Newton Earp

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Newton Jasper Earp (October 7, 1837–December 18, 1928) was the little known half-brother to famous Old West lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, who all became famous from their participation in the Gunfight at the OK Corral in 1881.

Earp was born in Ohio County, Kentucky, the son of Nicholas Earp with his first wife, Abigail Storm Earp, who died at the early age of 26. He and his half-brothers Virgil and James, born to his father's second wife, were extremely close for their entire lives. Wyatt, Morgan, and Warren were much younger, and never close to Newton. He married his first wife, Jennie, in 1854. There is no record of divorce, and she is known to have died no earlier than 1887. However, he married his second wife, Nancy Jane Adams, shortly after his return from the Civil War on September 15, 1865.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Newton enlisted in the Union Army, along with both James and Virgil. James was badly wounded in a battle near Fredericktown, Missouri only months later, and returned home. Virgil and Newton served the entire war, fighting in several battles in the east, returning home in 1865 at the wars end. Upon his return, he married Nancy in Marion County, Missouri, then rejoined the rest of the family in California, where they had relocated, and where he settled into a life managing saloons, and various other business involvements. Unlike his brothers, he never entered into a service in law enforcement, and thus is rarely even mentioned in historical accounts of his brothers exploits, and despite the fact that they looked up to him in their youth.

From 1881-1882, he was always ready to go to Arizona, if Virgil or Wyatt called him for help.

He died peacefully in Sacramento, California, on December 18, 1928.