Wyatt Earp Wife History: The Women He Loved, Married And Lived With
If you’re searching for Wyatt Earp’s wife, the real answer depends on which chapter of his life you mean. Wyatt Earp was legally married once—to Urilla Sutherland Earp. After her death, he lived with other partners in relationships that were serious and long-lasting, including Mattie Blaylock (commonly described as a common-law wife) and Josephine “Josie” Marcus, his lifelong companion who stayed with him until his death.
So the simple takeaway is this: Wyatt Earp had one legal wife, but he had multiple major partners who shaped his story just as much as his gunfights did.
Quick Facts About Wyatt Earp And His Wives Partners
- Full name: Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp
- Legal wife: Urilla Sutherland (married 1870; she died in 1870)
- Later partner: Mattie Blaylock (often described as his common-law wife)
- Lifelong companion: Josephine “Josie” Marcus (together for decades)
- Most remembered relationship: Josephine Marcus, because it lasted the longest
Who Was Wyatt Earp’s Wife?
Wyatt Earp’s only legal wife was Urilla Sutherland. They married in January 1870, and their marriage was heartbreakingly short. Urilla died later that same year, reportedly from illness while pregnant. That loss is often described as a major turning point, because it shattered Wyatt’s early “settled life” and pushed him toward a more restless, unpredictable path.
If you’re looking for the “official” answer to the question, Urilla is the name you want. But if you’re trying to understand his real personal life, you also need to know what happened after.
Urilla Sutherland Earp The Only Legal Marriage
Urilla Sutherland was from Missouri, and she married Wyatt when he was still young and trying to build a stable future. Their relationship is often portrayed as the closest Wyatt ever came to a normal, rooted life—work, a home, and plans that didn’t involve frontier violence.
Her death didn’t just end a marriage. It ended a version of Wyatt Earp that might have stayed ordinary. After Urilla died, Wyatt’s life became more nomadic and complicated, bouncing through different towns, jobs, and eventually the law-and-gunfighter world he’s famous for.
Mattie Blaylock Was She Wyatt Earp’s Wife?
After Urilla’s death, Wyatt later became involved with Mattie Blaylock (sometimes spelled “Mattie Blaylock” or “Mattie Blaylock Earp” in various accounts). Many histories describe Mattie as Wyatt’s common-law wife or long-term partner during his years around Dodge City and Tombstone-era circles.
Here’s what matters: while they were not consistently documented as legally married in the way Wyatt and Urilla were, Mattie was widely seen as “Mrs. Earp” in social terms during parts of that time. Their relationship was serious enough that people often speak of them like a married couple, even when legal paperwork is unclear or disputed.
Why Wyatt And Mattie’s Relationship Fell Apart
Mattie’s story is often told as one of the sadder parts of Wyatt Earp’s personal life. As Wyatt’s life shifted—and as his relationship with Josephine Marcus began—Mattie became increasingly pushed to the side.
Frontier relationships could be brutal, especially when a man moved from town to town and built new lives quickly. Mattie’s later years are commonly described as difficult and lonely, made worse by the fact that she didn’t have the financial stability or public admiration that Wyatt eventually gained.
Josephine “Josie” Marcus The Partner He Stayed With For Life
The woman most people associate with Wyatt Earp—especially later in his life—is Josephine Sarah Marcus, usually called Josie. She was not his legal wife in the strict sense (largely because Wyatt never finalized a legal divorce from Mattie in a clean, universally documented way), but she was his lifelong companion.
Josie and Wyatt were together for decades, traveling and building a life far away from the Tombstone gunfight legend that followed him. She stayed with him through the later years when he moved into business ventures, mining interests, and the quieter (but still dramatic) phase of frontier celebrity.
Why Josephine Marcus Matters So Much In The Wyatt Earp Story
Josie shaped how Wyatt Earp was remembered. After he died, she was deeply invested in protecting his reputation and controlling the narrative. That matters because Wyatt’s legend grew massively in the years after his death—through books, Hollywood portrayals, and retellings that often smoothed out messy details.
In many ways, Josie wasn’t just “the woman in his life.” She became a guardian of the myth.
So Who Was Wyatt Earp’s Real Wife?
If you mean legally, the answer is simple:
- Wyatt Earp’s legal wife was Urilla Sutherland.
If you mean “the woman he built his longest life with,” the answer changes:
- Wyatt Earp’s lifelong partner was Josephine Marcus.
And if you mean “the woman most closely tied to him during his Tombstone-era life,” you’ll often see:
- Mattie Blaylock mentioned as a major long-term partner commonly referred to as his common-law wife.
Why People Get Confused About Wyatt Earp’s Wife
This confusion happens because modern people expect relationships to be cleanly documented: marriage certificates, divorces, official timelines. Wyatt Earp lived in a time when:
- people moved constantly
- records weren’t always consistent
- common-law relationships were socially treated like marriage in some places
- personal history got rewritten later to protect reputations
So depending on which biography you read, the emphasis can shift. Some focus on Urilla as the true “wife.” Others focus on Josie because she was the long-term partner. And some treat Mattie as the spouse in everyday reality for a meaningful stretch of time.
Wyatt Earp’s Love Life And The Man Behind The Legend
It’s easy to reduce Wyatt Earp to a gunfight and a mustache. But his relationships show a more human pattern: early love and tragedy, then years of unstable frontier living, then a long partnership that lasted through aging and reputation-building.
In that sense, the “wives” question isn’t just trivia. It’s one of the clearest ways to see how Wyatt’s life evolved—from a young man trying to settle down to an older man living beside a partner who helped manage his legacy.
Bottom Line
Wyatt Earp’s only legal wife was Urilla Sutherland, and she died within a year of their marriage. Later, he lived with Mattie Blaylock, often described as his common-law wife, and then spent the longest and most famous chapter of his personal life with Josephine “Josie” Marcus, his lifelong companion. If you want one name for “wife,” it’s Urilla—but if you want the full truth of his love life, Josie and Mattie belong in the story too.
Featured image source: https://celebratecalifornia.library.ca.gov/january-13-1929-wyatt-earp-dies-in-los-angeles/
