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The Earp / Holliday Women

The wives of Wyatt Earp:

1). Urilla Sutherland

Wyatt Earp married his childhood sweetheart Urilla Sutherland on January 10, 1870 at Lamar, Missouri. His father N.P. Earp, the Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony.

Urilla died later that year during childbirth along with the child.

The death of his young bride threw Wyatt into a period of depression and disillusionment. About this time, he probably reconsidered any "christian" bourgeois ethics he may have formerly believed in. In May 1871, Wyatt was arrested and charged with horse stealing in Arkansas, but he skipped bail and was never tried for the offense.

2). "Mattie" Celia Ann Blaylock

Celia Ann Blaylock was born in 1850 in Wisconsin, but raised in Fairfax, Iowa. She ran away from home at
the age of 16 and made her way to Kansas, stopping first in Scott City and then moving to Dodge City.

Wyatt would meet Mattie in Dodge City around 1873. It is commonly held by researchers that Mattie, as
well as other Earp wives of Virgil, Morgan, and James, were at least at some point prostitutes. James' wife
would continue the "trade" with his approval after their marriage.

By the time Wyatt and Mattie left Dodge for Tombstone in 1879, Mattie was at the very least Wyatt's
common law wife.
In Tombstone, Mattie is said to have developed an addiction on Laudanum, a common painkiller of the day,
an opium distillate in liquid form.

She returned to Colton with Bessie after Morgan's assassination, and it seems almost certain that the family
had expected to reunite in Tombstone at a later date. Mattie waited for a telegram from Wyatt that never
came. She went to Globe, Arizona, and became a prostitute. At the end of June 1888, she told her friend,
S.E. Damon, that she was going to "make away with herself as she had tired of life." On July 3, 1888,
Celia Ann Blaylock Earp, always called Mattie, took an overdose of laudanum. It was almost certainly
suicide, and both Wyatt and Sadie would forever have an embarrassing secret to hide.

3). Josephine Sarah " Sadie" Marcus

Josephine Sarah Marcus was born in 1861 in New York City to a family of Jewish immigrants from Germany.
When Josie was six years old, the family moved to San Francisco. Josie left home at the age of eighteen
and became an actress, joining the Pauline Markham Theater Company, a traveling troupe. She eventually
found herself with her group in Tombstone, Arizona. In 1880, Josephine became engaged to Sheriff Johnny
Behan, a political tool of the "cowboy" faction. In 1881, after discovering Johnny in an affair, Josephine
broke off with Behan before wedding the sheriff.

During August and September of 1881, Josephine and Wyatt developed a friendship, which would become
a romantic relationship. This caused further tension between Wyatt and Behan.

Wyatt and Josephine would stay by each other's side for the remainder of their lives.

The Wives Of Virgil Earp:

1). Magdalena C. "Ellen" Rysdam

They supposedly were married in 1860 at Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa. [18] The young couple — Virgil was about 17 and Ellen was 16 — eloped. Ellen's father and Nicholas Earp (Virgil's dad) were furious with them, managed to scare the young couple half to death and supposedly had the marriage annulled, though this has not been proven. Virgil then ran off and enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War and Ellen's father took the family to Oregon, later telling Ellen that Virgil had been killed in the war. Virgil was told that Ellen had died. But, in the meanwhile Ellen had Virgil's child — a daughter, named Nellie Jane, who eventually made contact with her father after reading newspaper accounts of his escapades in Tombstone, Ariz.

2). Rosella Dragoo

Virgil Earp married secondly Rosella Dragoo in 1870 in Lamar, Barton County, Mo. [19] — a fact evidently his third wife, Allie, did not know. What happened to her is one of the mysteries yet to be solved for this family history.

3). Alvira Packingham "Allie" Sullivan

He met his last wife, Alvira Packingham "Allie" Sullivan — an orphan of Irish immigrants — in Council Bluffs, Iowa, about 1874. She died 14 Nov. 1947 in California. Allie's brief obituary appeared in the New York Times on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 1947, noting she was 98 years old. The gateway ancestor of the renowned Earp family is said to be a Scots-Irishman named Thomas Earp Jr., who was born 1656 in Ireland and came to America before 1680. According to Jean Whitten Edwards, compiler of the Earp Family Genealogy, [20] Thomas Earp Jr. probably came to this country — like many of our ancestors — as an indentured servant.

