Introduction

As always, greetings to our readers!

Another month has passed by all too quickly and here in the south east of England, we have been blessed with some fine dry and warm weather during September. In this issue of "Daltons in History" we publish the minutes of our recent Annual General Meeting held in Lancashire. The notes below include the usual updates to keep you fully informed about all our various DGS activities.

Future DGS events

As everyone should be aware by now, 2010 marks the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Dalton Genealogical Society and we will hold a special Gathering and Annual General Meeting in Surrey, England over the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 30th/31st July/1st August 2010. Arrangements have been made for the main events on the Saturday to take place at the Surrey National Golf Club, Chaldon, Surrey. These will include our conference during the day and a splendid celebratory dinner in the evening. The conference programme will include guest speakers and our AGM, and there will also be entertainment in the evening. The theme of the weekend will be Daltons in Surrey and we are arranging a programme of activities and visits for the Friday and the Sunday. Accommodation will be available locally. The Surrey National Golf Club is beautifully situated and has a modern clubhouse with excellent conference and dining facilities. Further information may be found at www.surreynational.co.uk.

More detailed planning for this 40th Anniversary celebration is currently under way and further details will be announced here in "Daltons in History" towards the end of the year, and in the next issue of the DGS Journal (Volume 51). In the meantime, please reserve the dates in your diary now. It would also be very helpful to have an early indication of numbers attending and I would appreciate a short email (to michaelndalton@aol.com) if you are planning to come. This will enable us to ensure that we reserve enough accommodation and it will help with the planning and organisation of the various events and activities over the weekend. We hope that many members and their families will join us for this very special weekend, and that overseas members will use it as an opportunity to visit other parts of the UK as well.

For 2011 we have arranged for the DGS Annual Gathering to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA over the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 14th/15th/16th October 2011. This will be another very special event and I am most grateful to our North American Secretary, Karen Dalton Preston, for undertaking to be the gathering organiser. Karen and her team are now putting the more detailed plans in place and some further information will be found in her notes in this issue of “Daltons in History".

The 2011 DGS Annual General Meeting will be held in the UK earlier in the year and an announcement about that will be made later.

For 2012 and beyond we have a number of suggestions already. If you have any particular thoughts about where you might like to meet, or a particular Dalton theme you think we should incorporate, we would really like to hear from you with your ideas.

The Dalton International DNA Project (DIDP)

As has already been reported our consultant, Chris Pomery, has completed the draft of Issue 3 of the Dalton International DNA Project Progress Report. This includes all the new participants who have joined the project up to 31 December 2008, and whose results have now been made available by Family Tree DNA. There were 99 participants included in Issue 2 of the report published in January 2008. Issue 3 has 128 sets of markers recorded and analysed. This represents an impressive expansion of the project in just a year. Additionally, many participants have extended their number of markers and this adds considerably to the value of the database as a whole to our Dalton family history researches.

The report is a landmark document and extends to 53 pages. As part of the Orange conference, I gave a presentation which previewed its contents. This presentation may now be viewed here on our website in the Photo/Video Gallery. I have almost completed the detailed checking, editing and finalising of the document prior to its distribution to all participants. The distribution by email is scheduled to take place soon.

The number of separately identifiable genetic families has increased from 10 to 13. The number of singletons has increased by just three, from 18 to 21. This reflects the high success rate that we are achieving, with nearly all new project participants finding matches with existing project members.

Recently, I have distributed the relevant sections of the report in draft form to the members of a number of genetic families. This is enabling individual groups to focus on taking their research forward, both with further genetic testing and using traditional research methods. If you would like to see the section of the report for your genetic family, please let me know.

Now with 128 Y-DNA project participants, DIDP is one of the largest and most respected projects of its type internationally, but we still need to expand it further, particularly with individuals who have documented ancestral lines that take them back to known English or Irish Dalton origins. The strength of the database as a family history research tool lies in its size, and its continued growth is of paramount importance to us all.

