She became addicted to laudanum. The case was tried the same day with only one witness for the defense, Jennie Andrews. [64]:p235 Author Stuart Lake wrote in a letter that "Johnny Behan's girl" was the key to the whole yarn of Tombstone. After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral icon. 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". In mid-1868, Celia ran away with her younger sister Sarah to avoid farm life. [Henry] Jaffa told me later that Earps woman was a Jewess. This was the same date that Wyatt Earp and his brothers arrived. Instead . They performed H.M.S. Celia Ann Mattie Blaylock was born around 1850 into a religious family in Iowa. By Kathy Weiser-Alexander, updated February 2020. In 1879, the couple relocated from Kansas to Tombstone, Arizona. But, in April 1881, less than eight months after Behan and Sadie built the house, she rented it to Dr. George Emory Goodfellow. In 1868 she ran away from home at age 16, taking her 13 year old sister Sarah, with her. Wyatt put oil leases he owned in Henrietta's name with the agreement that the proceeds would benefit Josie after his death. [2], Josephine's father Henry was a baker. Her body was cremated and buried next to Wyatt's remains. [8] "There was far too much excitement in the air to remain a child. [1][14] Sadie was a well-known nickname for Sarah, Josie's middle name, and it was common for prostitutes of that time period to change their first name. 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. [55] The paper also reported on April 9, 1875, that a letter was waiting for her in the post office. 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. She earned a certificate in genealogical research from Boston University and a certificate in antiques, collectibles, and appraising from Asheford Institute of Antiques. Her father Henrys earnings as a baker fell. [25] She would not even talk about the key events of 188182, their key years in Tombstone. Her parents greeted her cheerlessly and took her back in disgrace.[1]. [17] Grace Welsh and her sister-in-law Alma were the legal witnesses to Wyatt's cremation. On the inside were the German Jews and on the outside were the Polish Jews. Distrustful of her ability to manage her finances, Wyatt made an arrangement with her sister Henrietta Lenhardt. [3] Earp resigned from the Dodge City police force on September 9, 1879, and traveled to Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory with Blaylock, his brother Jim, and Jim's wife Bessie. Raymond Nez wrote that his grandparents witnessed their marriage off the California coast. On Oct. 26, the Earps were ambushed by the cowboys in broad daylight. 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. 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. [17] Although the biography became a bestseller, it was later strongly criticized for fictionalizing Earp's life and was found to be markedly inaccurate. Earp moved to Wichita, Kansas, and worked as a shotgun guard for Wells Fargo. She is the author of The Queen of Denver: Louise Sneed Hill and the Emergence of Modern High Society. Jaffa was also Jewish. 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. Her occupation was "Courtesan". In the 1880 United States Census Blaylock is listed as Wyatt's wife though there is no record of a legal marriage. The coroners report stated that she died of supposed suicide by opium poisoning., Related read: Im Your Huckleberry: the Real Meaning of Doc Hollidays Famous Line. 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. [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. Corral in 1882. [11], Josephine thought Johnnys marriage proposal was a good excuse to leave home again. (It's now a ghost town in Shoshone County). [26]:44, In I Married Wyatt Earp, Josephine wrote that one day, "I left my home one morning, carrying my books just as though I was going to school as usual. "[13], In the course of writing Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal (1931), Stuart Lake learned that Josephine had lived with Johnny Behan in Tombstone and other aspects of Josephine's life that she wanted to keep private. 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. [57] Nineteen-year-old Sadie Mansfield, the same person his former wife Victoria had named in their divorce five years earlier, was also living in Tip Top. Corral, he left Tombstone. But Leah never left San Francisco with Josephine. 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. [6] They traveled via ship to Panama, went over the Isthmus of Panama, and caught a steamship to San Francisco. She had a small, trim body and a meneo of the hips that kept her full, flounced skirts bouncing. Money flowed from Nevada through San Francisco, and for a while the Marcus family prospered. Mattie was considered Earps common-law wife and in the 1880 census, the 30-year-old was listed as Mattie Earp, wife of Wyatt Earp. [26]:52 In March 1882, Sadie sent a postal money order to her mother, Mrs. H. Marcus, in San Francisco. Wyatt Earp is the most recognizable face of the Earp family. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer heard testimony from a large number of witnesses. Raised by devout parents on Iowa farmland, she yearned for freedom and a life of adventure. They traveled West, thinking they would find some work. 