Editing Virgil Earp (section)

==Early life==
Virgil Earp was born in [[Hartford, Kentucky]], the second son of [[Nicholas Porter Earp|Nicholas Earp]] and Virginia Ann Cooksey.<ref name="Spartacus" />

===Marriage to Ellen Rysdam===

In February 1860, while living in [[Pella, Iowa]], 16-year-old Virgil [[elope]]d with 17-year-old Dutch immigrant Magdalena C. "Ellen" Rysdam (October 25, 1842, in [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]], Netherlands – May 3, 1910, in [[Cornelius, Oregon]]<ref name="scholton" />). One report states that they saw each other only occasionally and kept their marriage secret until Ellen was about to deliver their first child. When her parents Gerrit Rysdam and Magdalena Catrina Van Velzen learned of the marriage, they were furious, as they preferred that she marry a man who was also Dutch.<ref name="g-forum" /> Virgil's father thought he was too young to marry. Both parents wanted to get the marriage annulled. One source reports that Rysdam was successful, but another says her father failed because Virgil and Ellen refused to reveal where they had been married. They also claimed they had used false names, which would have made the marriage invalid in any case.<ref name="gormley" />

Virgil and Ellen remained together for a year in spite of his and her parents' disapproval. On July 26, 1861, Virgil enlisted at age 18 in the [[Union Army]]. Ellen had a daughter named Nellie Jane, born January 7, 1862<ref name="scholton" /><ref name="IGswe" /> or in July 1862.<ref name="g-forum" /><ref name="historynetvirgil" /> Virgil was mustered in to the Illinois Volunteer Infantry for three years on September 21, 1862.<ref name="gormley" />

===Civil War Service===

Virgil enlisted as a Private in Company C of the [[83rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment|83rd Illinois Infantry]] on July 26, 1862, and mustered into service on August 21. The 83rd fought at the [[Battle of Dover (1863)|Battle of Dover]] and then was primarily on garrison duty in Tennessee.<ref name="TYWLK" />  Virgil was court-martialed for a minor offense and docked two weeks pay as punishment.<ref name="gormley" />

In the summer of 1863 while Virgil was on active duty, Ellen's father told her that Virgil had been killed in Tennessee. In early 1864, Ellen married a Dutch man named John Van Rossum, and in May of that year they joined a large group who relocated from Pella, Iowa, to the [[Oregon Territory]].<ref name="Beltman" />

When Virgil was discharged from the military on June 26, 1865, he returned to Iowa but could not find his wife and daughter. He hired on at a local farm and helped operate a grocery store, before leaving for California to join the rest of the Earp family.  In 1868, Nicholas Earp took the family east again, eventually settling in [[Lamar, Missouri]]. On August 28, 1870, Virgil married Rosella Dragoo (born in France in 1853) in Lamar.<ref name="gormley" /> His father as [[justice of the peace]] married them, but there are no further records of Rosella.<ref name="historynetvirgil" />

===Allie Sullivan===
[[File:Allie Packingham Sullivan Earp.jpg|thumb|Alvira "Allie" P Sullivan, Virgil Earp's future wife, at age 16. They met in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1874, when she was 25]]
Virgil later met Alvira "Allie" Sullivan from [[Florence]], Nebraska, in 1874. She was a waitress at the Planter's House Hotel in Council Bluffs, Iowa.<ref name="waitress" /> They never married but remained together the rest of his life. During the remainder of his life, Virgil worked at a variety of jobs, including peace officer, farmer, rail construction in [[Wyoming]], [[stagecoach]] driver, [[sawmill]] sawyer in [[Prescott, Arizona|Prescott, Arizona Territory]], mailman, and later in life, prospector. The Earp brothers were close and often moved together, seeking a better life. Virgil spent time in [[Dodge City, Kansas]], in 1877 with his younger brother Wyatt. Although there is no record of Virgil ever holding any law enforcement position there, Allie claimed he briefly worked as a deputy town marshal with Wyatt.

===Arrival in Arizona===
From Dodge City, Virgil and Allie arrived in [[Yavapai County, Arizona]], in July 1877. Virgil lived in [[Camp Verde, Arizona]], where he first delivered mail and drove passengers between Camp Verde and Prescott on the Star Line stage. By October 1877 Virgil and Allie had moved to [[Prescott, Arizona]], where he later owned a saw mill outside of town.

On October 16, 1877, [[U.S. Marshal]] Wiley Standifer, [[Yavapai County]] Sheriff [[Edward Franklin Bowers]], Prescott [[Constables in the United States#Arizona|Constable]] Frank Murray, Virgil Earp, and Colonel William Henry McCall attempted to arrest John Tallos and accused murderer George Wilson. While the others rode on horseback or carriages, Virgil ran on foot after the posse that pursued the two men to the edge of town, where a gun fight broke out. Virgil spotted one of the two men under a tree, reloading his pistol. Using a Winchester rifle from a distance, Virgil shot him through the head, killing him.<ref name="Isen" /><ref name="OldWest" /><ref name="guinn" />

Virgil was shortly afterwards offered a job as a driver for Patterson, Caldwell & Levally, a local freight company, during which he met [[John J. Gosper]], Secretary of the Arizona Territory. Gosper was acting Governor in the place of Governor [[John C. Frémont]], who was frequently absent. When Crawley Dake was appointed U.S. Marshal, he and Virgil became friends. In 1878, Virgil was appointed as Prescott's night watchman, which paid $75 a month.

In November 1878, he was elected as [[Constables in the United States#Arizona|constable]] for Prescott, for which he received fees for serving summonses, subpoenas, writs and warrants.<ref name="guinn" /> While constable, Virgil wrote his brother Wyatt about the opportunities in the silver-mining [[boomtown]] of [[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]]. In September 1879, Wyatt resigned as assistant marshal in Dodge City. Accompanied by his [[Common-law marriage|common-law wife]] [[Mattie Blaylock]], his brother [[James Earp|Jim]] and his wife Bessie, they left for  [[Las Vegas, New Mexico|Las Vegas]] in the New Mexico Territory. There they were reconnected with [[Doc Holliday]] and his common-law wife [[Big Nose Kate|Kate Horony]], who had been running a gambling business until the territorial legislature banned gambling.<ref name="guinn" /><ref name="monahan" />{{rp|18}}<ref name="marks" />{{rp|30–31}} Virgil and his wife met the others in Prescott.