Further information about material from Issue 3 of the report will be published in the “Dalton DNA Project" section of the website shortly. In the meantime, please do contact me by email if you would like to join the project, or if you have any questions which you wish to raise. During the past few months we have received an encouraging number of enquiries and there are now a number of new participants in the pipeline and a stream of further results coming through from Family Tree DNA.

The DGS Journal

Volume 50 of the DGS Journal (for June 2009) was distributed in early July and all DGS members should have received their copy. If you have not received yours please contact your local secretary by email immediately. At the AGM, John Dalton, our Editor, asked for further contributions of material for the Journal. Volume 51 (for December 2009) will be published at the end of the year and contributions need to be with John by mid-November at the latest.

Back issues of the DGS Journal continue to be available. On this website you can access the DGS Journal Index from the homepage. Here you will find a full synopsis of the contents of the Journal of the Dalton Genealogical Society commencing with Volume 1 published back in 1970 through to Volume 41 published in December 2004. Lists of contents are available for Volumes 42 to 50 and the full synopses will be available in due course. Copies of all back numbers are available for purchase and these can be obtained from DGS member, Mrs Pat Robinson (address: Mallards, 3 High Street, The Green, Barrington, Cambridge CB2 5QX, UK email: gandprobinson@waitrose.com.) Details of prices, including postage and packing, will be found with the index.

Conclusion

Enjoy this month’s issue of "Daltons in History", your regular monthly update on everything that is happening in the world of Dalton family history. We will be back again at the beginning of November.

Thank you for your attention and best wishes to you all.

Yours very sincerely

Michael Neale Dalton
Chairman and Honorary Life President of the Dalton Genealogical Society

DALTON GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
Accounts for 2008
Charity Number 298251
INCOME ACCOUNT for period 1 January to 31 December 2008
Income:					Expenditure:
		2007	2008					2007	2008
Subscriptions					Journals	Jun-07	Jun-08	400.00	428.00
						Dec-07	Dec-08	734.00	560.00
Australia		293.30	274.77
UK		624.50	687.50		AGM Leaflet				68.00
USA		1247.21	1170.73		Annual Gathering Booklet				112.00
Bank Interest		0.29	0.89		Distribution	Jun-07	Jun-08	291.02	344.73
					Costs	Dec-07	Dec-08	340.34	355.07
Binders, Journals					Journal Reprints			70.00	0.00
and Leaning Book		0.00	33.00		Associated Expenses			19.20	0.00
Sales of Memorabillia		201.00	0.00		F.F.H.S. Subscription			75.00	93.50
Gift Aid Rebate		0.00	0.00		Secretarial Expenses			46.00	0.00
					Treasurers Expenses			57.93	0.00
Anonymous Donation		400.00	500.00		DNA Consultant			500.00	500.00
					IT Consultancies			592.73	0.00
Income for Worcester 2007		5470.50	-		Expenditure for Worcester 2007			5066.71	-
Income for Birr 2008		-	2912.50		Expenditure for Birr 2008			-	2712.85
					Excess of Income over expenditure			43.87	405.24
		8236.80	5579.39					8236.80	5579.39
CAPITAL ACCOUNT at 31 December 2008
HSBC Bank Account		6478.65	6883.89		Capital Account at 31 Dec 2007			6619.22	6663.09
Stock of Memorabillia		184.44	184.44		Add Surplus for 2008			43.87	405.24
		6663.09	7068.33					6663.09	7068.33

From Maureen Collins, Australian and New Zealand Secretary

We were treated to a lovely weekend by John and Sheila Dalton for the DGS AGM in August. The meeting was held at the Lancashire Family History Centre in Oswaldtwistle where we were also able to use their computers for research and Michael Dalton demonstrated the possibilities. Sheila was in charge of catering, providing us with a delicious Lancashire pie made locally.

In the afternoon we visited the Queen Street Weaving Mill at Burnley where we were able to view original equipment dating back to the 19th century, still in working order, and given a demonstration of how the various materials were made. I think we all thoroughly enjoyed this and marvelled at how hard and for how long the workers would have been occupied in deafening conditions.

