Wyatt Barry Stepp Earp (1848-1929) was a major figure in the history and myth of the American West. Most of his fame came from his reputation as a gun-fighting marshal.

There are records of the Earps in 17th-century Fairfax County, Virginia; in the French and Indian Wars; and in the War of Independence. Earps kept moving westward, across Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Utah. They fought the Sioux in Wyoming. They helped develop San Bernardino, California. Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois, in 1848. He grew up in Iowa and is believed to have begun his western adventures as a buffalo hunter about 1869. In 1897 Earp joined the gold rush to Alaska, and when he returned to the states in 1901 he continued to prospect for gold, now in California. While living in San Francisco he married Josephine Sarah Marcus, daughter of an early businessman there.

Differing Views of Wyatt Earp

Earp...