The Chairman of the Dalton Genealogical Society reports on the latest developments on the International Dalton DNA Project. The reader is also referred to the link on the website homepage, which takes you to “DNA Linking”, a summary of the latest results, which has this month been updated by the project coordinator, Millicent Craig.

Following the 2005 Gathering and AGM in Dublin, the DGS Committee has been very busy reviewing the Society’s DNA Project and deciding how best to take it forward. We have formed a small DNA sub-committee of Millicent Craig (Project Coordinator & American Secretary), John Dalton (DGS Journal Editor) and Michael Dalton (Society Chairman). The sub-committee has a remit to steer the project, and employ an external consultant to advise on the best course. It is also charged with drafting proper terms of reference and these will be tabled at the 2006 AGM.

With some 65 DNA tests now complete, we have a substantial file of genetic data. Add to this the wealth of genealogical data that we have relating to project participants, early Dalton ancestors and, of course, many others yet to participate and we have a very complex jigsaw puzzle to try and piece together. Interpretation of DNA results is an emerging skill. Family Tree DNA in Houston, Texas, who undertakes the testing for us and provides the DNA marker profiles, can only go so far in helping us to interpret the data. They can tell us the scientific likelihood of two people with the same or similar profiles sharing a common ancestor. What they have little or no knowledge of is known Dalton family history. This is not unexpected – they are now undertaking tests for thousands of different surnames worldwide and it would be nigh impossible for them to become experts in each and every individual family history.

The onus is therefore very much on the DGS, and our DNA sub-committee in particular, to provide informed interpretation of the DNA results, set in the context of known Dalton family history. Such is the complexity of this work that we have decided that we need advice and guidance from someone who is first and foremost a genealogist, but also has a clear understanding of the underlying genetics. Many who have received test results will know that they share similar but not identical DNA profiles to some other participants (typically variations, or mutations as they are called, on one, two, or maybe three out of the 25 markers for which most have opted ). Two people in this situation have what is called genetic distance. The measurement of this; the statistical likelihood of sharing a common ancestor, and how many generations back this ancestor is, are all being hotly debated by the geneticists. What we have to do (as genealogists first and foremost) is to listen to the scientists, but not get drawn into the scientific debate. With family history data to hand we can use the genetic data intelligently to inform our genealogical work. We then seek further genealogical evidence in support of existing propositions to provide more proof beyond reasonable doubt.

We are currently in discussion with a potential consultant and I hope to be able to announce more details before the end of the year. The work of the consultant will be critical to us. We need advice and guidance on interpreting genetic distance in the context of a number of our groupings, and on determining the worth of particular avenues of genealogical research. Equally we need advice on the groupings where we should seek further participants to strengthen our genetic knowledge, or where we should extend the test of an existing participant. (from 25 to 37 markers for example.) These judgments are difficult to make, but someone who is experienced in this area will help us to move forward more quickly and more effectively.

The Society is indeed fortunate to have access to funding to help us at this stage. One of the tasks of the DNA sub-committee is to ensure that the funding we have is spent wisely. We will be doing our best to select the right consultant, to brief that consultant with full details of the current project status ,and our expectations in terms of outcomes. We will be working very closely with the appointed consultant to achieve this, and we will be keeping project participants fully informed as we proceed.

With the planned expansion of our DNA Project, we are entering a very exciting phase in the history of the Society – genetic genealogy opens up many possibilities for furthering our knowledge of our Dalton family history and discovering those elusive missing links. I much look forward to the coming months and years, and to reporting regularly as the story of these discoveries unfolds.

Michael Neale Dalton
Chairman of the Dalton Genealogical Society
21 October 2005

The following items were extracted by the late Barbara McDonald of Ireland, a cousin of K. T. Mapstone. They are from a book authored by Col. Eoghan O’Neill originally from Kisronagh, Clonmel, County Tipperary and published in 2001.

Permission to print was given to K. T. by Teresa Nolan, geogpublications@eircom.net. The extracts pertain to the Cromwellian era when Daltons and their neighbors were dispossessed of their lands and had to move from their homelands.

Grants in County Clare

"James Wall of Coolnamuck in Clare was assigned 600 acres...around him were many of his former neighbours in Waterford and Tipperary – Jeffrey Prendergast of Newcastle, Hugh Neale of Ballyneale, his cousin John Butler of Ballycloghy, his brother-in-law Richard Power of Feddans and his nephew James Everard of Glyn. In June, they were joined by Edmund Dalton of Kildalton, Piltown, who had been assigned 500 acres."

