Claim: Wyatt Earp's first wife perished shortly before their first child was to be born.

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp -LRB- March 19 , 1848 -- January 13 , 1929 -RRB- was an American Old West gambler , a deputy sheriff in Pima County , and deputy town marshal in Tombstone , Arizona Territory , who took part in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral , during which lawmen killed three outlaw cowboys . He is often regarded as the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone , although his brother Virgil was Tombstone city marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day , and had far more experience as a sheriff , constable , marshal , and soldier in combat .   Earp lived a restless life . He was at different times a constable , city policeman , county sheriff , Deputy U.S. Marshal , teamster , buffalo hunter , bouncer , saloon-keeper , gambler , brothel keeper , miner , and boxing referee . Earp spent his early life in Iowa . In 1870 , Earp married his first wife , Urilla Sutherland Earp , who contracted typhoid fever and died shortly before their first child was to be born . During the next two years Earp was arrested for stealing a horse , escaped from jail , sued twice , and was arrested and fined three times during the course of 1872 for `` keeping and being found in a house of ill-fame '' . His third arrest was subject of a lengthy account in the `` Daily Transcript '' which referred to him as an `` old offender '' and nicknamed him the `` Peoria Bummer '' .   By 1874 he had arrived in the cattle boomtown of Wichita , Kansas where his brother had opened a brothel . On April 21 , 1875 he was appointed to the Wichita police force , and developed a solid reputation as a lawman . In April 1876 he was dismissed from his position as a lawman following an altercation with a political opponent of his boss which led to him being fined $ 30 . In 1876 , he followed his brother James to Dodge City , Kansas , where he became an assistant city marshal . In winter 1878 , he went to Texas to track down an outlaw and met John `` Doc '' Holliday , whom Earp later credited with saving his life .   Earp moved constantly throughout his life from one boomtown to another . He left Dodge City in 1879 and moved to Tombstone with his brothers James and Virgil , where a silver boom was underway . There , the Earps clashed with a loose federation of outlaws known as the Cowboys . Wyatt , Virgil , and their younger brother Morgan held various law enforcement positions that put them in conflict with Tom and Frank McLaury , and Ike and Billy Clanton , who threatened on several occasions to kill the Earps . The conflict escalated over the next year , culminating on October 26 , 1881 in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral , in which the Earps and Holliday killed three of the Cowboys . In the next five months , Virgil was ambushed and maimed , and Morgan was assassinated . Pursuing a vendetta , Wyatt , his brother Warren , Holliday , and others formed a federal posse that killed three of the Cowboys whom they thought responsible . Wyatt was never wounded in any of the gunfights in which he took part , unlike his brothers Virgil and James , or his friend , Doc Holliday , which only added to his mystique after his death .   Earp was a lifelong gambler and was always looking for a quick way to make money . After leaving Tombstone , Earp went to San Francisco where he reunited with Josephine Earp . She became his common-law wife . They joined a gold rush to Eagle City , Idaho , where they owned mining interests and a saloon . They left there to race horses and open a saloon during a real estate boom in San Diego , California . Back in San Francisco , Wyatt raced horses again , but his reputation suffered irreparably when he refereed the Fitzsimmons-Sharkey boxing match and called a foul that led many to believe that he fixed the fight . They moved briefly to Yuma , Arizona before joining the Nome Gold Rush in 1899 . In partnership with Charlie Hoxie they opened a two-story saloon called the Dexter and made an estimated $ 80,000 -LRB- about $ 2 million in 2017 dollars -RRB- . Returning to the lower 48 , they opened another saloon in Tonopah , Nevada , the site of a new gold find . In about 1911 , Earp began working several mining claims in Vidal , California , retiring in the hot summers with Josephine to Los Angeles .   Wyatt Earp died on January 13 , 1929 . He was known as a Western lawman , gunfighter , and boxing referee . He had a notorious reputation for both his handling of the Fitzsimmons-Sharkey fight and his role in the O.K. Corral gunfight . This only began to change after his death when an extremely flattering biography was published in 1931 . It became a bestseller and created his reputation as a fearless lawman . Since then , Earp has been the subject of and model for numerous films , TV shows , biographies , and works of fiction that have increased his notoriety . He did , however , live to see himself being portrayed in the film Wild Bill Hickok , released in 1923 . Long after his death , he has many devoted detractors and admirers . Earp 's modern-day reputation is that of the Old West 's `` toughest and deadliest gunman of his day . ''