PHILIP EARP

Philip Earp was born 1808 in Virginia. His father was Elijah Earp, Sr., mother unknown. His occupation was that of a carpenter.

 

After exhaustive research of over thirty years by several members of the Earp family, it can finally be established that this Philip is the son of Elijah, Sr., son of Philip. The company store ledger book for Bright Hope Furnace in Greene County Tennessee lists daily transactions for those doing business with and working for that company. Because Elijah Sr, Elijah Jr, Thomas and Philip are named numerous times together in that ledger book and because Elijah Jr., Thomas and Philip lived close together after they left Tennessee, it appears fairly conclusive that these three boys were indeed the sons of Elijah Earp, Sr.

 

Philip first appears on the Bright Hope Furnace Company store ledger book in May 1835, and he first appears on the Cocke County Tennessee List of Taxpayers in 1837, along with his brothers, Thomas and Elijah Jr. He apparently left the Cocke County area by 1840. By 1850 he was living in Dade County Georgia with all five children and was listed on that census as Philip Earp, age 42; Frances, 42; Lorenzo, 16; Marshal, 14; Theodore, 12; Lafayette, 10; Violet, 6. The 1860 Dade County census only list Philip, 52; Frances 52; and Violet, 16.  Philip married Frances Ward on 15 January 1827 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Frances was born 1808 in North Carolina.

 

Lorenzo W. Earp was born 1834 in Tennessee and died 20 July 1864 in Camp Morton Infirmary, IN. He and his wife, Mary F. (last name unknown, born circa 1842) married around 1860, possibly in Dade County.  Lorenzo enlisted in the Confederate Army on 4 May 1862 along with his brothers Lafayette, Theodore and Marshall as privates in C. D., 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, the “Dade County Invincibles”. Lorenzo was captured at Trenton Georgia on 12 September 1863 and died 20 July 1864 in the Camp Morton Infirmary.

 

Marshall Brown Earp was born in 1836 in Cocke County Tennessee and died 1897. He worked with the AGS Railway Company. He married Hannah L. Fawis (b. 1842; died 1894), circa 1858, possibly in Tennessee.  Marshall, who enlisted in Co D., 39th Georgia along with his brothers, was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi on 3 July 1863 and was paroled there on 8 July 1863. He deserted prior to December 1863.  Marshall and Hannah died in either Jackson County or Birmingham, Alabama, according to Ann Trentham, a descendant, who generously shared her family information with us and to whom we are grateful.  Marshall and Hannah’s children’s names are taken from census records. The 1870 Rutherford County Tennessee census listed Osker, 10; Laura, 8; Phillip, 6; and Alden, 4. The 1880 Jackson County Alabama list OD, 22; LA, 19; P., 18; AN, 15; and HM, 7.

 

Theodore L. Earp, Sr., was born 1838 in Tennessee. He married Sarah A., (last name unknown; born 1844) about 1859 in Georgia or Alabama. Theodore, like his brothers, enlisted in the C.S.A. and was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi on 3 July 1863. He was paroled there on 8 July 1863 and deserted prior to December 1863.

 

The Dade County 1860 census listed Lafayette, 20; Sarah, 18; William A., 7 mos.

 

Violet Earp who was born 1844 in Georgia, married Thomas O’Neal, the son of Zachariah O’Neal and Catherine Perry.

 

(Submitted by Sarron S. Spencer, Grapevine, Texas 76051. (July 2002)

 

 

 




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