Fairfax
|
Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock was Wyatt’s common law, and second, wife. Born in 1850 in Monroe Township, Johnson County, Iowa, near Fairfax, Celia grew up on a small farm. She and a younger sister ran away in 1868 to escape reportedly stern parents and the difficult life on the farm. Little is known about her life in the years before she met Wyatt Earp, other than at some point she took the name Mattie, probably to hide her identity, and that she worked as a prostitute to earn money.
Although the beginning and ending years of their relationship are sketchy, Mattie may have met Wyatt Earp sometime between 1871 and 1873. After the Shootout, she moved to Colton, California, and he to San Francisco. While still in Tombstone, Mattie had become addicted to the laudanum she took to treat headaches, and in 1888, she overdosed on alcohol and the narcotic. |
Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock
|