Earp, Walter M.

EARP, LUST

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/22/2009 at 13:01:50

Earp, Walter M

The descendants of the old settlers, those who cleared the land and first upturned the wild sod to the sun, should see that the doings of those early years are fittingly remembered and recorded. It was once remarked by a great writer that those who take no interest in the deeds of their ancestors are not likely to do anything worthy to be remembered by their descendants.

Could the lives of the first settlers be fully and truthfully written what an interesting, thrilling and wonderful tale it would be. Think of the journey to the west over the roughest of roads, of the hardships of clearing the soil and the trials in establishing a home in a wild country and rearing a family. Think of the pioneer gatherings, of the shooting matches, the old subscription schools, the first churches under the branches of the trees, the camp meetings, the famous old circuit riders, the husking matches, the quilting bees, the coon, wolf, fox and deer hunts, with many another form of diversion, and then presume to say that the old settlers did not live happy lives. Such were the experiences of Walter M. Earp, a highly respected citizen of Elk Creek Township, now living retired.

Mr. Earp is a Kentuckian by birth, having first opened his eyes in the country of the dark and bloody ground in Ohio County, on November 8, 1836. He is the son of Laranzo Dow Earp and Nancy Earp. He spent his early boyhood in his native state and received such education as he could in the pioneer log cabin schools. In 1845 he accompanied the family to Warren County, Illinois, where they lived until 1853, when, with an ox team and an old-fashioned covered wagon, they set out on the slow journey to Warren County, Iowa, where they spent the summer, then moved to Marion County, this state, and wintered there, coming to Jasper County in the spring of 1854. Here the father of the subject entered one hundred and sixty acres in Elk Creek Township, and on this Walter M. Earp spent his young manhood, helping his father develop the place from the wild, helping split the rails with which to fence the farm. They had few neighbors and they endured the usual privations of first settlers, but in time had a good farm and a comfortable home.

The subject began life for himself by renting land, which he continued to operate for six years and thereby got a start. He then bought forty acres, which he sold the following year and purchased eighty acres, to which he later added fifty-five acres more in Elk Creek Township, which he improved into an excellent farm. This he sold in 1881 and moved to Plymouth County, Iowa, where he remained two years on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Then he came back to Galesburg, Jasper County, where he has since spent most of his time. He is now making his home with his son-in-law, Alfred Lust, a farmer of Elk Creek Township. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 727.