Kildalton and the Ponsonbys

"Before the Cromwellian Plantations, the parish of Owning had been held partly by the Walshes of the Mountain, and partly by the Daltons of Kildalton, the modern Piltown. After the Cromwellian Wars these Daltons and Walshes were dispossessed and transplanted, and the lands confiscated and initially the whole of the modern parish of Piltown was granted to the Cromwellian, Colonel Ponsonby, the captor of Carrick-on-Suir. The Ponsonbys built a magnificent mansion in Kildaltonand renamed it Bessborough – after Elizabeth, the wife of the head of the family. They were eventually created Earls of Bessborough and maintained the residence, as landlords of the district, right down to this century (20th). The name of this house has since been restored to the old name, Kildalton. As had happened in the case of many of the Cromwellian grantees, the Ponsonbys came to Ireland without wives, and in this case, according to long established local tradition, one of the family married a daughter of the previous owners, the Daltons, who were anxious to regain some portion of their original property as tenants. The Daltons had been members of a closely related and associated network of families in the area within a few miles of Carrick on Suir in Pre-Cromwellian days - Butlers of Kilcash, Walls of Coolnamuck, and Figlashe, Tobins of the Compsey, Walshes of the Mountain, Mandevilles of Ballydine, O'Neills of Ballyneill. According to tradition, two generations of the Daltons lived on with the Ponsonbys in Kildalton. The O'Neill family tradition is that with the help of the Daltons, Conn O Neill became a tenant at Owning, where he and his descendants held a farm and mill from the Ponsonbys.

Claim to the Lands

"There was another case which affected the lands of Kildalton, at Piltown in the same parish as Owning. Again, after the Cromwellian Settlement, these lands were given to Colonel Ponsonby. This settlement was never, of course, accepted by the Daltons. By the late 18th century, the Ponsonbys, who had renamed Kildalton as Bessborough, were still the legal owners, and the head of the family, the Earl of Bessborough, was the landlord of the area - including the O Neill holding at Owning. However, the last of the Daltons of Kildalton in the senior line was still living. He was a cooper by trade in Carrick, but was extremely poor, and his daughter used to walk the roads around Carrick, Piltown and Owning seeking alms from the descendants of the tenants of the Daltons' former lands. By 1800, when Dalton was on his deathbed, still speaking of his rights, Lord Bessborough sent his agent, Peter Walsh of Belline, to offer him £400 (an enormous sum to a man in Dalton's circumstances), and to plead with him to desist from his claims. The offer was haughtily refused."

One of the Wild Geese

"In 1795, a Lieutenant Keating referred to one of the Wild Geese officers from the area, with approbation "a most able officer, Edward Count Dalton, who served as did several of his family, the House of Austria for many years, with equal advantage to it and credit to themselves. He finished his honorable career by a cannon shot at Dunkirk."

The following list of clergy was provided by Michael Cayley, DGS Archivist.

Dalton, George Forster, Caius College Cambridge; deacon 1869, priest 1870
(Ripon); curate of Kirkburton, Yorkshire 1860-71; Clitheroe, Lancashire
1872-3; St John, Pendlebury, Lancashire 1873 (Worcester); curate of Ledsham, Yorkshire
1879-81; Old Swinford, Worcestershire 1881-3; St Luke, Victoria Docks, London E 1883-5;
Willesden, London NW 1885-7; Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland 1887-93; St John,
Horsleydown, London SE 1893-4; St Peter, Walworth, London SE 1894-6; All
Saints, N Peckham, London SE from 1896-7; Pendleton, Lancashire
1877-82; rector from 1882, of West Clandon, Guildford, Surrey

Dalton, George William, DD Trinity College Dublin; deacon 1849 (Oxford);
priest 1851 (Down); curate of Bicester, Oxfordshire 1849-50; Broughshane,
Co. Antrim 1851; vicar of Kilbyran, Co. Sligo 1852-60; assistant chaplain
Upper Bagot Street Episcopal Chapel, Dublin 1860-3; vicar of St Paul,
Wolverhampton 1863-7; St Paul, Glenagary, Co. Dublin 1867-9; rector of
Todwick, Sheffield 1891-3; assistant minister Christ Church, Leamington
1894-6; licensed preacher dioceses of London and Worcester from 1893, and
Exeter from 1896; Edgecombe Cottage, Ashford, Barnstaple, N Devon

Dalton, Herbert Andrew, MA (senior student) Christ Church, Oxford; deacon
1877, priest 1877 (Oxford); headmaster of St Edward's School, Oxford
1877-84; assistant master Winchester College 1884-90; headmaster Felsted
School from 1890; School House, Felsted, Essex

Dalton, John, St Bees; deacon 1842, priest 1843 (Chester); curate of
Kelsall, Chester 1844-96

Dalton, John; deacon 1876, priest 1878 (York); curate of Masborough,
Yorkshire 1876-8; priest of charge of Northfield Mission, Rotherham,
Yorkshire 1878-85; vicar, from 1885, of Hickleton, Doncaster and priest in
charge of Goldthorpe Colliery district; Kickleton Vicarage, Doncaster

Dalton, John Neale, MA Trinity College Cambridge; deacon 1865, priest 1866
(Oxford); curate of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire 1865-6; St Edward,
Cambridge 1866-9; Whippinham, Isle of Wight 1869-71; governor to Their Royal
Hignesses Prince Edward and Prince George of Wales 1871-84; select preacher
at Cambridge 1878; acting chaplain RN 1879-82; proc. in convocation 1890-4;
chaplain in ordinary to the Queen from 1881; canon of Windsor from 1885; hon
chaplain to HRH the Duke of York from 1892; Cloisters, Windsor

