The first couple of posts I did were about Allen Erp’s Civil War story. Allen was my 3^rd Great Grandfather. He was born in Pulaski County Kentucky in 1826. He married Sarah Alexander in 1844 and a few years later moved to Clinton County Indiana. 

He served in Company G of the 86^th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers during the Civil War– enlisting in August 1862 and serving through the end of the war, being discharged June of 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee. His military records are under the name “Allen Urp.”

Last July, I was at a genealogy conference in Indiana. I met a man who’s business is going to the National Archives and retrieving Civil War Records. I paid the fee and waited for what he might find about Allen Urp. I was particularly interested in seeing if there would be any record of Allen’s injury to his right hand that was mentioned in his letter home and on his Invalid Pension Certificate. A few months later I received digital copies of Allen’s Service Record and Pension files. There was no specific Medical record.

The Pension files consisted of several pages of sworn testimony confirming Allen’s dates of service in the Union Army. There were also statements regarding his injury. 

Theodore Hesser, who served as 1^st Lieutenant in Company G of the 86^th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers gave a statement that indicated that Private Allen Urp, “on or about the 18^th day of December 1862 was wounded in his right hand by the accidental discharge of his gun while on picket duty causing the loss of the 1^st & 2^nd fingers of his Right hand.” The event occurred near Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Hesser also stated that “Said Urp was a good & faithful soldier and continued to serve on detached service in the Ambulance train till the Regiment was discharged.” 

So Allen was on “picket duty.” This was a line of soldiers who patrolled in advance of the main encampment, watching for any enemy movement. At this time in 1862, the Regiment was encamped near Nashville, making it’s way toward Murfreesboro, Tenn. His wounds were not caused in battle, but by an “Accidental discharge” of his gun. 

Allen’s own testimony of his injury was given as well. It adds a little more detail to the story. On January 22, 1870 he gave this statement in support of his Pension request: 

“On or about the 18^th day of December 1862 while on duty on the skirmish line I was taken with the cramp & while endeavoring to relieve my self my gun was accidentally discharged wounding me in the right hand causing the amputation of my first and second fingers. My wound was dressed & attended to in the camp of the Regiment near Nashville, Tenn & I remained with the Regiment until I was discharged at the close of the war.”

So if I read that correctly, Allen was on picket duty, patrolling the area near the encampment, on the look-out for the enemy, when “nature called.” Who knows, he may have propped his rifle against a tree and it fell, causing it to accidentally discharge, or it may have fired as he was preparing to set it down. In one sense it may be lucky that he only lost some fingers!

This injury was not great enough to keep him from serving his tour of duty however. As mentioned in the statements, he served through the next two and a half years to the end of the war. He worked with the Ambulance service & as he said in his letter home, drove an Ambulance wagon. He may have also worked on the Ambulance train that took wounded soldiers away from the battle lines to field hospitals. These trains could have consisted of flat cars, freight cars or passenger cars used to transport the soldiers. Can’t imagine they were the best of accommodations. The Library of Congress website <loc.gov> has pictures of Civil War Ambulance wagons and trains. I expect working with the Ambulance service was quite challenging at times. 

There was an Examining Surgeon’s Certificate dated November 2, 1869 attached to his file. The surgeon, W.P. Dunn, declared Allen “1/2 incapacitated for obtaining his subsistence by manual labor” due to his injury. Since Allen was a farmer, his lively-hood was affected by the limited use of his right hand. My assumption is that he was right-handed. According to other paperwork in is file, Allen was approved of his Invalid (Disability) Pension April 13, 1871 for $2 per month from June 5, 1865. 

In 1875, when Allen was 48 years old, he applied for an increase to a full pension. He gave the following statement to the Clerk of the Clinton County, Indiana Court:

He reported his disability from “Gunshot wound of right hand causing loss of first & second fingers of the said hand causing stiffness and lameness of said hand, greatly incapacitating him for manual labor.” Allen requested an examination and an increase in pension. He also seems to indicate that he had not received the appropriate compensation as he also requested back pension. He did have a Medical Examination and was still declared 1/2 disabled and entitled to $4 per month.

