When historians look into the life of Wyatt Earp, it is hard to know where to begin to describe a man who seemingly wore many hats given the era from which he lived. He was a farmer, a teamster, a buffalo hunter and a miner. He was better known as a saloon-keeper, a lawman, and an Earp. The Earp-factor being one of the most important because he was one of the men who fought in the notorious Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Wyatt Earp was born in 1848. He was one of eight children born into his Illinois family. By 1861, Wyatt's brothers James, Newton, and Virgil were fighting in the Union Army something that he often wanted to do but was far too young to join. Once all of the Earps returned home safely, the Earp family joined a California-bound wagon train and by 1865, Wyatt and Virgil were stagecoach drivers.

Wyatt Earp married in 1870 but his wife died several months later. His wife, Urilla Southerland was believed to have died of Typhus but some historians believe she died during childbirth.

After his wife's passing, Wyatt Earp had countless run-ins with the law. Little is known about his life from 1871 until 1874. However, he did spend some time in Kansas and Peoria, Illinois where there is historical documentation that he was arrested along with his brother Morgan for "Keeping and being found in houses of ill-fame".

In 1876, Wyatt Earp spent some time in Dodge City where he was an assistant to the marshal there but he left Dodge City to gamble. Wyatt eventually showed up in Tombstone in 1879.

Once the Earps were all reunited in Tombstone along with famous gun-slinger and gambler Doc Holliday, things began to unravel. In October of 1881, the famous "thirty shots fired in thirty seconds" became a historical moment in western history and dubbed the Gunfight at the Ok Corral.

In 1929, Wyatt Earp died in California. His wife, Josie wasn't able to attend his funeral due to an overwhelming grief that kept her from paying her last respects. She died in 1944.