Weaving Mill Rules

On Sunday we had lunch at a pub and then were taken on a tour of the grounds of Thurnam Hall, ancestral home of one of the earliest Dalton families. Jane Dalton came to my rescue with a pair of rubber boots to cope with the farm field when we were given a special visit to Cockersand Abbey which is on private land and in surprisingly good condition for such an ancient building.

Many thanks to all for an enjoyable time.

From Pat Barlow, 3rd cousin to Gerry Dalton (via Gerry)

Another Mount Isa Reunion was held in Far North Queensland coastal city of Townsville on the 19 August 2009. The festivities took place at the Brothers Football club and were attended by just over 200 people who were past or present day residents of the far western Queensland mining town of Mount Isa. It was wonderful to meet up with old friends that we had not seen for some years. Our Dalton family are well known as Pioneers of the Mount Isa area.

I attended the reunion with my cousin, Noel Stewart and his wife Alice, we drove up from Brisbane. It’s over 1,300 kilometers from Brisbane to Townsville. Noel’s brother, Bill Stewart and his wife Joyce drove up from Mackay, which is a distance of around 350 kilometers. Noel's sister Beverley Carolan was kind enough to accommodate us at her home in Townsville.

Noel, Bill, Bev and I are all first cousins. My mother was Cecilia and Noel, Bill and Bev’s mother was Linda and they were both daughters of Joseph Francis Dalton and Cecelia Violet nee Pill all of which spent most of their lives in the Mount Isa area.

Bev Carolan, Noel and Alice Stewart and Pat Barlow (author)

Bev's children were unable to attend due to work or health reasons. We had our own little family reunion as well and I got to meet Noel's daughter Linda and 2 of Bev’s girls and their families. We are a large extended family and the shame is that we cousins all grew up in Mt Isa, knowing each other but unfortunately we are now spread far and wide and most of our children don’t know each other.

Noel Stewart and his daughter Linda Laurenson,
Ellen Ross and her mother Bev Carolan

Bill and Noel Stewart

The purpose of the reunion was to renew these old friendships and acquaintances and talk about the good old day in “The Isa”. Some of the people at the reunion were even old neighbours that we had as kids all those years ago. Catching up with old work mates was another treat. There was also a lot of old photos and newspaper clippings of the early days in "The Isa" for us to reminisce over. I even spotted a picture of my late husband’s 2 tone blue, FJ Holden, parked (of course) outside the Argent Hotel (see note at end of story regarding Holden).

FJ Holden Motor Car

The day started with drinks and lots of chatting, and "do you remember" and asking if they knew where "so and so" is now, and who Bill and John and Mary and Joan ended up marrying, then progressed to a wonderful lunch, then lots more talking. I think more than just a few of us went home with very sore throats. Then hours later it was with great reluctance that we started parting company with promises to keep in touch and or attend the next reunion either in Townsville or here in Brisbane.

We all came away with some wonderful memories, renewed acquaintances and a commitment to do our best to be at the next reunion.

Pat Barlow (my mother was Cecelia Philp nee Dalton)

Note from Gerry Dalton:

To add a bit more perspective to the long distances that we so readily travel within Australia to attend reunions and get togethers, I wanted to add that Mount Isa is around 900 kilometers west of Townsville.

Holden (a division of General Motors) was an Australian made car and the FJ model was in production from 1953 to 1956. The Holden had a 6 cylinder 132 cu in motor, 3 speed column change transmission. You will see the family resemblance to the old Vauxhall (another GM company) Velox of around the same period.

From Gerry Dalton and Tom Wood our intrepid travellers

The days and months seem to be flying by and here in Australia we are almost at the end of the first month of spring and what a wonderfully visual time this is with numerous species and varieties of magnificent Australian wild flower in bloom. The golden Wattle trees and the crimson Callistemon or bottlebrush shrubs (pictured below) present a colourful and welcoming sight along the roadside.

