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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Faulkner County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Alexander Showalter. Among the residents of Stone Township, actively engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising, is Mr. Showalter, who was born April 22, 1839, in Butler County, Ohio. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Hinkin) Showalter, were natives of Germany and Ohio, respectively, his father coming to this country in his early manhood, and settling in Butler County, where he lived the remainder of his life. About two years after immigrating here, he married Miss Elizabeth Hinkin, whose father was a farmer of Butler County, a Revolutionary soldier, and a native of North Carolina. They were the parents of four children: Alexander, Jacob (born in 1840, was a Federal soldier, but is living on a farm in Henry County, Mo., where he has a wife and two daughters), Alfred (born in 1845, and living in Carroll County, Ind., has a wife and five children) and Sophia (only sister of the subject of this sketch, born in 1847, married John Brant, deceased, a farmer of Carroll County, Ind., where she still resides). Alexander was reared to farm life, but his education was not neglected, as his father gave him all the advantages that it was possible to obtain. When twenty-one years of age he entered Wittenburg College, at Springfield, Ohio, there remaining until the war broke out, when he volunteered his services, and was enrolled in Company E, Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, Col. Wilder commanding. He was in active service ten months, when he was discharged on account of severe sickness, and remained at home about one year, after which he re-enlisted, in 1863, in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Indiana Infantry. He was with Sherman in his famous march to the sea, and took an active part in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., being honorably discharged, April, 1866. He is now on the list of veteran pensioners. February 14, 1866, Mr. Showalter married Miss Rebecca Kaziah, daughter of John and Esther (Harget) Kaziah. The former was brought to America when a small lad, and was reared in North Carolina, of which State his wife was also a native, there being married. Her father was a farmer. Mrs. Showalter has seven brothers and sisters living, viz.: William, Sarah A., Thomas, George W., Phoebe Jane, Minerva A. and Susanna Drusilla, all of whom are residents of North Carolina. After the marriage of our subject he removed to Indiana, where he was engaged in farming (having rented a farm) until January, 1879. At that time, wishing to secure a farm of his own, he immigrated to Arkansas, entered eighty acres of Government land in Conway County, and later entered 160 acres of State land, of which he cleared forty acres. In 1884 he sold that tract of land, and bought the farm on which he now lives, situated in the southwest portion of Stone Township, at the mouth of the Cadron River. He has about seventy acres under cultivation, with good buildings, and is one of the prosperous and progressive men of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Showalter are the parents of seven children: Perry Jasper (born February 14, 1867, died March 6, 1867), John (born October 26, 1868, died November 26, 1887), Julia A. (born June 18, 1870, died April 8, 1872), Ira B. (born June 16, 1872, died August 24, 1873), Jesse A. (born November 24, 1875), Charles E. (born November 24, 1879, died August 31, 1880) and James William (born January 28, 1882). Mr. Showalter is a member of Fred Steele Post of the G. A. R.; is also an Odd Fellow, belonging to Morris Lodge No. 477. Himself and wife are prominent members of the Lutheran Church, and are identified with every work that tends to the elevation of the community in which they live.

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This family biography is one of 40 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Faulkner County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Faulkner County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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