In 1868 she ran away from home at age 16, taking her 13 year old sister Sarah, with her. The first known record of Mattie's presence is a picture taken in Fort Scott in 1871. [54] In 1874, 14-year-old Sadie Mansfield worked under the watchful eye of Madam Josie Roland as a prostitute in a brothel on Granite Street, between Gurley and Alarcon streets, and near the Yavapai County Courthouse where Sheriff Behan worked. [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. It's October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, and Arizona is not yet a state. Later that year, Josephine's half-sister Rebecca Levy married Aaron Wiener,[7] an insurance salesman born in Prussia, as her parents were. 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 . [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. Earp had grown into a grizzled widower after his first wife, Urilla Sutherland, died of typhoid fever in 1870. Descendants of Josie's half-sister Rebecca allowed a Southern California group in 199899 to erect the stone currently in place. Born in Wisconsin in 1850, Mattie was raised in Fairfax, Iowa until she ran away from home at the age of 16. Reportedly, her family took her back in, though they deemed her disgraced and a fallen woman. The feud escalated, and on October 26, 1881, it finally exploded into violence in a gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone. It was amidst the chaos that Blaylock made her younger self proud and chose her own husband. [6][26] Ray says that Josephine didn't have a friend named Dora Hirsch. [36]:154, "Josephine Marcus" redirects here. Mrs. Virgil Earp. Money flowed from Nevada through San Francisco, and for a while the Marcus family prospered. Josephine first met John "Johnny" Harris Behan at the ranch house, who she described as, "young and darkly handsome, with merry black eyes and an engaging smile. Mattie Blaylock ran away from home when she was 18. [2], Sadie Mansfield left Gillete, near Tip Top, and arrived in Phoenix on February 13, 1880. Corral shootout and the Earp Vendetta Ride. "[26]:43 From Yuma, the troupe took a stagecoach to Tucson, not Prescott. It is possible she overdosed by accident and died of respiratory depression. Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois in 1848. Mattie and Wyatt spent the next few years together. [18] Behan claimed their daughter Henrietta wasn't his, and a request for support for Henrietta was stricken from the divorce petition. 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. 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. After Earp left Tombstone and Blaylock, she waited in Colton, California to hear from him, but he never contacted her. Her father Henrys earnings as a baker fell. Meyers was born at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1931. [27], Josephine is quoted in I Married Wyatt Earp that she received a letter and $300 from her father, urging her to return to San Francisco. He continued his career in law enforcement in Dodge City. On Oct. 26, the Earps were ambushed by the cowboys in broad daylight. "[8], During 1874, when Josephine was 13, production of gold and silver from the Comstock Lode had fed a feverish stock market, leading to a great deal of speculation. Did Bessie continue sporting once they arrived in Tombstone? Before moving to Tombstone, he faced a series of lawsuits alleging that he stole money and falsified court documents. As the oldest, Martha Jane Blaylock was the first to be married in 1860, when she was 17. Grace Spolidora was a teenager during the Earp's many visits to her family's home near Needles, California and sometimes went to San Diego with them. Her father hoped to turn their farm into a profitable business and regularly brought his kids along on trips into Fairfax to procure supplies and network with the locals. But was apparently restless there. In 1906 he discovered several deposits of gold and copper near the Sonoran Desert town of Vidal, California on the Colorado River and filed more than 100 mining claims[63] near the Whipple Mountains. Wyatt and Mattie did not arrive in Tucson by train and did not meet Virgil, Morgan and their wives there. [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. "[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. Earp and partner Charles E. Hoxie built the Dexter Saloon, the largest in Nome. It is undisputed, however, that he was arrested in a brothel raid in 1872. While Sarah would turn back within months after life on the road proved difficult, Blaylock forged ahead and adopted the name Mattie.. [17], Josephine finally changed her mind and asked Wyatt's cousins to burn their work, but Cason held back a copy, to which Glenn Boyer eventually acquired the rights,[116][117] and is now in the custody of the Ford County Historical Society in Dodge City. 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. Wyatt meets Josephine "Josie" Marcus, who is a traveling actress, and the two begin an affair. She likely enjoyed the social life and independence that accompanied her role. "[32], Men in Tombstone outnumbered women nine to one, and the miners were eager to pay substantial fees to women who would cook their meals, provide rooms, wash their clothes, and provide sexual services. 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. Blaylocks teenage years featured community picnics and barn dances that she and her sisters enjoyed. [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. Mattie was considered Earp's common-law wife and in the 1880 census, the 30-year-old was listed as Mattie Earp, wife of Wyatt Earp. Previous researchers of Matties life state there are court records of her prostitution during this time that name her as Celie or Sally. Pinafore more than a dozen times from December 24, 1879 through February 20, 1880. Garner and I discuss Wyatt Earp's life as a sporting man and his involvement in horse racing and boxing. 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 . But the collision of Jewish and cowboy cultures that epitomized their union goes on. [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. [26], Josephine began using the name Sadie after she arrived in Arizona. 