Bottlebrush Shrub

Tom and I have been back on the coast not far from the New South Wales city of Newcastle for most of September and are enjoying the coastal scenery and slight change of climate to milder nights and warmer breezy days.

We’ve had a super busy time since our last Travel Journal and much of it has been focused around family. During September we made a few trips to the Maitland area and something we both enjoyed very much was taking a ride around the township in a carriage drawn by a Clydesdale horse named Juliette. Juliette had been a champion plough horse in her younger day. Romantic notions of yesteryear were conjured up as we sat back and listened to the clip clop of Juliette’s hooves on the road. My mind wandered when we saw the dates on building facades and I thought of what Maitland would have been like in the first decade of the 1900’s when my Dalton family went to Maitland looking for work and regular employment. Many of the preserved building showed dates of 1908 and 1909. Juliette took us around some of the narrow lanes and along part of Main Street. On this occasion Tom and I had decided to have a day trip to Maitland and enjoy the Aromas Festival. “Aromas” is an annual festival of wine, chocolate, food and local produce and crafts. The carriage ride proved to be a marvelous and unexpected bonus.

Juliette the Clydesdale Horse

Our carriage

The last weekend of September we went to an area of salt water lakes known as the NSW Central Coast which is north of Sydney and south of Newcastle. It was our great joy to meet up with family members Colin and Louisa Gray from New Zealand. Colin has been not only a friend and fellow researcher but mentor to me. Colin had extensively researched part of my Dalton family back in the 1970’s and 1980’s and has shared this information with me. My great great grandmother’s birth name was Mary Gray and she was the daughter of George Gray, a convict from London on the Morley 1817 and Mary Connor a convict woman from Cork in Ireland on Elizabeth 1828. Colin’s ancestors are also George Gray and Mary Connor. Colin and Lou stayed with mutual relative Peter Levett and his wife Anne at their home on the NSW Central Coast and hosted a wonderful weekend family get together. When Tom and I arrived on the Saturday we were delighted to meet Colin and Lou and were so surprised that Cliff and Audrey Seary had driven down from Brisbane to attend the get together. Cliff is connected to my Dalton family through my great great grandmother Mary Gray. Mary’s first husband was the bushranger Michael Seery and after Michael Seery’s death Mary married my great great grandfather John James Dalton. One branch of the Seery family went to Queensland in the late 1800’s and spells their surname Seary.

Photo left to right: Helen and her son Patrick, Gerry Dalton, Cliff Seary,
Peter Levett (Helen’s father and Patrick’s grandfather) and Colin Gray

On Sunday 30th August another branch of the Gray family came along for the afternoon. A year or so ago Maureen Roberts contacted me looking for information on the Gray family. She was helping a friend, Dara Hughes, research her family history. I put Maureen in contact with Colin Gray and subsequently another branch of our family became reunited. Colin had done some research on Dara’s branch of the family and was able to share information and photos and ultimately meet up.

Left to right: Anne Levett, Maureen Roberts, Louisa and Colin Gray (standing)
Dara Hughes, Dara’s mother Elsie McIntyre, Peter Levett, Gerry Dalton Tom Wood and Toby Hughes

(Tom set up the camera on a tripod and we were all in the photo together)

On Sept 18th we drove back to the Central Coast to Peter and Anne Levett’s home. Anne and I spent the weekend at the 2009 State Conference of NSW and ACT Association of Family History Societies Inc. which was hosted by the nearby Wyong Family History Group. The conference theme was “From Home to the Hinterland”. The conference ran from Friday 18th to Sunday 20st and there was not a dull moment. All the speakers presented interesting and informative talks. Good quality meals and service provided by the Wyong Race Club made the weekend most enjoyable. The Racecourse venue was quite unique and views of the track and finish post from the floor to ceiling windows made a great back drop for the conference. Anne is a member of the Wyong and District Family History Group and I found the group very welcoming.

Family History Flag

A beautiful hand sewn quilt (pictured below) representing the history and heritage of Wyong was presented to the Wyong Family History Group as a lasting memento of the conference.

