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Frank McLaury

AKA Robert Findley McLaury

Born: 3-Mar-1848
Birthplace: Merideth, NY
Died: 26-Oct-1881
Location of death: Tombstone, AZ
Cause of death: Dueling
Remains: Buried, Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, AZ

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Criminal

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Cattle rustler and old west ruffian Frank McLaury rode with his brother Tom McLaury and Billy and Ike Clanton, and their gang was bullied into a duel against Wyatt Earp and his allies in the gunfight near the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, on 26 October 1881. McLaury is believed to have been the first man shot in the duel, taking a bullet in the stomach, and Earp later said he targeted McLaury because he was believed to be the best marksman among the Clanton gang. Mortally wounded, McLaury managed to continue shooting, and before dying he and Billy Clanton shot and wounded Doc Holliday and Morgan and Virgil Earp. The McLaurys' brother William, a Texas judge, came to Tombstone shortly after the gunfight, and numerous experts believe that he organized the vigilante retribution that soon left Morgan Earp dead and his brother Virgil crippled.

There is no definitive spelling of the family name, and McLaury's siblings and parents spelled it variously McClaury, McLaurie, McClaughry, MacLaughry, McLowery, or MacLowery. Some family members deliberately altered the spelling of their names to obscure their relationship to the public spectacle of Frank and Tom McLaury's deaths.

Father: Robert Houston McLaury (attorney, b. 3-Aug-1810, d. 7-Jul-1893)
Mother: Margaret Rowland McLaury (b. 25-Jul-1812, m. 1832, d. Oct-1859, eleven children)
Brother: Ebenezer Rowland McLaury (farmer, b. 16-Sep-1833, d. 4-Oct-1889)
Sister: Margaret Findley McLaury Applegate (b. 9-Jun-1836, d. 1-Apr-1920)
Brother: Hugh McLaury (b. 1838, d. 1843 fire)
Brother: Edmund McLaury (Union soldier, b. 1-Aug-1840, d. 1862 Civil War)
Sister: Mary Elizabeth McLaury Burnison Wass (b. 1842)
Brother: William Rowland McLaury (judge, b. 6-Dec-1844, d. 16-Feb-1913)
Sister: Marjorie Agnes McLaury Daily (b. 14-Mar-1847, d. 30-Oct-1921)
Sister: Christiana McLaury Armstrong (b. 25-Feb-1851, d. 17-Aug-1937)
Brother: Tom McLaury (outlaw, b. 30-Jun-1853, d. 26-Oct-1881 gunfight)
Sister: Sarah Caroline McLaury Reid Henderson (b. 22-Apr-1855, d. 7-Dec-1941)
Mother: Anna Lavina Miller Leigh McLaury (stepmother, b. 25-Feb-1850, m. circa 1870, three sons)
Brother: John Chester McLaury (half-brother, b. 1-Apr-1876, d. 4-Jun-1961)
Brother: Arthur Robert: McLaury (dairy farmer, half-brother, b. 24-Jun-1881, d. 14-Jul-1937)
Brother: Charles Franklin McLaury (rubber salesman, half-brother, b. 5-Feb-1888, d. 9-Jul-1964)

    Shot Tombstone, AZ (26-Oct-1881)
    Scottish Ancestry (maternal and paternal)
    Irish Ancestry (maternal and paternal)


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