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. Wyatt's common-law wife Mattie (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) is addicted to laudanum and his attention is caught by Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany), a traveling actor. San Francisco's population had boomed to 149,473, and housing was in short supply. Her body was cremated and buried next to Wyatt's remains. [64]:p235 While there are no contemporary records in Tombstone of a relationship between them, they certainly knew each other, as Behan and Earp both had offices above the Crystal Palace Saloon. [63] One version of the story is that she had taken Behan's son Albert, who was hearing impaired, to San Francisco for treatment. It is unclear why the pair decided to leave home but historians have speculated the sisters did not enjoy life on their parents farm in Iowa and decided to embark on a different path. 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. He opened a small business catering to miners and joined a few posses pursuing bandits. By Kathy Weiser-Alexander, updated February 2020. His first was Urilla Sutherland who died early in his marriage. [6] They traveled via ship to Panama, went over the Isthmus of Panama, and caught a steamship to San Francisco. #wyattearp #oldwest #history #sanbernardino . [2], On February 6, 1875, criminal charges were filed against Sadie Mansfield for petty larceny, accusing her of stealing two German silver spoons worth $126.00. And you have no business risking money that way. [56], On May 22, 1875, Behan's wife Victoria filed for divorce. Her parents greeted her cheerlessly and took her back in disgrace.[1]. She approached several publishers for the book, but backed out several times due to their insistence that she be completely open and forthcoming, rather than slanting her memories to her favor. We aren't sure when they met. 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 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. [39] Josephine wrote that Dora was hired as a singer, and she was hired as a dancer. After Earp left Tombstone and Blaylock, she waited in Colton, California to hear from him, but he never contacted her. [2] Sophie and Carl had three children together: Nathan (born 1857), Josephine, and Henrietta (born 1864). [26]:46 Neighbors in Prescott witnessed Behan visiting the "house of ill fame" on Granite Street on several occasions during December 1874. [42]:275298 In December 1883, they visited Galveston, Texas, and in March 1884 they were in Salt Lake City. On June 1 or 2, 1880, William V. Carroll, the census enumerator for the 9th ward in San Francisco, visited the Marcus home. He struggled to make a living in New York City and read about the growing city of San Francisco. After her death, historians have conflicting views of how Earp spent his time. After learning about Mattie Blaylock, read about Wyatt Earps other wife Josephine Earp. Mattie eventually returned to Arizona where she spent her remaining years working as a prostitute. She hoped to return to the days of bustling mining town prostitution, but the boom had passed, and Blaylock withered. Pinafore in San Francisco. Her death was ruled as "suicide by opium poisoning". [112], Cemetery officials re-set the stone flush in concrete, but it was stolen again. Meet Mattie Blaylock, The Abandoned Common-Law Wife Of Wyatt Earp. They moved to San Francisco, where Josephine attended dance school as a girl. In between, they had crossed paths, but it's not as if they went everywhere together. [67] During their stay in Albuquerque, the two men ate at The Retreat Restaurant owned by "Fat Charlie". The group included a black woman named Julia Barton. [26] Sadie and John Behan lived at different addresses. Perhaps she became addicted to the substances and no longer knew her limits. [71] Eager to escape the controversy over the boxing match dogging him, Earp gave up managing race horses in San Francisco and on December 20, 1896 he and Josie left for Yuma, Arizona. She said that she had believed Behan was planning to marry her, but he kept putting it off, and she grew disillusioned. Kate was a prostitute and Holliday a gambler. No documentation proves they were married, but they claimed their wedding took place in Iowa or Nebraska. [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. She then made her way to Kansas where she first worked as a prostitute in Scott City before moving on to Dodge City. )[43] On October 20, 1875, the Arizona Weekly Miner of Prescott, Arizona noted that among the passengers en route from San Francisco were "Miss Saddie [sic] Mansfield and Mrs. Julia Barton, a servant. [1] Celia had no desire to live on a farm for the rest of her life. [60] Later in life, Josephine was not a practicing Jew and did not seem to care whether her partners were Jewish. They traveled West, thinking they would find some work. [2], As an adult, Josephine claimed her father was German and ran a prosperous mercantile business. [120], The book has become an example of how supposedly factual works can trip up researchers, historians, and librarians. [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. [2] Upon their arrival, her father found a highly stratified Jewish community. [73]:38, After the Earp Vendetta Ride ended in April 1882, Wyatt left Arizona for Colorado. [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. Her father was a baker. [78] Earp speculated in San Diego's booming real estate market. Related read: Tombstone vs. Wyatt Earp: 7 Differences in the Dueling Movies. David B. Generally accepted to be a picture of Earp in Prescott, Arizona Territory, in 1880. In 1998, a series of articles by Tony Ortega in the Phoenix New Times, including interviews with Glenn Boyer, argued that Boyer invented large portions of the book. 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. The end of Matties story is not a happy one. 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). 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. 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. She enjoyed some brief success as a juvenile actress on the San Francisco stage during the 1870s. ", Mattie was born Celia Ann Blaylock in Monroe Township, Johnson County, Iowa, near Fairfax, Iowa, to Henry Blaylock and Elizabeth "Betsy" Vance. Behan was gone for 35 days, returning to Prescott on November 11, 1874, where he lost the election. September 8, 2013 Terri J Huck. May 9, 2014. "[32] Honkytonk bars in that era often had a reputation as places for prostitution[33] and his choice of language ("three hundred or so of her kind") may have referred to Josephine's work as a prostitute. Sadie "would always interfere whenever Wyatt would talk with Stuart Lake. 