History and Heritage of the Wyong Family History Group

The 3 day conference was an opportune time to renew old acquaintances and make new ones. Amongst those present at the conference was Suzanne Voytas. Suzanne is currently writing a book on the women convicts of the ship Elizabeth 1828 and announced that the book will be launched in Cork, Ireland in 2010. With such a strong link to Elizabeth 1828, Tom and I would love to be in a position to rearrange our schedule for next year so we could attend the book launch in Cork, however our attendance is somewhat doubtful. In memory of all the convict women of the Elizabeth 1828 Suzanne hand made a bonnet for each of these convict women and presented them at the “Blessing of the Bonnets” at St James Cathedral Parramatta in 2008. Tom and I were present at that very moving service and we presented a bonnet for my Mathew Dalton’s wife, the convict woman Jane Grier who was transported from Armagh, Ireland to NSW on the Sir Charles Forbes 1837.

Wyong Family History Group flag

Also at the Wyong conference an interesting little book was launched on making family history stories more interesting. This book is entitled “Writing Interesting Family Histories” by Carol Baxter. Anyone wishing to purchase this book could contact me for details. I will read and review the book in the near future.

Tom and I both got a virus during September and Tom has been slow to recover. My weekend away at the conference gave Tom and opportunity to rest undisturbed. Two courses of antibiotics were necessary to help Tom on the road to recovery because he’s developed a severe chest infection.

A few days after the Family History conference we received an email telling us that some of my Gray family members are planning a family reunion in October 2010 somewhere around Goulburn or Crookwell in New South Wales and Tom and I are invited to attend. We had initially planned to have a quieter year in 2010 and head to Central North Queensland for the winter however we may now have to adjust our dates to fit in with the family reunion.

Generally all these things would be more than enough excitement for a month or two but there is more. A few months ago I received a phone call from a woman named Lorraine who saw one of my requests for Dalton family information in a Sydney newspaper. Lorraine is the daughter of my father’s ½ sister, Margaret Mary Florence Dalton know as Peggy. I have been researching Peggy’s story for some time however I had not been in contact with Lorraine. Imagine my excitement at receiving that phone call. Tom and I were invited to Lorraine’s home for lunch on Wed 23rd Sept. Until his death, my father denied having any siblings, however a slip of the tongue back in the 1950’s by my grandmother informed me of the sibling. I had not been told if the ½ sibling was a male or female and was “sworn to secrecy” about this indiscretion of my grandfather and the resulting child. To locate another 1st cousin on my Dalton side was a dream come true. I have been in contact with Bob, Lorraine’s ½ brother, but for a female cousin to contact me felt almost as good as having that sister I never had.

Tom and I enjoyed meeting Lorraine and her husband Graeme. There were no lulls in the conversation and the day passed so quickly.

Tom took the photo above (L-R): Gerry Dalton, Graeme and Lorraine

On the day we went to lunch with Lorraine and Graeme most of New South Wales, southern Queensland and parts of Victoria were hit with a dust storm, the likes of which we’d never seen along the east coast. At sunrise the sky was red and the air thick with dust and it was eerie and like one could expect on the planet Mars. Gale force winds drove the dust into every crevice. We weren’t going to allow the wind and red dust to discourage us from going out to lunch as we only had a 30 minute drive ahead of us. Fortunately the wind had dropped and the dust had settled by the time we were ready to leave. When the dust settled and the wind died right off we discovered our silver Landcruiser was an interesting shade of pinkish red with very little silver colour showing. Even the windows were red – the colour of our beloved Australian outback dirt.

The photo above was sent to us and shows the sky around the city of Sydney. This photo was taken shortly after sunrise on Wednesday 23 September 2009. The red dust remained in the air well into the afternoon. The dust had blown in from the deserts of Central Australia.

Continuing Bill Dalton's story:

To continue the story of Minnie Abbott nee Dalton the reader needs to have some understanding about life in America in the early 1900’s. Any attempt to raise workers’ wages, improve their working conditions, shorten their hours worked was considered by some as revolutionary, whether attempted by the IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World), the AFL or even the Brothers of Christian Endeavour.