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. [79][80][81], The Earps moved back to San Francisco in 1891[82] so Josie could be closer to her family. Wyatt Earp enthusiasts have made the gravesite the most visited in that Jewish cemetery and once even stole the tombstone. The nine-man jury found her not guilty. "[19], As late as 1936, Josephine took legal action to suppress certain details of her and Wyatt's life in Tombstone. Josephine was apparently too full of grief to assist or to attend the funeral itself. Henry and his wife were stern parents and adhered to the principle, "spare the rod and spoil the child," and "children should be seen and not heard.". Earp begins an affair with a . In their later years Josephine worked hard to eliminate any mention that she had been Johnny Behan's mistress or of Wyatt's previous common law marriage to the prostitute Mattie Blaylock. [92][94][29]:78, Wyatt and Josie returned to Los Angeles on December 13, 1901 and stayed at the Hollenbeck Hotel. On June 14, 1900, Wyatt and Josephine were bound for Nome, Alaska. 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. Otero wrote in his letter, "Holiday said something about Earp becoming 'a damn Jew-boy.' Meyers was born at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1931. [38], Josephine said the girls arrived with the troupe in Tombstone on December 1, 1879, for a one-week engagement. He called a foul on Fitzsimmons that no one saw, and Wyatt was widely accused of taking a bribe. [34] Many madams and prostitutes had more control of their lives and greater independence than "respectable" women, who often ostracized them. She wrote that she met Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan when she was 17 and he was 33. [2] Josie attended the Powell Street Primary School on Powell St. between Clay and Washington in San Francisco. Before moving to Tombstone, he faced a series of lawsuits alleging that he stole money and falsified court documents. [6][26] Ray says that Josephine didn't have a friend named Dora Hirsch. [78] Earp speculated in San Diego's booming real estate market. [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. 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. [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. [37] One block away on the 1000 block of Clay Street in a neighborhood known for prostitution was a brothel, owned by Hattie Wells. Previous Post: Is Indecent Proposal On Netflix? 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. In the 1880 United States Census Blaylock is listed as Wyatt's wife though there is no record of a legal marriage. No contemporary accounts place her at the scene of the gunfight afterward. The family was forced to move in with Josephine's older sister Rebecca and her husband Aaron "south of the slot" (south of Market Street) at 138 Perry Street between 3rd and 2nd at Harrison in a tenement on the flatlands. The family was settled at a farm near Iowa. He also told Baldwin to stop lending money to Josephine, but she continued to gamble anyway. It is undisputed, however, that he was arrested in a brothel raid in 1872. Shortly afterwards, Wyatt Earp began his famous "Revenge Ride" to rid the Territory of outlaws. Mattie believed that her husband would soon grow tired of his new fling, but in reality, he was growing tired of her. Actors Kurt Russell, as Wyatt Earp, and Val Kilmer, as Doc Holliday were both very good. Garner and I discuss Wyatt Earp's life as a sporting man and his involvement in horse racing and boxing. [16] After Wyatt died in 1929, Josephine traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to try to persuade the publisher to stop the release of the book. If Sieber helped her, the only time period that fits Josephine's story is when Sieber was in the Prescott area at Camp Verde from 1873 to 1875. She would marry Earp long before his gunfight at the O.K. [41][42] On October 21, 1879, the Los Angeles Herald reported that May Bell was among members of the Markham troupe. Nov 13, 2021 57:50. [38][58][59], Josephine wrote much later that her family wanted to keep her "escapades from the public." William Vermillion, Nancy Owens. After Earp left Tombstone and Blaylock, she waited in Colton, California to hear from him, but he never contacted her. [2] What is known for certain is that she traveled to Tombstone using the name Josephine Marcus in October 1880. Wyatt, Virgil, and James Earp with their wives arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879. "[21] After Wyatt's death, Josephine told her friends and family to stop calling her Sadie, Wyatt's name for her, and insisted they call her Josie. It was amidst the chaos that Blaylock made her younger self proud and chose her own husband. [26]:46, During 187173, Behan succeeded his father-in-law Bourke as Yavapai County Sheriff. In the midst of all this conflict, Wyatt is dealing with the fact that his wife, Mattie, has become addicted to Laudanum, a mixture of opium and morphine. [108], In the 1920s, Wyatt gave Josie signed legal papers and filing fees to a claim for an oil lease in Kern County, California. To feed her gambling habit, Josephine would pawn the jewelry to millionaire Lucky Baldwin, but Wyatt would later buy the jewelry back. Who was at Wyatt Earp . [26]:54, In November 1899, they left Alaska for a period and went to Seattle, Washington, with a plan to open a saloon and gambling room. Josephine eventually sold virtually all of her jewelry to Baldwin. ", Mattie was born Celia Ann Blaylock in Monroe Township, Johnson County, Iowa, near Fairfax, Iowa, to Henry Blaylock and Elizabeth "Betsy" Vance. 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. In early April, Wyatt left Arizona for New Mexico and then Colorado. Earp goes home to a wife addicted to a laudanum, a common drug of the time mixing morphine and opium. Celia was a reasonably skilled seamstress and may have sought work in that field, but both girls found life on their own very difficult. 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. [43][57] The only difference noted in the 1880 census is their occupation: Sadie in San Francisco is listed as "At home", while Sadie in Tip Top is recorded as a "Courtesan". 