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. [71] Josephine got pregnant at the same time, and she thought she could persuade Earp from heading to Alaska. 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. Wyatt didn't want that at all! But, in April 1881, less than eight months after Behan and Sadie built the house, she rented it to Dr. George Emory Goodfellow. Instead, he married Marcus within weeks and never spoke of Blaylock again. Earp had married a woman named Urilla (sometimes spelled Aurilla) Sutherland in 1870, but she passed away of typhoid fever before the couple could celebrate their first anniversary. His elder brothers joined the Union Army when the American Civil War began, while Wyatt, 13 years old, and his younger brothers took care of the farm. Wyatt put oil leases he owned in Henrietta's name with the agreement that the proceeds would benefit Josie after his death. Actors Kurt Russell, as Wyatt Earp, and Val Kilmer, as Doc Holliday were both very good. [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. This page is not available in other languages. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. [55] The paper also reported on April 9, 1875, that a letter was waiting for her in the post office. I couldn't verify its origins, but I wonder if it was the one that surfaced in the 1950s when her nephew read an article about the opening of a new museum in Dodge City, Kansas . Blaylocks early childhood consisted of little more than Sunday school and strict adherence to contemporary household rules, and her parents subscribed to the notion that sparing the rod would spoil the child. 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 . At this point, Mattie's profession was listed as keeping house. In 1879 the Pauline Markham Theater Company came to town, and Josephine slipped away with the troupe. I thought constantly of my mother and how great must be her grief and worry over me. [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. [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. [26]:46, During 187173, Behan succeeded his father-in-law Bourke as Yavapai County Sheriff. 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 . Some critics described the book as a fraud and a hoax, and the University of Arizona withdrew the book from its catalog. [57], In retelling her life story, Josephine Marcus retold many elements of her experience that corroborated facts in Sadie Mansfield's history. What did Wyatt Earps wife drink? They hunted down some of the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys they believed responsible for maiming Virgil Earp and killing Morgan. She always interfered! [76] Wyatt followed the crowd looking for gold in the Murray-Eagle mining district and paid $2,250 for a 50 feet (15m) diameter white circus, in which they opened a dance hall and saloon called The White Elephant. Who Killed Johnny Ringo? [92][93] Although gambling was illegal, the police were paid by John Considine, owner of the three largest gambling concessions, to look the other way. The nine-man jury found her not guilty. Josephine or Sadie Marcuss name was never included among those on the Markham troupes rolls in 1879. Earp developed a reputation as a sportsman as well as a gambler. When he delayed, she was ready to leave him. [2] Josephine said that she matured early and developed large breasts. It was discovered in a backyard in Fresno, California. A few women of the era chose to remain single as a means to maintain their independence from men, and Josephine was among them. [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. Around the age of 16, she left home with her younger sister, Sarah, and moved west. [43] Josephine said Behan asked her to marry him and persuaded her parents to approve their engagement. Eventually, she ended up in Dodge City, Kansas. The Weekly Journal-Miner reported in October 1879 that Behan was planning on opening a business in the silver mining boom town of Tip Top in central Arizona. Sadie was apparently no longer claiming to be Behan's wife. In early April, Wyatt left Arizona for New Mexico and then Colorado. It is a very good read and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the life and times of Wyatt Earp. 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. Charlie Welsh, Grace Spolidora's father, was a good friend of Earp's. There, she met Wyatt Earp around 1873 and soon became his romantic companion. It's not known where she and Sarah spent the intervening time. [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. The United States Census confirmed her as his common-law wife by 1880. [26]:56. She attributed the highly exaggerated stories about Wyatt Earp to Josephine. (Josephine in her own account said that she brought her maid, a black woman named Julia, with her. [21] Mattie resumed life as a prostitute and committed "suicide by opium poisoning" on July 3, 1888. In my confusion, I could see no way out of the tragic mess. 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". The information in the letter is compelling because at the time it was written in the 1940s, the relationship between Wyatt Earp and Josephine Marcus while living in Tombstone was virtually unknown. Instead, Earp left Colorado in late 1882 and arrived in San Francisco where Virgil was seeking treatment for his arm. In 1879, five prostitutes lived there. The only way Otero could write about these things was if he had a personal relationship with some of the individuals involved. To feed her gambling habit, Josephine would pawn the jewelry to millionaire Lucky Baldwin, but Wyatt would later buy the jewelry back. The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp was the first adult Western on television and became a top-ten-rated series, reports the LA Times. [38][58][59], Josephine wrote much later that her family wanted to keep her "escapades from the public." 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. [31], Other researchers have questioned what she did prior to 1883.
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