The most revolutionary organisation of that time was the IWW, sometimes known as “The Wobblies”. According to Angela Haag of the Central Nevada Museum in Tonopah, who had researched the Tonopah Bonanza of 1914, “there were several incidents of party agitation in the year 1914 with McGucken, Jack Whyte, Boris Thomason (the Kaiser) being named. The Kaiser was convicted of the fire that destroyed several buildings including the blowing up of the Nevada theatre. Whyte and McGucken were also involved in this. There was also a strong connection with the Goldfield and Hawthorne mines”.

Bill Dalton has been able to find reports and newspaper articles where Minnie Abbott is mentioned, amongst which is the following extract :

“No. 5 Reports Goldfield, November 30, 1914

I met Chambers at the Post Office and he showed me a letter he had just received from a Mrs Abbott of Tonopah asking Chambers to take up a collection among the “fellow workers in Goldfield on behalf of Panzier and McGuckin”. Mrs Abbott continued the letter saying a great number of boys have left Tonopah and gone to Goldfield looking for work, and most of them who remained in Tonopah were broke. Panzier will serve his 18 months without a murmur, Mrs Abbott said, because times were hard, and when he turned loose he would get even. She asked Chambers to do all he could in the line of finances for McGuckin so he would take the field again".

Respectively submitted, REIMER DETECTIVE AGENCY, signed C H Reimer

This report also mentioned that the IWW was trying to increase its membership at Goldfield and that the names of members had to be kept secret from Consolidated Mines.

Less than a month later on December 20, 1914 in the Tonopah Bonanza there appeared the following article:

R.L.J.D.Stegal Held For Melee That Occurred Last Evening at a Dinner Party - Whyth Paralyzed by Bullet Grazing His Spinal Column.

Jack Whyte, a national organiser for the Industrial Workers of the World, was shot and possibly fatally injured last evening at the home of Mrs. Minnie Abbott, located a short distance back of the fire station. Robert Lee Jefferson Davis Stegal, a resident of Tonopah for a number of years and at one time a knight of the green cloth, is held in the county jail awaiting an investigation of the tragedy.

According to the story of Mrs Abbott, White and James McGuckin, the latter also an IWW organiser, and who was recently released by the Grand Jury from the county jail, were having supper with her when Stegal came to the front door and demanded admission.

Mrs Abbott asked, “Who’s there?” The reply was “Stegal”. Her narrative continues: I said to him, “You can’t come in; you’re looking for trouble.” Afterwards he knocked at the side door. I said “You can’t come in.” He replied; “I’ll show you,” and he burst in the door and pulled a gun.

I grabbed him and the gun exploded and the next thing I saw Whyte lying on the kitchen floor. I don’t know how Whyte was shot. Stegal immediately ran away. I gave the alarm. Whyte and Stegal must have been close together, for Whyte’s flesh was burned from the discharge of the shot.”

Stegal says: “I went to Mrs Abbott’s house for a suit case she had of mine, which she had loaned to a third party. When I went into the house Whyte pulled a gun and I grabbed him and the gun was pressed against his side when it went off and Whyte fell. Mrs Abbott then pulled a gun and I ran out of the house".

The police have been unable to find either gun spoken of. Stegal’s version of the affair seems to be corrobated in one respect. People living within a few feet of the Abbott house did not hear the discharge of the pistol, the muzzle of which must have been against Whyte’s body.

Immediately after the shooting Stegal walked into the A.B.C. saloon hatless. He said to the manager “Will you lend me a hat?” This was done and Stegal walked across to the Tonopah Liquor Company’s saloon and said: “A man has been shot and I expect to be arrested any minute”. He then went to his room over the Morrow and Hussey store, where he was taken into custody shortly afterwards by the police.