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). Her death was ruled as "suicide by opium poisoning". There is no legal record of a marriage between the two. 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. 8. "United States Census, San Francisco, California", "San Francisco Morning Call Newspaper Vital Statistics", "I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp", "Voting Ward Maps, 1852, 1860, 1870, 1880", "The Jewish First Lady at Legendary Lawmaker Wyatt Earp's O.K. In I Married Wyatt Earp, author Glen Boyer states that Josephine took dance lessons and had a maid. It is difficult to say exactly who Mattie Blaylock Earp was, given the complicated nature of the lack of documentation pertaining to her life. [50][51] On September 28, 1874, Behan was nominated at the Democratic convention to stand for re-election. Marshal under Marshal J.F. They stayed for about four years, living most of the time in the Brooklyn Hotel. [26], Josephine began using the name Sadie after she arrived in Arizona. [25] Josephine's own story offers a conflicting account of when she first reached Arizona. After a week in Tombstone, the Markham troupe finished their engagement and headed north to Prescott. 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. [19] Wyatt had a mischievous sense of humor. [2] The Weekly Arizona Miner of Prescott reported on February 5, 1875, that Sadie Mansfield won a prize in the "Grand New Year Gift Enterprise". [112], Cemetery officials re-set the stone flush in concrete, but it was stolen again. She gambled away the filing fees and lied to Wyatt about what happened to the lease, which later turned out to be valuable. [6] Henry Marcus initially made enough money to send Josephine and her sister Hattie to music and dance classes at McCarty's Dancing Academy, a family-owned business on Eddy St. that taught both children and adults. Earp named a mining claim he filed on February 16, 1880 "Mattie Blaylock. She wanted him to look like a church-going saint and blow things up. 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. [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. [1] Henry found work as a baker. Wyatt's old friend Doc. My heart was stirred by his attentions in what were very romantic circumstances. And he definitely wasn't the infallible hero later accounts made him out to be. [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." [26]:47 Like cerebral meningitis, St. Vitus Dance is a form of a streptococcus infection. However, she was well aware that she would soon be married off to likely live out her life as a housewife. 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. "[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." Sadie "would always interfere whenever Wyatt would talk with Stuart Lake. Wyatt didn't want that at all! [36]:154, "Josephine Marcus" redirects here. [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. Descendants of Josie's half-sister Rebecca allowed a Southern California group in 199899 to erect the stone currently in place. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Tombstone (DVD, 2002, 2-Disc Set, Vista Series Directors Cut) COMPLETE with Map at the best online prices at eBay! All in a day's work! 48 snapshots of life in the real Wild West. Mattie waited for Wyatts telegraph that she should return to Tombstone, but it never arrived. [35] Married women of the era were expected to avoid working outside the home, or risk being considered "public women," a euphemism for prostitute. [79] Between 1887 and around 1896 he bought four saloons and gambling halls, one on Fourth Street and two near Sixth and E, all in the "respectable" part of town. Her father was a baker. [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. He didn't include them in the book, but he did write about them in letters during 1929. Josie said the two of them sailed with the other six members of the Pauline Markham troupe from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, where they stayed for a few days, performing in San Bernardino before leaving for Prescott, Arizona Territory, by stagecoach. 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. Her father worked as a baker. [12] Waters' work was later found to be critically flawed, "based upon prevarications, character assassinations, and the psychological battleground that was the brilliant, narcissistic mind of its author. But Josephine said that her parents hid her activities, and they may have been covering for her when the census taker appeared on their doorstep. Josephine Earp's story was shrouded in mystery throughout her life, but modern historians posit that she lied about her early years in an effort to conceal her unsavory past. Both of Behan's children, Henrietta and Albert, were ill with meningitis around 1877, and in July of that year, Henrietta died from the disease. The Epitaph reported on February 27, 1882 that S. Mansfield of Tombstone was returning from the west with other passengers, passing through Colton, California. Corral, Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday. [19] The most she would say is that she returned to the Arizona Territory in 1881 and joined Johnny Behan in Tombstone. 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. 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. 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? [26]:11 In November 1874, a woman named Sadie Mansfield took a stagecoach from San Francisco to Prescott along with several prostitutes working for Madame Hattie Wells. She enjoyed some brief success as a juvenile actress on the San Francisco stage during the 1870s.

Who Would Win In A Fight Taurus Or Libra, Articles W