Professional dancer and actress, best known as Wyatt Earp's third wife. Little is known about her birth and early life before the family moved to San Francisco. Her father was a baker and little more is known. At the age of 18 Josephine and a friend ran away from home and joined a theatrical company, working as dancers. It was in 1879 that Josephine met Johnny Behan, a Yavapai County deputy. Shortly after this meeting she returned home and Behan followed seeking her hand in marriage. She declined and he returned to Tombstone. Shortly however she returned to Tombstone and lived with a lawyer while housekeeping for Behan and his son. Stories from this time also claim she was really living with Behan and other say the lawyer was her pimp she worked as a prostitute. In 1881 Behan's fooling around became too much and she left him for good. She took up with Wyatt Earp and the scandal cause much embarrassment to both Behan and Mattie Earp, so much so that it made the local paper, the Tombstone Epitaph. Some stories of the time state that the shame to Behan was one of the causes of the gunfight at the OK corral. By 1882 Josie as she was called by friends had started using Earp as her last name, to date there has been no record of a formal marriage found. She stayed with Wyatt up to his death in 1929 and was so grief stricken she was unable to attend the funeral. The final years of her life were spent in Los Angeles where she died, her body was cremated and buried next to Wyatt's in the Marcus family plot.
Professional dancer and actress, best known as Wyatt Earp's third wife. Little is known about her birth and early life before the family moved to San Francisco. Her father was a baker and little more is known. At the age of 18 Josephine and a friend ran away from home and joined a theatrical company, working as dancers. It was in 1879 that Josephine met Johnny Behan, a Yavapai County deputy. Shortly after this meeting she returned home and Behan followed seeking her hand in marriage. She declined and he returned to Tombstone. Shortly however she returned to Tombstone and lived with a lawyer while housekeeping for Behan and his son. Stories from this time also claim she was really living with Behan and other say the lawyer was her pimp she worked as a prostitute. In 1881 Behan's fooling around became too much and she left him for good. She took up with Wyatt Earp and the scandal cause much embarrassment to both Behan and Mattie Earp, so much so that it made the local paper, the Tombstone Epitaph. Some stories of the time state that the shame to Behan was one of the causes of the gunfight at the OK corral. By 1882 Josie as she was called by friends had started using Earp as her last name, to date there has been no record of a formal marriage found. She stayed with Wyatt up to his death in 1929 and was so grief stricken she was unable to attend the funeral. The final years of her life were spent in Los Angeles where she died, her body was cremated and buried next to Wyatt's in the Marcus family plot.
