Nicholas Porter Earp

Nicholas Porter Earp (September 6, 1813 - February 12, 1907) was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, to Walter and Martha Ann Earp. He is known as the father of Old West lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp.

Early life and military service
Nicholas' father Walter Earp, a school teacher and Methodist Episcopal preacher, was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1787. Nicholas' mother, Martha Ann Early, was born in Avery County, North Carolina, on August 28, 1790. Nicholas was the third of ten children; his siblings include six brothers: Lorenzo Dow, Josiah Jackson, James Kelly, Francis Asbury, Jonathan Douglas and Walter C (twins); as well as three sisters: Elizabeth, Mary Ann, and Sarah Ann.

Nicholas' family was descended from English and Ulster Scots roots. Soon after his birth, the Earp clan moved from Virginia to Hartford, Kentucky in 1813, where Nicholas spent the remainder of his childhood. As a young man, Nicholas was involved in the Black Hawk War of 1831 and later was a sergeant in the Mexican-American War. It was during the Mexican-American War that Nicholas served under Captain Wyatt Berry Stapp of the Illinois Mounted Volunteers. Nicholas later honored Captain Stapp by naming his fourth, and most famous son, Wyatt, after him. During the Civil War, Nicholas also served in Iowa as a provost marshal for recruitment; taking on the burden of sending local boys and men as well as his own sons Newton, James, and Virgil off to fight for the Union Army.

First marriage
On December 22, 1836, in Hartford, Nicholas Porter married Abigail Storm, the daughter of Peter and Anna Maria (Lehman) Sturm. Abigail was born on September 21, 1813, in Ohio County, Kentucky, and was the great-granddaughter of German immigrants who had originally settled in Frederick, Maryland. Nicolas and Abigail's short marriage produced Nicholas' first son, Newton Jasper Earp, born October 7, 1837. in Ohio County. Abigail then died at the early age of 26 on October 8, 1839 in Hartford, Kentucky, just eight months following the birth of their second child, daughter Mariah Ann. Mariah subsequently died two months after her mother, Abigail, on December 13, 1839.

Second marriage


On July 30, 1840, widower and single-parent Nicholas Earp wed local girl Virginia Ann Cooksey in Hartford. This second marriage produced eight children:


 * James Cooksey Earp (June 28, 1841 in Hartford, Kentucky — January 25, 1926 in Los Angeles, California)
 * Virgil Walter Earp (July 18, 1843 in Hartford, Kentucky — October 19, 1905 in Goldfield, Nevada).
 * Martha Elizabeth Earp (September 25, 1845 in Kentucky — May 26, 1856 in Monmouth, Illinois).
 * Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois — January 13, 1929 in Los Angeles, California).
 * Morgan Seth Earp (April 24, 1851 in Pella, Iowa — March 18, 1882 in Tombstone, Arizona).
 * Baxter Warren Earp (always known as Warren) (March 9, 1855 in Pella, Iowa — July 6, 1900 in Willcox, Arizona).
 * Virginia Ann Earp (February 28, 1858 in Marion County, Iowa — October 26, 1861 in Pella, Iowa).
 * Adelia Douglas Earp (June 16, 1861 in Pella, Iowa — January 16, 1941 in San Bernardino, California).

Farmer, constable, bootlegger, and wagon-master
On March 4, 1856, Nicholas sold his Pella, Iowa, farm to Aquillin Waters Noe (who resold it on the same day to Hiram Zenas Webster) and the family returned to Monmouth, Illinois, where Nicholas found that nobody wanted his services as cooper or farmer. Faced with unemployment, Nicholas chose to become a municipal constable, a post he served for about three years. He reportedly had a second source of income from the selling of alcoholic beverages which made him the target of the local women's temperance group. In 1859, he was tried for bootlegging, subsequently convicted and suffered public humiliation. Nicholas was unable to pay his court-imposed fines following his trial, and, on November 11, 1859, Nicholas's property was sold at an auction. Two days later, the Earps left Monmouth for a return to Pella. Nicholas apparently made frequent travels to Monmouth throughout 1860 to confirm and conclude the sale of his properties and to face several lawsuits for debt and accusations of tax evasion. On May 12, 1864, the Earp family joined a wagon train heading to California. According to the diaries of Utah immigrants in the wagon train, Nicholas was one of the wagon-masters on their overland trek.

An itinerant family life
In spring 1868, the Earps moved again, this time coming back to the mid-west and settling in Lamar, Missouri, where Nicholas became the local constable. By November 17, 1869, Nicholas resigned to become Justice of the Peace. Son Wyatt, who had been studying the law with his grandfather, Walter, was immediately appointed constable in place of his father.

Some time prior to 1880, Nicholas and Virginia Earp moved back to California, settling in San Bernardino County while son James and his wife Nellie moved to Tombstone, Arizona. Enumerated one year prior to the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral, the 1880 United States Census shows the Nicholas Earp household to include son Morgan and his wife Louisa ("Lou"). The record also listed Nicholas' occupation as a farmer and youngest son Warren residing with his parents at that time. Along with being a farmer, Nicholas also had several civic involvements, to include becoming one of the founders of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers (which in later years would merge with the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society).

Third marriage and death
Following Virginia's death on January 14, 1893, in San Bernardino, Nicholas married Annie Elizabeth Cadd on October 14 of the same year. His new wife was the widow of Ambrose Peck Alexander (1825–1884) and was born in 1842 in Preston Bissett, Buckingham, England. She died in 1931 and is buried near Virginia and Nellie Earp (wife of son James Earp) at the Pioneer Cemetery in San Bernardino.

Nicholas Earp died at The Soldier's Home in Sawtelle, California, on February 12, 1907, shortly after he was elected to the Los Angeles County court. He is buried in West Los Angeles at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. He had outlived six of his ten children.