c1882 Harvard vs. Yale Sterling Boat Race Trophy P/U

[Michael B]

I think you are using the logic of evajoy91 and directly to try to wrangle this out of me. I will give you credit for Indian Jones style leap of faith. The lack of Jr. in the Olympic records merely means that it was not used by him or mentioned in the newspaper or other records, possibly Spalding’s 1905 guide.. Even his signature on the cabinet photo lacks the designation and that was signed roughly 22 to 24 years prior to the 1904 games. If he was not using Jr. in his signature as a young man the chances are highly unlikely he was using it at a 46 year old attorney. While I make no claim that it is definitely the Olympian it is worth holding on to until I can prove or disprove the connection. For a sport like roque age does not play as big a part as is does in sports like swimming and athletics. His age would have been almost the median age of the four competitors in the event.

By the way, using the information that there are 52 people named William Chalfant in the current phone directory we can determine the possible number of men with that name in the U.S. in 1904. The U.S. population on November 1, 2013 was roughly 316.98 million people. The U.S. population on July 1, 1904 as roughly 82.17 million people. This would give us 13-14 people with that name in 1904. This is, of course, skewed by the fact that not everyone is listed in the phone book these days, including yours truly.