No marriage record has been found for Allie and Virgil either, and it is assumed she was his common-law wife, particularly since evidently she did not apply for his Civil War pension after his death.

Wife Of Morgan Earp:

1). Louisa Houston

She may be related to Samuel Houston, of Texas. Not a lot of info on Louisa. She was often described as
beautiful. She returned to California following Morg's shooting to the Earp family home.

Louisa, remained in California after his death. She would go on to marry Gustav Peters in 1885 and died at Long Beach, California on June 24, 1894.

Women associated with John Henry "Doc" Holliday

1). Martha Anne "Mattie" Holliday

Martha Anne Holliday, (1849-1939). Daughter of Robert Kennedy Holliday and Mary Anne Fitzgerald and cousin to John. She entered St. Vincent's Convent on October 1st, 1883, becoming Sister Mary Melanie. She died in St. Joseph's Infirmary, Atlanta on April 19 1939. She corresponded with John all his life, some of their letters having been destroyed, others no doubt, being lost. Her final letter to John was returned after his death, along with a few of his possessions.

Mattie's Great Uncle, Philip Fitzgerald, was Great grandfather to Margaret Mitchell who wrote 'Gone with the Wind'. It is understood she based the character of Gerald O'Hara on him, and that of Melanie Wilkes on Sister Mary Melanie.

The Holliday family to this day struggles to cover up any information that would indicate any romantic involvement between Mattie and her cousin, John Henry "Doc" Holliday. A belief that has long been held by many researchers.

2). Mary Katherine Horony: 1850-1940
"Big Nose" Kate Elder

Mary Katherine Horony was born on November 7, 1850 in Budapest, Hungary.

Most commonly known as "Big Nose" Kate, a frontier dance hall woman and prostitute, and companion of Doc Holliday, Kate used many last names throughout her life, including Elder, Melvin, Fisher, Holliday, Cummings and Howard.

Kate met Doc Holliday while he was dealing cards in John Shanssey's saloon. Doc killed a man in a poker game dispute; with one slash he completely disemboweled him. Doc felt that he was protecting himself and in the right, so allowed the Marshal to arrest him. Once he was locked up, the town vigilantes began a clamor for his blood. Knowing his life was endanger, "Big Nose" Kate disarmed the guard, and the two of them headed for Dodge City, 400 miles away.

Doc felt he owed Kate a great deal for rescuing him and was determined to do anything in his power to make her happy. Kate gave up being a prostitute and inhabiting the saloons. Doc gave up gambling and hung out his shingle again. Kate stood the quiet and boredom of respectable living as long as she could. Then she told Doc that she was going back to the dance halls and gambling dens. The two split up.

A few years later (1880), Kate caught up with Doc in Prescott, both bound for Tombstone. Soon after their arrival, Kate purchased a large tent, rounded up several girls, a few barrels of bad, cheap Whiskey and operated Tombstone's first "sporting house." Her business was soon making a sizeable income. Kate and Doc's frequent arguments were not really serious until Kate got abusive while drunk. Doc threw her out.

In March of 1881, Doc was accused of being 1 of the 4 men who attempted a hold up of the stage. Drunk and still berating Doc for throwing her out, Sheriff Behan persuaded Kate to sign an Affidavit that Doc had been one of the masked highwaymen.

When she sobered up, Kate regretted her actions and repudiated her statement. Doc gave Kate some money and put her on a stage leaving town. His debt to her was paid in full.

In 1888, Kate married a blacksmith, named George M. Cummings, but left him in 1889 and moved to the town of Cochise. She began working in the Cochise Hotel. Kate left the hotel 10 years later and moved in with a man named Howard. They lived together until he died in 1930.

In 1931, she wrote to the Governor of Arizona, Gorge W.P. Hunt, requesting admission to the "Arizona Pioneers Home". Being foreign born, Kate knew that she was not eligible, so she claimed that she had been born in Davenport, Iowa.

Hunt gave her permission for admission to the home and she stayed there until her death on November 2, 1940.

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