In 1878, Allen again pursued an increase in his pension & appeared before the Clerk of the Court of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. He stated that he is disabled due to the “gun shot wound of right hand causing loss of middle and index fingers and a contracture of tendons in the other fingers almost totally disabling him on such level equivalent to the loss of a limb.” He again received a Medical Examination, this time by 2 physicians, who stated:

“G.S.W. right hand=Ball destroyed 1^st and 2^nd Phalanx of Index and middle fingers—amputated at articulation of 2^nd and 3^rd Phalanx—stumps tender—becoming inflamed & ulcerated in labor—Hand of little use to Pensioner.” They declared his disability to be “total” such that he was entitled to $12 per month.

According to the file jacket for his pension, Allen received $2 per month commencing June 7, 1865. Then he received an increase to $5 per month commencing July 21, 1875. The final increase was to $8 per month commencing April 3, 1878. Allen died in 1885. He lived with what might seem a minor wound by today’s standards, but one that apparently caused him trouble most of his life. 

© MJM 2020

Josiah Earp, a soldier of the American Revolution, moved from Maryland to North Carolina to Kentucky. He died in Pulaski County, KY November 25, 1844 at the age of 83.

The final statement from his pension file is a report from the Executor of his estate, George Randal, stating that Josiah died and left no widow & was survived by the following children: Singleton Earp, Allin Earp, Eleanor Randal & Jemima Randal. (The Randal name is spelled Randolph in some records)

The surviving children listed in the statement are Singleton Earp (1802-1886), my GGGG Grandfather; “Allin” or James Allen (1796-1862), who moved to Arkansas; Eleanor (1800-1860), the wife of George Randal; and Jemima (1786-1853), wife of James Randal. Other sources I found through the years also listed a daughter, Drucilla (1784-1878) wife of Thomas Clark, Phillip Hawker (1797-1860) and Anna (1804-before 1835) wife of John Herrin. I’m not sure if all of the dates are correct for these children. However, it is unclear why Phillip H. & Drucilla were not listed as survivors of Josiah in the statement from George Randal.

As far as I know, Josiah did not have a will, but there was a record of his estate filed with the court by George Randolph. It is thought that Josiah did not own land, so his estate was simply his worldly possessions.

First, George submitted an inventory & assessment of the estate:

At the time of his death, Josiah owned 1 sorrel mare, 6 pewter plates & 1 dish, 1 table, 2 bottles, 1 tea canister, 1 chest, 1 coffee mill, 1 pot, 1 oven & lid, 1 pair of pot hooks, 4 chairs, 1 trunk & 1 smoothing iron. The value of the estate was $39.62 1/2.

So then there was the “estate sale.” And on February 17, 1845, George Randolph once again filed a statement with the court:

So Josiah Earp’s personal property sold for a total of $39.31 1/4.

Several of the names on the list of buyers are familiar—Josiah’s son, Singleton Earp, and sons-in-law Thomas Clark, James Randolph and George Randolph. Balis Randolph was the son of George & Eleanor. William Randolph was the son of James & Jemima.

Looking at the inventory assessment and the sale records I noticed that some items were valued with a half cent. I didn’t know the US had half cents. Turns out the 1/2 cent coin was minted from 1793 to 1857.

Regardless, Josiah Earp left only a few items as his worldly possessions & these items ended up in the hands of family members. I wonder if any have survived in the family through the generations.

Incidentally, with inflation, Josiah’s worldly possessions would be worth about $1,202 today.

© MJM 2017

On July 4, 1776, a group of men representing the colonies signed a Declaration of Independence from the Crown of England. But the fight for that Independence continued for 5 more years. All of the colonists would have been involved, choosing sides, even if not actively fighting.

While researching ancestors from Kentucky, we took a trip to Somerset, the Pulaski County seat. While there, we came upon the DAR monument “In Memory of Those Revolutionary Soldiers Who Contributed to the Establishment and Development of Pulaski County, KY.”

We noticed a familiar name on the monument.

Was this one of our Earp/Erp ancestors? And what was his story regarding the Revolution?

