Alex Earp

The marker credits Earp's father with the 1856 to 1860 sheriff's term. A 1946 county history lists the officers elected in the early contests and gives Alexander Earp as sheriff in 1856 and again in 1858. It names Oba Roberts in 1850, George Medlin in 1852 and 1854, and Leander J. Daniel in 1860. The county had about 2,300 enslaved people in 1857 and only 465 poll taxes paid. The Hopewell Cemetery listing gives Capt. Alex Earp as born August 10, 1832, and died March 5, 1920.

What the plaque says

Alex Earp Alex Earp, (Aug. 10, 1832-March 5, 1920). A lumber-boom sheriff. Won respect under great handicaps. Born in Alabama. Family moved to Texas; father was sheriff of Upshur County 1856-1860. Served as Confederate cavalry captain. Became Upshur County sheriff in 1880s when timber industry attracted a transient, rowdy population. In 1895-1896 served as county commissioner. Married Mary Ethel Decker Nations. Had three children: John B., Aphra, and Jim. Recorded, 1968

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tyler State Park — 20 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Governor Hogg Shrine — 23 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Lake Bob Sandlin State Park — 23 mi
  A 1987 state park on a 9,000-acre reservoir, where a Republic of Texas stockade called Fort Sherman stood in 1838 and the Caddo lived from A.D. 800 to 1860, now with fishing piers, trails and cabins.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 25 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.

More markers nearby

• Kelsey Mormon Colony — 1.9 mi
• Kelsey School — 2.0 mi
• Harmony I.S.D. — 3.4 mi
• Little Mound Baptist Church and Cemetery — 3.6 mi