Dalton, John Philip; deacon and priest 1876; curate of St Mary, Shrewsbury
1882-4; Montford, Shrewsbury 1884-6; Shrawardine, Shrewsbury 1886-9; vicar
of Withington, Shrewsbury 1889-94; Alberbury, Shrewsbury from 1894

Dalton, Leighton Mayo, MA Trinity College Cambridge; deacon 1873, priest
1875 (Ely); headmaster of the grammar school and curate of St Gregory with
St Peter, Sudbury, Suffolk 1873-80; curate of Holy Trinity, Barking Road,
London E 1880-2; St Mary (in charge of St Peter's mission, Plaistow, London
E) 1882-5; vicar, from 1885, of St Gabriel, Canning Town, London E

Dalton, Norcliffe, Chirchester; deacon 1877, priest 1878 (Gloucester and
Bath); curate of Uley with Owlpen, Gloucestershire 1877-80; Dilton Marsh,
Wiltshire 1880-2; Holy Trinity, Hounslow 1882-4 and 1886-90; All Saints,
Benhilton, Sutton 1892-6; Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent 1896

Dalton, Richard, MA University College Oxford; deacon 1838, priest 1839
(Winchester); curate of Brown and Chilton, Candover, Hampshire 1838-48;
Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire 1854-62; rector from 1862; Kelmarsh Rectory,
Northampton

Dalton, William; deacon 1891, priest 1892 (Melbourne); curate of Numurkah,
Victoria, New South Wales 1891-2; minister 1892-5; minister, from 1895, of
Ballina, Richmond River, NSW, Australia

Dalton, William Edward, Christ's College, Cambridge; deacon 1878, priest
1879 (Norwich); curate of Burgate, Suffolk 1878-80; Eye, Suffolk 1880-3;
Southwold, Suffolk 1883-5; rector of Gunness, Lincolnshire 1885-90; vicar,
from 1890, of Glynde, Lewes, Sussex

Dalton, William Henry, MA Christ's College, Cambridge; deacon 1864, priest
1865 (Winchester for Oxford); curate of Milton Keynes 1864-5; Holy Trinity,
Islington, London N 1864; St Stephen, Islington, London N 1865-6;
Southborough, Kent, 1867-8; St Andrew, Watford, Hertfordshire 1869-70; Holy
Trinity, Chelsea, London SW 1870-2; vicar of St Jude, Chelsea, London SW
1872-88; Stowupland, Suffolk 1888; rector, from 1889, of Seagrave,
Loughborough, Leicestershire.

In the course of her ancestral research, K. T. Mapstone has compiled births in San Francisco County. This extract covers the period 1910-1925.

2/21/1910, ? Dalton
03/04/1911, James P. Dalton
03/15/1911, ? Dalton
03/15/1911, Richard W. Dalton
03/19/1912, ? Dalton
09/06/1912, John T. Dalton
11/24/1913, Joseph A. Dalton
07/03/1914, James T. Dalton
12/06/1915, ? Dalton
01/14/1916, Elizabeth M. Dalton
07/21/1917, Lura F. Dalton
09/07/1917, Frank F. Dalton
12/10/1917, Reta A. Dalton
05/08/1918, Helen E. Dalton
07/02/1918, Edgar Dalton
01/05/1920, Rosedna Dalton
02/02/1920, John L. Dalton
03/09/1922, Barbara J. Dalton
03/10/1922, James F. Dalton
05/08/1922, ? Dalton
09/09/1922, Dorothy R. Dalton
02/12/1923, John Dalton
01/06/1924, Edward F. Dalton
11/15/1924, Ralph G. Dalton
05/09/1925, Patricia A. Dalton
06/30/1925, John J. Dalton

The much anticipated file of Daltons in County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland has arrived from Mike Dalton, of Oregon. This is a huge file and represents months of work on Mike’s part. It is the largest compilation of Westmeath Dalton data to be found anywhere and provides insights into the land dispossessions of Daltons. This file will be ready for uploading to the Dalton Data Bank in mid-December 2005.

K. T. Mapstone has begun to extract Dalton immigrants from the web site of Castle Gardens. It was formerly Fort Clinton and located at the tip of Manhattan. Castle Gardens processed immigrants to the Port of New York from 1855 to 1890, prior to the opening of Ellis Island. This data fills a large gap in records. K. T. is rearranging the data by ship alphabetically. Relatives will be listed together and the data, although sparse, can be searched by several keywords, including occupation, age, etc. The same keywords can then be applied to the census data to help locate them in the U. S. There are about 3300 Dalton immigrants* listed. The traffic was especially heavy during the potato famine years.

Visit the Castle Gardens web site at:
http://genealogy.about.com/od/ports/p/castle_garden.htm

*The actual entries show that Daltons were arriving at Castle Gardens in the 1830’s.