Turns out, Josiah is an ancestor of mine. He was the father of Singleton Erp, who was the father of Allen, who moved to Indiana, served in the Civil war, and was the subject of my first blog post. Josiah is my GGGGG Grandfather. Josiah was born March 10, 1761 in Montgomery County, Maryland. He died November 25, 1844 in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

So what about the “Revolutionary Soldier” part of his story? The site, Fold3.com has copies of Josiah’s request for pension, based on the legislation from June of 1832. This law allowed full pay for soldiers who served more than 2 years and partial pay for those serving under 2 years but at least 6 months.

There are 8 pages included in Josiah’s file on Fold3.com. The digitized records are a little difficult to read as this partial page indicates:

In essence, Josiah appeared before the court at Pulaski County on November 18, 1833. He was 72 years old at the time. He testified that “while a resident of Montgomery County, State of Maryland, according to his present recollection, in the month of March 1781 he volunteered for the Term of nine months in the Company of Captain John Nichols, the Lieutenant’s name was Thomas Nichols. After he volunteered he was marched to George Town…We were rendezvoused at Montgomery Courthouse in the state aforesaid and at that place received the proper arms and accoutrements for the service and was there a short time harried & exercised and from thence was marched to George Town, now in the District of Colombia, and was there stationed remained there engaged until news arrived that Lord Cornwallis had retreated towards North Carolina; was then directed by the Commanding Officers to return home but to carry with him his arms & other accoutrements and to hold himself ready to march into the service immediately when called on. The whole company were dispersed under like orders. In a few days after his return from George Town, he was again together with the rest of the Company to which he belonged, ordered into the service of the United States by his Commanding Officers and was ordered to march to Dumfries, a small town beyond Bladensburg and while on the march, our Officers were informed there was no need of our services at that point & was then directed to return home but to hold ourselves in readiness to march again into the service when called on. After the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, he together with the rest of the Company was called in to the Service by the Commanding Officers and were then marched to Frederick Town, Maryland to Guard the prisoners taken at the Surrender of Cornwallis & continued there engaged in that service until about the 15^th day of December of that year and was then discharged from the service. He received no discharge in writing.”

So breaking down his service, he was a single man, 20 years old when he volunteered. Most of his time in the service was spent around the area which would become Washington D.C. Seems like he prepared for the fight, but never had to. Cornwallis went to North Carolina & was victorious at the battle of Guilford Courthouse March 15, 1781. Then at the Battle of Yorktown, Virginia, his troops were greatly outnumbered & Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. So Josiah guarded prisoners for about 2 months before he was discharged. According to his papers, he received an annual pension of $20, starting March 4, 1831, until his death in 1844. The paperwork also indicates that Josiah was “entirely illiterate.” He moved to North Carolina and lived there about 4 or 5 years, then in 1817 he moved to Pulaski County, KY.

So no great war stories from his statement. Just the story of a young man ready to contribute to the fight for Independence, waiting for the call to arms. His contribution was at the end of the war, guarding British prisoners. But even that service was needed at the time.

© MJM 2017

When I was in school & had to do a genealogy project, I asked my Grandmother for information on the family. I remember she said we were related to Wyatt Earp & Daniel Boone. This made sense because there are Boone and Earp ancestors on my Dad’s side of the family, however our Earp’s spell their name, Erp. Grandma did not have the information that made the connection to either of the famous men. Part of the fun of genealogy is to find a famous ancestor. As of right now, I still don’t have the definitive connection to Daniel Boone, but I did find the family lines that connected to Wyatt Earp.

One day several years ago, I made a chance discovery at my local library. There is a genealogy wing at the library & even though most of my research is not from this locality, I check the library resources from time to time as there are several items available from other states. I was getting ready to leave the area and passed by the desk & saw the shelf of “New Books.” One of the books was a large volume, The EARP Family in America, by Sharron Studebaker Spencer and Irmalee Earp Williams. It was a pretty in-depth work taking the Earp family back to the earliest Irish immigrant, Thomas Earp, Jr. This book gave the full connection from my direct Erp ancestors to the relatives of Wyatt Earp. Of course, I contacted the author and purchased the book to add to my own reference library.

So Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (1848-1929) was a famous figure, best known for his exploits with his brothers as law men and gamblers in the “Wild West.” The most recognized incident is the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” between Wyatt & his brothers and the Clanton brothers, which took place in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881. He has become a larger-than-life character with stories of his life portrayed in movies and TV shows through the years.

