Wyatt Earp and Josephine Earp
San Bernardino County, San Bernardino County, California
Marker Inscription
Wyatt Earp was born in Illinois March 19, 1848. In 1864 he came west with his family, settling near San Bernardino. He later served as lawman in Wichita and Dodge City, then came to Tombstone in 1879. After the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881, he fled Arizona to avoid prosecution. He frequented the western boom camps, including Alaska, and in later years retired on income from Kern County Oil and the Happy Day Gold Mine group in the nearby Whipple Mountains. He and his wife Josephine spent their winters here for over two decades. He died peacefully in Los Angles January 13, 1929. soon after, this little community, formerly Drennan, was renamed in his honor when Earp Post Office was established in 1930. He is buried next to his wife, who died in 1944, in Colma, California.
Erected by E Clampus Vitus
The Story
Born in Illinois in 1848, Wyatt Earp came west as a boy and made his name as a lawman in Wichita, Dodge City, and Tombstone, where the 1881 gunfight at the O.K. Corral sealed his legend. In later years he prospected the western boom camps and drew income from oil and gold mining, wintering for over two decades near this spot with his wife Josephine; the settlement of Drennan was renamed Earp in his honor in 1930.
Why it matters
The town that bears his name preserves the memory of a frontier lawman whose life spanned the rise and passing of the Old West.
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Related people
- · Wyatt Earp
- · Josephine Earp
Themes & tags
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