English Chess Forum

A fine feature article has been posted by Edward Winter entitled Jackson Whipps Showalter, "the Kentucky lion":

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ext ... alter.html

I would say that the evidence on ancestry leans towards Showalter being born on the 5th February, 1859, rather than 5th February, 1860.

The earliest census I could find where he appears is the one for 1870, in which his age is given as 11. In the 1880 census his age is given as 21. However in the 1900 census his birth date is given as February 1860, and his ages in the 1910 and 1920 censuses would support a year of birth of 1860. Finally, in the 1930 census (2nd April, 1930) his age last birthday is given as 71.

There is a scan of the Kentucky birth records which apparently shows an entry for Showalter (I can read father Benoni), but it is very difficult to make out:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/ ... pId=213873
(that link will only work if you have a subscription with ancestry).

I was under the impression that EGW had stepped back from updating Chess Notes.

I'm sure I saw an announcement some time ago to this effect.

Has he come out of retirement?

Jon,

Regarding date of birth, in my post to Edward Winter (now added to the feature article), I mentioned two primary sources from official documents, including death certificate, which both state February 1860 (one 5 February).

The ages on the censuses are approximate and are not intended to be taken literally. I gave the ages in six of the censuses in my post.

I also discussed the Kentucky birth records in my post. There are two children born of his parents, but neither can be identified as Jackson Whipps Showalter, while the year 1860, the most likely year of JWS's birth (according to the two primary sources mentioned above), appears to fall into a gap in the indexes.

John, this is somewhat off topic regarding Edward Winter. I think you will find the word he used was "curtail" or "curtailed" in relation to the C.N.s. He has continued to produce feature articles at a rapid rate. Production of C.N.s has increased of late, and there have already been seven new "batches" in October so far.

I've just discovered that findmypast are having one of those weekends where it is free to look at certain records. Here are links to two:

Jackson Showalter in the 1870 US census:
https://search.findmypast.com/record?id ... 0037%2F015

Jackson Showalter in the 1880 US census:
https://search.findmypast.com/record?id ... 0121179033

Your experiences may be different to mine, John, but in general I find that censuses closer to the event (i.e. the birth of Showalter!) to be more accurate than those further away. If censuses do have an incorrect age, the error tends to be the other way because a parent might have forgotten that their child recently celebrated their birthday. I think it would be strange for Showalter's age to be given as 11 in August 1870 and 21 in June 1880 if he was actually aged 10 and 20 respectively on those dates. The date of birth in his official death record could be explained if his wife still thought of him as 75 (he died on his birthday) rather than 76.

I don't think Kevin Marchese has published his biography on Showalter yet. Kevin is rookhouse on chessgames.com and has proven to be reliable in the past.

Do you think this could be Jackson Showalter in the 1860 US census, John, on line 33?
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1473181

The place is about right and I think I could believe that the names of the older siblings are John and James and that perhaps the mother is Margaret.

Here it is as an image:
https://i.postimg.cc/9MsZ6MJx/showalter-1860.jpg

The family ought to be Benoni Showalter (born in 1811), Margaret Showalter (born in 1820), John William Showalter (born in 1844), James Walterson Showalter (born in 1848) and Jackson Whipps Showalter (born in 1859 or 1860).

Jon,

A nice find! This is certainly Showalter's family. The youngest child is "Andrew J---n". The second forename is too feint, but there seems insufficient space for it to be "Jackson". Judging from an older child (above), the name "John" was well spaced out, so it could be that. The name is consistent with "A.J. Showalter" found in the Kentucky births, as mentioned in Edward Winter's feature article. It appears that Jackson Whipps Showalter had not yet been born at this time. This new information supports birth during 1860, after the census.

As you mentioned in your message to Winter, "A J Showalter" appears in a document that lists births in Bracken, Kentucky, and the surrounding area. This child is certainly either Jackson Showalter himself or a sibling as the full maiden name of the child's mother matches. (See https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/ ... 94029-0047). However this document is maddening as it is completely missing years!

The entry below A J Showalter is easy to read: Amanda F Pickerel, born 21st May. Other documents suggest that Amanda was born in 1859. She died quite young and her still legible gravestone can be found on findagrave:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188 ... .-pickrell

So unless the entries in that Kentucky births document are not in sequence, or there was more than a year with no entries (the latter is possible, but, I think unlikely), I conclude that "A J Showalter" was born in February, 1859.

I don't like muddying the water, but the obituary in the New York Times gives February 4th 1860 as his birth date!

4 February 1860 would not contradict the 1900 census, which, unusually, gives the specific month and year: February 1860. However, it would contradict the death certificate, which gives 5 February 1860. I would prefer the evidence of the death certificate, as it is a primary source and an official document. Newspapers do sometimes contain errors; in this case, I believe it was only a day out.

Incidentally, John Hilbert, on page 142 of his book Emil Kemeny: A Life in Chess, states that Showalter died on his 75th birthday, and that he was 23 days younger than Kemeny.

Another feature of the 1900 census was that it had a column for the number of children born in a marriage and another for the number of children still living. For Jackson Showalter's mother these numbers were 3 and 2 respectively, because her eldest child, John William Showalter, had died in 1898. I mention this because the Andrew J Showalter who seems to included in the 1860 census as a 1-year old, would be a fourth child of the marriage if he is a separate person to Jackson Whipps Showalter. The 1860 US census started in June 1860, so if that family I posted earlier is indeed that of Benoni and Margaret Showalter then Jackson ought to be included even if he was born in February 1860.

Gerard Killoran wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 20, 2024 4:36 pm

I don't like muddying the water, but the obituary in the New York Times gives February 4th 1860 as his birth date!

A source from 1895, The Illustrated American, volume 19, also gives this date of birth.

As far as I can tell, from consulting various Showalter family trees online, Benoni and Margaret's only children were John William (1844-1898), James Watterson (1848-1922) and Jackson Whipps. They seemed to like the initials JW. Perhaps they were originally going to call him Andrew but changed their minds. These things happen sometimes.

According to the 1860 US Census Slave Schedule, Benoni owned six slaves: females aged 40, 18 and 17, and males aged 14, 12 and 7. The two oldest boys' colour was recorded as M (mulatto?) and the other four as B (presumably Black). None of them were fugitives, manumitted (freed), deaf and dumb, blind, insane or idiotic.

Richard James wrote:

As far as I can tell, from consulting various Showalter family trees online, Benoni and Margaret's only children were John William (1844-1898), James Watterson (1848-1922) and Jackson Whipps.

That doesn't sound right, Richard. The Kentucky birth records suggest that two sons were born to them in Bracken circa 1858 - 1859. One was unnamed, the other was "Andrew J---n" Showalter.

In one of the censuses - I don't immediately recall which - Margaret was recorded as having had four children, of whom three were still alive. However, that doesn't agree with the first two paragraphs above which suggest at least five, unless "Andrew J---n" Showalter was the same as Jackson Whipps Showalter, but there is otherwise no reason to suppose that.