Newton Jasper Earp was born 7 October 1837 in Hartford, Kentucky; the only surviving child of Nicholas Earp and Abigail Storm, who died on 8 October 1839 giving birth to a son, Nathan T. Nathan died a few minutes after birth, with his mother rapidly following. Sister Mariah Ann, born on 12 February 1939, followed her mother in death on 13 December of that year. Newton had a step-mother in July 1840, and was raised as the son of Virginia Ann Cooksey, who gave Newton 8 half-siblings.
At some point in time before the beginning of the Civil War, Newton married a young woman named Jennie, whose surname remains unknown. They were reportedly married in 1854, when both would have been 17. Neither appear in the 1860 Census, and there are no reported children. It has been written that she died in 1887 - but I have not been able to find the documentation. She and Newton did not get back together after the Civil War ended.
Newton signed up for service in the U. S. Army on 11 November 1861 and served in Company F of the 4th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. He was promoted to 4th Sergeant on 1 January 1865, and mustered out in Louisville, Kentucky on 26 June 1865.
On 12 September 1865, Newton married Nancy Jane "Jennie" Adams in Marion County, Missouri. Soon after the marriage, Newton and Jennie moved to the San Bernardino Valley in California, to be with his father and extended family. During that time, Newton worked as a saloon manger. But in 1868, he and his wife moved back to the Midwest, first settling in Lamar, Missouri and taking up farming. In 1870, most of the family was back in Missouri. Newton ran for the position of constable, but lost to his half-brother Wyatt by 291 votes; their father narrowly lost in a group of 4 men running for Justice of the Peace.
Nancy Jane "Jennie" Adams and Newton Earp
In 1871, Newton and family became pioneer settlers near Stearling in Rice County, Kansas. It is reported he hunted buffalo in 1873 near Peace, Kansas. In 1877, he and the family were living outside of Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas - and there was a plague of grasshoppers that had, and were continuing, to devastate the farm crops. When his father and most of his brothers stopped by with a wagon train, headed again to California, Newton, Jennie and the family became the 11th wagon leaving Hutchinson. They didn't make it far; they stopped in Dodge City for several weeks and wintered in Peace, Kansas. They arrived in July 1878 in Prescott, Arizona. Where they stopped. And returned to Kansas in the fall (1878).
The family returned to farming on the outskirts of Garden City, Finney County, Kansas. And stayed there for a while. On 13 January 1883 the village of Garden City was incorporated as a city of the third class. City governmental offices were promptly filled with local townspeople. And during that process, Newton Jasper Earp was appointed the first City Marshal. According to the History of Garden City: "Mr. Earp served as marshal until he resigned his position on August 6, 1883. Mr. Earp was a colorful person who served as a law enforcement officer from time to time, as well as maintaining his private business."
Newton and his second wife Jennie Mary Jane) had five children:
1. Effie May Earp, born 6 May 1870 in Missouri; died 9 November 1919 in Northport, Washington
She married Elias "Ellis" N. Erdman in 1886 and they had 5 children.
2. Wyatt Clyde Earp, born 25 August 1872 in Kansas City, Missouri; died 27 January 1937in Yolo, California
According to some, married twice, with second wife having a son 7 years before their marriage, while still married to first wife... cannot find any documentation other than 1930 Census, and "son" might be adopted or step-son
3. Mary Elizabeth Earp (no documentation) born 25 August 1875 and died 1885, both supposedly in Kansas City, Missouri. (Since the family wasn't near there in those years, I question this listing.) A daughter with that name is mentioned in records, but the dates and places are not.
Left to right: Jennie, Alice, Wyatt (standing), Edwin
(sitting), Effie May, and Newton.
4. Alice Abigail Earp born 18 December 1875 in Rice County, Kansas; died 2 May 1957 in Vallejo, California
She married Warren Emery Hurt in 1896 and they had one daughter.
She married Robert Emmett Carson in 1901 and they had one daughter.
She married John Edward Wells in 1915, with no children.
5. Virgil Edwin Earp, born 19 April 1879 in Garden City Township, Finney County, Kansas; died 20 November 1959 in Vallejo, California. (He claims he was born in a covered wagon outside of Tombstone, Arizona but the 1880 Census and other records don't agree. He claims he rode with the posse that his Uncle Wyatt put together "hunting the killers of his Uncle Morgan in Mexico." Morgan was shot and killed in 1882, when Edwin was 3 years old - and the posse did not go into Mexico. He claims he was the Sheriff of Paradise Valley, Nevada at age 18. He claims he "had 3 notches" on his gun in 1900 - and the first was a man "who molested my sister." There is no record of this; and he was working for the US Army in the Quarter Master Department in Johnsville, California from June 1898 until his discharge on 3 September 1901. Quite an entertaining whopper-teller...)
He married May Genther in 1902 in Sacramento. They had three children, but only Alice lived.
He married Mamie Rebori in 1919 in San Francisco.
He married Lilian Elizabeth Christ in 1939 in Vancouver, Washington.
He married Grace Jean Scott in 1946 in Carson City, Nevada.
Still filled with the Earp wanderlust, Newton and Jennie lived in Casper Wyoming and Paradise Valley Nevada. They finally settled in northern California and became a house builder in both California and northwestern Nevada.
On 29 March 1898 both his wife, Jennie, and daughter Effie May Edman, died in Paradise Valley, where he was working. Newton outlived his wife and daughter for 30 years, dying in Sacramento, California on 28 December 1928. He is buried in the East Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Sacramento. Only his half-brother Wyatt out-lived him, dying on 13 January 1929.
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