Earp Historical Timeline Page 1

Beginnings : Childhood to Wichita

• 1840, June 30 - Nicholas Earp marries Virginia Ann Cooksley
• 1848, March 19 - Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp is born to Nicholas and Virginia Ann Earp. Wyatt is the fourth son: Newton (born to Abigail Storm Earp, first wife of Nicholas, who died in 1839), James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, Warren. There are some daughters as well - but I have yet to be satisfied as to names and birthdates.
• 1849, April - The Earps move to Lake Prairie Township, Iowa, and Nicholas opens a harness shop in in Pella.
• 1851, April 24 - Morgan Earp is born in Pella, Iowa.
• 1851, August 14 - John Henry Holliday is born in Griffin, Georgia.
• 1855, March 9 - Warren Earp is born in Pella, Iowa.
• 1860, January - The family moves back to Iowa after a brief time in LaMar, Missouri.
• 1860, February - Virgil elopes with Ellen Rysdam but her family is furious and the result is a baby daughter that Virgil never even gets to see.
• 1862, August 21 - Virgil enlists in the 83rd Illinois Infantry. Wyatt is too young and has to stay home hoeing.
• 1863, Summer - James Earp, serving with the Union, is discharged after receiving a serious wound at Fredericktown, Missouri. Ellen Rysdam is mistakenly informed that her husband, Virgil, is killed in action and so leaves Pella with her family.
• 1864, May 12 - Nicholas Earp leads the wagon train headed to California. Wyatt is sixteen.
• 1865, June 26 - Virgil Earp heads home after being mustered out of the army, only to find his wife and child gone.
• 1865, Summer - Wyatt and Virgil get jobs driving stages in Southern California. Some in here, Wyatt takes his first drink of whiskey and it makes him so sick he abstains for twenty years.
• 1866, Spring - Wyatt's a teamster, driving freight with the outfit of Chris Taylor.
• 1868, Spring - Nicholas can't settle and it's back to Illinois. Wyatt encounters the railhead for the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming and starts picking up the skills and habits that will be last him a life time. He learns to gamble and box.
• 1869, Sometime - Nicholas moves his family back to Lamar, Missouri.
• 1869, November 17 - N.P. Earp resigns as Constable of Lamar Township, Wyatt is appointed Constable of Lamar Township and Barton County. N.P. Earp is appointed Justice of the Peace of Barton County and Lamar Township.
• 1870, Jan 16th - Wyatt Earp marries Urilla Sutherland. N.P. Earp is the Justice of the Peace.
• 1870, May 28 - Virgil Earp marries Miss Rozilla Draggoo. N.P. Earp is the Justice of the Peace.
• 1870, May 28 - Wyatt Earp receives favorable notice for his lawing in the local Lamar newspaper when he singlehandedly (through some craft and guile) locked up some drunks.
• 1871, March 28 - Perhaps due to distress over the death of Urilla, Wyatt gets in trouble with the law. He is accused of horse thieving in Van Buren, Arkansas. His bail is paid. According to the testimony of one of the accused, John Shown's, wife Earp and Ed Kennedy got Shown drunk and had him help them steal horses from Jim Keyes.
• 1871, May 15 - Wyatt Earp, Ed Kennedy, and John Shown, are indicted for horse thieving.
• 1871, June 5 - Ed Kennedy is acquitted of stealing horses.
• 1871, November 31 - Wyatt Earp and John Shown are no show for their court appearances, but no warrants are sworn out.
• 1872 - Wyatt spends some time as a buffalo hunter. He meets Bat Masterson, to be a lifelong friend, on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas river.
• 1873 - Virgil Earp meets Alvira Sullivan in Council Bluff, Iowa. Virgil is a stage coach driver at the time. Allie is a waitress in the Planters House restaurant.
• 1874, May - Bessie Earp, Jame's wife, is charged with prostitution in Wichita, Kansas. This happens every month for nearly a year.
• 1874, June 3 - Two women, listed as Bessie Earp and Sallie Earp, are chared with keeping a bawdy house.
• 1874, October 28 - Wyatt Earp is one of two men hired by M.R. Mosier of Wichita, Kansas, to chase down an outfit that left town without paying their bill.
• 1875, April 25 - Wyatt Earp is hired as a policeman in Wichita, Kansas.
• 1875, May 12 - Policeman Wyatt Erp (sic) receives favorable notice for catching a horse thief in the Wichita Weekly Beacon.
• 1876, April 2 - Getting into a fist fight over local politics and a mention of his brothers, Wyatt ends up losing his job as policeman.
• 1876, April 19 - The vote is split 50/50 on whether to hire Wyatt back on the force in Wichita, Kansas.

Onward to Dodge...

Historians : Found an error? Please feel free to email me at wyatt@panhistoria.com with corrections.

Sources:
The Illustrated Life and Times of Wyatt Earp by Bob Boze Bell, Boze Books, 1993
Wyatt Earp and the Coeur d'Alene Gold!: Stampede to Idaho Territory, by Jerry Dolph and Arthur Randall, Eagle City Publishing, 1999
Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend, by Casey Tefertiller, John Wiley & Sons, 1999
Wyatt Earp: The Missing Years, San Diego in the 1880's, by Kenneth R. Cilch and Kenneth R. Cilch, Jr., Gaslamp Books, 1998
The Earp Papers : In a Brother's Image by Don Chaput
The Truth About Wyatt Earp by Richard E. Erwin