Glenn G. Boyer (January 5, 1924 – February 14, 2013) was a controversial author who published three books and a number of articles about Wyatt Earp and related figures in the American Old West. He was the first person to reveal the existence of Wyatt Earp's second wife, Mattie Blaylock. His publications were for many years regarded as the authoritative source on Wyatt Earp's life. However, when other experts began to seek evidence supporting Boyer's work, he would or could not prove the existence of documents that he said he owned and had cited as essential sources. In one case, an individual he cited as a key source was exposed as a complete fabrication. His reputation and the authenticity of his work was seriously damaged. Although he retained many supporters, his work became surrounded by controversy. At least one critic wrote that all of Boyer's later work was "riddled with bogus material".
One of his books, I Married Wyatt Earp, sold more than 35,000 copies and was the second-best selling book about Wyatt Earp. After many disagreements with University of Arizona press, who initially published the book, Boyer regained rights to the book and had it published by Longmeadow Press as a non-fiction autobiography. Boyer published over more than 30 years a number of books and articles. He was responsible for publishing the memoirs of Doc Holliday's common-law wife Big Nose Kate, as well as the long-sought "Flood Manuscript" which had been written with Wyatt Earp's direct input.
Personal life
Boyer, a native of Wisconsin, joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and served in the U.S. Air Force until his retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1965. During his time in the Air Force he conducted a statistical analysis of F-100 aircraft to help determine the cause of a high accident rate; the analysis found that the planes were being overused and recommended more downtime.
Boyer married author Jane Candia Coleman in 1980. He died on February 14, 2013, at age 89, in Tucson, Arizona. He was survived by his wife Jane, two sons and three grandchildren.
Boyer collection
During his later years as an officer in the USAF, Boyer spent much of his personal time meeting with and interviewing surviving members of the Earp family. He interviewed a number of Wyatt’s relations including the Cason family, who had known Wyatt's common-law wife Josephine Earp as "Aunt Josie" in the 1930s. While serving in the U.S. Air Force in Ajo, Arizona, he met Albert Price Behan, Johnny Behan's son. Boyer accumulated 32 boxes of correspondence with the Earp family, family pictures, hand-written notes, audio recordings, weapons, and memorabilia, along with manuscripts that he used as source material for several books, including the memoir I Married Wyatt Earp, supposedly written by Wyatt Earp's wife, Josephine Earp.
Along with hundreds of letters and personal writings, the Earp family also gave Boyer "trunks full of personal items" and several firearms belonging to the Earp brothers and their father. On April 17, 2014, Glenn Boyer's family put much of his Earp collection and many artifacts up for auction. Among the 32 boxes of documentation, files, pictures and memorabilia for sale was a Colt .45 caliber said by Earp descendants to have been owned by Wyatt Earp. Also included in the auction was a Winchester lever-action shotgun belonging to Wyatt Earp.
The Wyatt revolver from Boyer's estate was expected to fetch from $100,000 to $150,000. On the day of the auction, more than 6,400 online bidders and over 400 collectors from 49 countries took part in the auction. The revolver attributed to Wyatt Earp was sold to an unnamed phone bidder from New Mexico for $225,000. The Winchester lever-action shotgun also said to be Wyatt Earp's sold for $50,000, below the high value estimate of $125,000.
In 2009, Boyer arranged with Legendary Publishing of Edmond, Oklahoma, the publishers of what would be his final book, Where the Heart Was, to have his VHS tapes converted to DVDs, and to have his research scanned and digitized, but no publication date was announced.
Cason manuscript
The facts about when Josephine Earp first arrived in the Arizona Territory, her life before and while living in Tombstone, and when she first began a relationship with Earp, have been obscured by her legal and personal efforts to keep that period private. After Earp's death, Josephine collaborated with two of her husband's cousins, Mabel Earp Cason and her sister Vinolia Earp Ackerman, to document her life.