page_title: Wyatt Earp
section_title: Lawman and marriage
hierarchical_section_title: Wyatt Earp / Early life / Lawman and marriage
caption_attribution_description: English: Wyatt Earp at age 21 in 1869 or 1870, around the time he was married to his first wife, Urilla Sutherland. Probably taken in Lamar, Missouri.
context_page_description: Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an Old West lawman and gambler in Cochise County, Arizona Territory, and a deputy marshal in Tombstone. He worked in a wide variety of trades throughout his life and took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. He is often erroneously regarded as the central figure in the shootout, although his brother Virgil was the Tombstone City and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day, and had far more experience in combat as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier.
  Earp was at different times a professional gambler, teamster, and buffalo hunter. Over his lifetime, he owned several saloons, maintained a brothel, mined for silver and gold, and refereed boxing matches. He spent his early life in Pella, Iowa. In 1870, he married Urilla Sutherland, who contracted typhoid fever and died in childbirth. During the next two years, Earp was arrested for stealing a horse, escaped from jail, and was sued twice. He was arrested and fined three times in 1872 for "keeping and being found in a house of ill-fame".
context_section_description: In spring of 1868, the Earps moved east again to Lamar, Missouri, where Wyatt's father Nicholas became the local constable. Wyatt rejoined the family the next year. Nicholas resigned as constable on November 17, 1869, to become the Justice of the Peace. Wyatt was appointed constable in his place.
  In late 1869, Earp courted 20 year-old Urilla Sutherland (c. 1849–70), daughter of William and Permelia Sutherland who operated the Exchange Hotel in Lamar. They were married by Earp's father on January 10, 1870. Wyatt bought a lot on the outskirts of town for $50 where he built a house in August 1870. Urilla was about to deliver their first child when she suddenly died from typhoid fever. In November, Earp sold the lot and house for $75. He ran against his elder half-brother Newton for the office of constable and won by 137 votes to Newton's 108, but their father lost the election for Justice of the Peace in a very close four-way race.
caption: Wyatt Earp, age 21[28] in 1869 or '70, while married to Urilla Sutherland; taken in Lamar, Missouri.
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