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Saturday, April 5, 2014

E is for Earp, Wyatt

My theme for A- Z is the year my book takes place: 1881. I'll be posting about people, places, and random facts about the year as it relates - however distantly - to my book.

Today's post is for Wyatt Earp. Not a bad looking guy, eh?


 Wyatt Earp was born in 1848 and lived until 1929. As a boy he repeatedly tried to follow his brothers into war (the Civil War). After his first wife died he moved to Kansas where he allegedly frequented the saloons, gambling houses, and brothels, and had a few close calls with the law enforcement. But after helping track down a wagon thief, Earp joined the police force in Dodge City where he would make the acquaintance of Doc Holliday.

In 1879 Wyatt moved to Tombstone, Arizona to join his brothers, hoping to get rich off the silver mines. When that didn't pan out (haha) he returned to the law and as Deputy Town Marshal in Tombstone, took part in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881.

In my novel, West of Paradise, Jack (our hero) is a history buff and actually gets to see the gunfight, which occurs just before all hell breaks lose for a second time in Tombstone.

Thankfully I'm a bit of a history buff, too, so I had a lot of fun with the research.






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12 comments:

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh5/4/14 7:32 AM

    I bet Wyatt Earp was fun to research. I bet there was a lot of information out there. (And not all of it accurate, I'm sure.)

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  2. Liza5/4/14 8:46 AM

    This would be a fun topic to research.

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  3. The Angry Lurker5/4/14 9:00 AM

    I believe he also never received a wound ever.

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  4. Luanne G. Smith5/4/14 10:15 AM

    Yeah, I love history too. A friend of mine wrote a novel that takes place around 1900 on the Mexican border. He included Pancho Villa in a small role. I think it would be fun to include historical characters like that and play with expectations.

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  5. Susan Gourley/Kelley5/4/14 11:00 AM

    There have been so many different stories about Earp. I'm loving your theme.

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  6. Unknown5/4/14 1:41 PM

    So Earp was one of the first to take a civil service job for financial security. lol!

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  7. Tony Laplume5/4/14 3:26 PM

    And was later featured in a Kevin Costner movie!

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  8. Liz Blocker5/4/14 4:34 PM

    That is awesome that you were able to incorporate the famous gunfight into your book. I love stuff like that :) I'm sorry it's taken me til day 5 to get over here - it's been a crazy week!

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  9. Aditi5/4/14 5:08 PM

    I love your theme...so unique...I read about your character Jack McCabe and he seems really interesting! Aditi, A2Z participant

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  10. Liz A.5/4/14 6:23 PM

    Yeah, I'm sure a history buff would have so much fun in the past.

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  11. Julie Flanders5/4/14 8:24 PM

    As a fellow history buff I can imagine how fun this was to research. Fun to read about now here too. :)

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  12. The Happy Whisk6/4/14 4:01 PM

    I enjoy research, too. What do you like best about it?

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