Wyatt was born in Monmouth, Warren County, IL and died in Los Angeles, CA. His parents were Nicholas Porter Earp (1813-1907) & Virginia Ann Cooksey (1821-1893). Going back farther on the paternal side, Nicholas’ father was Walter Earp (1787-1953); Walter’s father was *Philip (ca 1755-ca 1833); then William (ca 1729-ca 1778); then Joshua (ca 1705-ca 1751); then John (ca 1680-1744); then Thomas Earp, Jr (ca 1656-1720).

Going forward from Wyatt Earp’s ancestors to connect to my direct line:

• Thomas Earp, Jr. (ca 1656-1720)
• John Earp (ca 1680-1744)
• Joshua Earp (ca 1705-ca 1751)
• William Earp (ca 1729-ca 1778)
• *Josiah Earp (1761-1844)
• Singleton Erp (ca 1802-ca 1886)
• Allen Erp (1826-1885), my GGG Grandfather

Wyatt’s great-grandfather, Philip and Allen’s grandfather, Josiah, were brothers. They were both born in Maryland & fought in the Revolutionary War. Both families moved a few times. Philip spent most of his life in North Carolina and Virginia. Josiah finally settled in Pulaski County, KY, which is where his son, Singleton, raised his family.

One question I don’t have a good answer for is why some families retained the spelling “Earp” and some used “Erp.” Singleton Erp’s name is spelled both ways in different census schedules. Allen Erp is listed in the 1860 census as not being able to read or write, perhaps this has something to do with the spelling of the name—using the simplest spelling. Regardless, I’m glad I was able to find the connection to Wyatt Earp so when someone asks if there was anyone famous in the family I can answer quickly. Now all I have to do is find the proof one way or another for the Boone connection.

© MJM 2016

Recently, my folks made a visit to Chickamauga Battlefield National Military Park in North Georgia. Relating to my early blog posts about our ancestor, Allen Erp, they followed the 86^th Indiana Infantry markers at this battlefield. One of the places they visited was the Snodgrass Cabin, which was used as a field hospital. So, if Allen was still working as an ambulance driver, he would have frequently been close to this cabin.

In general, after spending time at Murfreesboro, TN, Allen and the 86^th moved on to Chickamauga as part of the Army of the Cumberland. The battle occurred September 19 & 20, 1863. The Union Army was defeated at this battle and withdrew back to Chattanooga to then find victory at Lookout Mountain & Missionary Ridge in November 1863. There were about 62,000 Union soldiers and 65,000 Conferderate soldiers involved in the Chickamauga battle. The approximate number of casualties (killed, wounded, missing/captured) was 16,170 on the Union side and 18,454 on the Confederate. Hard to imagine all of that in only 2 days.

The book mentioned in the early blog: The 86^th Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. A Narrative of It”s Services in the Civil War of 1861-1865. James A Barnes et al. Crawfordsville, Ind. 1895 (available on Google Books) gives a very detailed story of the Chickamauga battle. The book was published at the same time the Military Park was dedicated. The author ends the chapter on this battle with the following:

“Thus has been given the part that this, the Eighty-sixth Indiana, bore in one of the severest battles of modern warfare, in many respects the severest. The members of the regiment who yet survive may glory in the part they bore on that deadly field. The children of all of the members of the regiment, of the members living and of those who are dead, will never have cause for feelings other than of honest pride that they whose names they bear, were with those who fought at Chickamauga. They joy of to-day comes to the survivors in that the war in which they participated has passed, and Peace shall ever reign within this land. He who shall visit Chickamauga in the future may read in enduring bronse and firmest granite the deeds of valor of the men of the North; and the sons of the South, may see the pride and glory of the Nation in that now all cause for strife has passed, and that only deeds of bravery are remembered where once ran the red tide of battle.

“The roar of the battle on the field of Chickamauga is hushed and in its stead from the leafy bowers and beside the quiet stream is to rise for all future time the anthem of peace. The men who died on this field did not shed their blood in vain. The cause for which they of the Union army fought was triumphant, and Chickamauga was the beginning of the end of the years of strife.” (p. 209-210)

So one of these days I hope to visit the battlefield myself and walk in the steps of my ancestor from the Indiana 86^th.

©MJM 2016