Writer Alan Barra suggests that Behan and Earp knew of their mutual attraction to the same woman before the Gunfight at the O.K. In mid-1868, Celia ran away with her younger sister Sarah to avoid farm life. [70] He held onto his San Diego properties but their value fell, but he could not pay the taxes and was forced to sell the lots. Role: Allie Earp, Virgil's wife Also known for: Played the wife of the title character in Showtime's "Ray Donovan" series (2013-2017) and prostitute Trixie on HBO's "Deadwood". [91] She also gambled on the boats to and from Alaska. [49] Behan was on the surface an upstanding citizen, married with a child, but he also frequented brothels. [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. On July 3, 1888, she took a lethal dose of laudanum in Pinal City, Arizona. [103] The Earps were frequent visitors and often spent the holidays with the Welsh family, but they did not appreciate Josephine's gambling habits. Mattie Blaylock began a relationship with Earp after April 1876 in Dodge City, following his departure from Wichita, Kansas and the end of his relationship with Sally Heckell, who called herself Sally Earp. Marshal under Marshal J.F. Reportedly, her family took her back in, though they deemed her disgraced and a fallen woman. I can remember shedding many tears in out-of the way-corners. The third of four children, Josephine Sarah (Marcus) Earp was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1861 to German-Jewish immigrants Sophie and Hyman (Henry) Marcus. The facts about Josephine Earp and her relationship to Wyatt were relatively unknown until amateur Earp historian Glenn Boyer published the book I Married Wyatt Earp. 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. [2][26]:47 In January 1876, Josephine or Sadie left Prescott, stopped at a Los Angeles hotel, and returned to San Francisco before March 6. The group spent 10 days sleeping on the floor. 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 charges against her reported that "one set of German table spoons were stolen from the store of H. Asher and Company in the village of Prescott, Yavapai, A.T." Sheriff Ed Burnes searched Mansfield's residence and confiscated the spoons. She was the third of six children born to parents Henry and Elizabeth Blaylock. [34] Josephine always sought excitement in her life. According to the 1860 census, Celia attended local schools. The German Jews were usually more affluent, were better educated, and spoke German, while the Polish Jews, who spoke Yiddish, were typically peddlers and much more religious. Her parents greeted her cheerlessly and took her back in disgrace.[1]. [5][9] In early 1880, Henry was living with his son-in-law Aaron, who was employed as a bookkeeper. "[26]:42, In the Cason manuscript, which was in part the basis for the book I Married Wyatt Earp, Josephine says she and her friend Dora joined the Pauline Markham Theater Company in 1879, when it visited San Francisco on its Western tour. He met another woman, Josephine Sadie Marcus, around 1882 and spent the rest of his life with her. However, the union wouldnt last. At this point, Mattie's profession was listed as keeping house. Mattie Blaylocks grave at the Pinal City Cemetery in Superior, Arizona. [23] Sadie Mansfield reappeared in Tombstone when she was noted in the July 1882 Tombstone census, but Josephine Marcus and Josephine Behan were not. Josephine insisted she was striving to protect Wyatt Earps legacy. Shortly afterwards, Wyatt Earp began his famous "Revenge Ride" to rid the Territory of outlaws. [112] Josephine died at age 83 on December 19, 1944, in the same bungalow she and Wyatt shared at 4004 W. 17th Street in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. It is possible she overdosed by accident and died of respiratory depression. Her death was ruled as "suicide by opium poisoning". Mrs. Hirsch, because of Doras part in it was as anxious as my people (family), to keep it a secret. Earp had grown into a grizzled widower after his first wife, Urilla Sutherland, died of typhoid fever in 1870. "[20] While Blaylock was living with Earp, she suffered from severe headaches and became addicted to laudanum, an opiate-based pain reliever widely available at the time. 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. Wyatt Earp took up with the beautiful, young Sadie, even as his drug-addicted wife, Mattie, lay in bed with crippling headaches. This family lived only a few blocks from where Josephine lived with her family. Some say he spent a lot of time hunting, others argue he occupied his time in houses of ill-repute and other less than desirable establishments of the time. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer heard testimony from a large number of witnesses. [19], Each may have engaged in extramarital affairs. Blaylock planned to return to sex work in Pinal City, but with most of the prospective clientele gone with the silver, making a living there proved difficult. One was Lawrence Kasdan's sober biopic with Costner in the lead role, simply called "Wyatt Earp," which was beaten to the punch and box office receipts by "Tombstone."Directed by George P. Cosmatos, the man who brought us "Rambo: First Blood Part II," the film became a popular modern Western classic, hitting the broad beats of true historical . E.C. [2] Sophie and Carl had three children together: Nathan (born 1857), Josephine, and Henrietta (born 1864). He called a foul on Fitzsimmons that no one saw, and Wyatt was widely accused of taking a bribe. When her father had difficulty finding work, the family moved in with her older sister and brother-in-law in a working-class tenement. [26]:46, During 187173, Behan succeeded his father-in-law Bourke as Yavapai County Sheriff. [1] She was their third child and second daughter. This was a most enjoyable movie, and perhaps the best cowboy movie in quite some time. She met a gambler from Arizona who asked her to marry him. Wildcat - The Untold Story of Pearl Hart. (Josephine in her own account said that she brought her maid, a black woman named Julia, with her. A few women of the era chose to remain single as a means to maintain their independence from men, and Josephine was among them. The Lewis family was Jewish, and came from the Posen region in Prussia, current-day Poland, around 1850. She ran away with the gambler anyway, who later abandoned her in Arizona. [11], Josephine thought Johnnys marriage proposal was a good excuse to leave home again. [17] Grace Welsh and her sister-in-law Alma were the legal witnesses to Wyatt's cremation. Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock (January 1850 - July 3, 1888) was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about six years. 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. In early April, Wyatt left Arizona for New Mexico and then Colorado. 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. [2] Earp was appointed assistant marshal in Dodge City under Marshal Lawrence Deger around May 1876. On July 3, 1888, Blaylock took a lethal dose of laudanum and alcohol. She earned a certificate in genealogical research from Boston University and a certificate in antiques, collectibles, and appraising from Asheford Institute of Antiques. She wanted him to look like a church-going saint and blow things up. 5. Josephine was apparently too full of grief to assist or to attend the funeral itself. While the gunsmoke of the Civil War had settled, life in the American frontier was no picnic. [88][89][90], In the spring they decided the gold rush in Dawson was drawing to an end and headed for Nome instead. However, court records indicate that she continued to call herself by her childhood nickname of "Celie", which was often phonetically spelled by court clerks as "Sally"; no court records have been found throughout her life using the name "Mattie". At the age of 22, he entered the law enforcement profession by beating his half-brother Newton in a race for constable of Lamar Township, thirty-five miles north of Joplin, Missouri. [25] She would not even talk about the key events of 188182, their key years in Tombstone. The family was settled at a farm near Iowa. After Earp left Tombstone and Blaylock, she waited in Colton, California to hear from him, but he never contacted her. Corral icon. [9] The coroner's report of her death was brief. Pinafore in San Francisco. Celia Ann Mattie Blaylock was a prostitute and the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp, a western frontiersman famous for his participation in the 1881 gunfight at the O.K.

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what was wyatt earp's wife addicted to

what was wyatt earp's wife addicted to