Whyte was paralysed by the bullet. He had told the police officers not to arrest Siegal. It was also known that on the day following the supper with Mrs Abbott that Whyte and McGucken had planned to leave the town.

Minnie is also referred to in “Memories of a Wobbly” by Henry McGuckin, Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company established 1896 P.O.Box 914 Chicago, Illinois 60690. This book has been described as “memoirs of revolution and revolutionary” and it is said that it made an important contribution to the history of industrial workers of the world. The author, Henry McGuckin, describes Minnie as acting as the treasurer at Tonopah, describes his own role as a union agitator. He also gives his own eyewitness account of the night of the shooting at Minnie Abbott’s cabin.

His account adds that Jack White, Minnie Abbott and himself had just finished closing the John Panzer Defense Fund and “ were sitting round talking when there was a crash against the door. White jumped up and grabbed a miner’s pick. Abbott grabbed a small gun. The second crash broke down the door, and a gambler named Stegal burst into the room carrying a .45 pistol. White threw the pistol and missed. Abbott just screamed and dropped the pistol she held. White closed with Stegal, and as he did I heard a shot. White fell on the floor. Stegal looked at me once - I wasn’t five feet from him - then ran out of the shack.”

“I still don’t know to this day why Stegal, a gambler and no Wobbly, shot Jack White - a woman problem, I think.”

White was conscious. He looked at me and said “I can’t move my legs.” I ran out to get a doctor. I was only gone a few moments. I came back and waited for the doctor who arrived with the police. He examined White and told us the bullet had cut the spinal cord. We had White taken to the county hospital where he was to stay until I could get him moved to San Francisco.

The day after the shooting White asked Minnie Abbott and me to see him. We went to the hospital and Jack said, as a favour to him, not to say anything in court the next day since he was not going to prosecute. Well, of course, it was up to him, and at the hearing the next day we refused to say anything about the shooting, and Stegal was turned loose.

White was never going to get well. I knew that, and so did he. So when Minnie Abbott went to San Francisco, I told her to get in touch with some of Jack’s old friends. In about a week I received word that a Joe Hansen and Oliver Twitmore of the San Francisco Labor Council had reserved a room at McNutt’s Hospital for White, but the question was how I to get him there? I went to the hospital and told White. I told him I thought I had a way to get him there, and he told me to go ahead.

That morning I went to the biggest gambling hall in Tonopah and looked up the houseman. I told him I wanted to talk to some of Stegal’s friends. I said. I either talk to them or I talk to the D.A. I would not keep quiet any longer and let White die alone in the county hospital. He took me to a back room and in a few minutes four or five of Tonopah’s leading gamblers came in. They said, “What’s on your mind kid?” I told them White had a room reserved for him in a hospital at San Francisco, but he had to have railroad fare, a nurse and a pullman drawing room, and if they were not forthcoming, I was going to tell what I saw, whether White wanted to prosecute or not.

Well, about two o’clock in the afternoon I was stopped in the street by a man I knew as a gambler. He said, “OK, kid. Have Write at the train tomorrow morning. We’ll have everything ready.”

The next morning the ambulance brought White to the train. They put him aboard and just before the train pulled out, the houseman I had first contacted came over to me and said, “Mac, we decided that we would buy one for you, too. Unless you get on that train and go along with White, the whole deal’s off.” I accepted. White died in San Francisco a few months later and was given a rebel’s funeral by the IWW.

So apparently Minnie Abbott went to San Francisco in early 1915 and probably remained there for a short while. Her story will continue in the next edition of "Daltons in History" where the rest of her life is told and she is linked to a suicide.

From Mike Dalton of Oregon, USA

"Avis (Advice. Avis) Dalton of Waterford and her husband Jenkin Conway. ---Avis descended from Sir Robert, the eldest son of Sir Richard Dalton of Bispham."

Reference: DGS Journal - Volume 18, November, 1989, page 17: A living line, AD 1230 - AD 1988 by R. N. D. Hamilton.

Jeremiah King - County Kerry, Past and Present, 1931 - extensive compilation of names and places.

page 89: In 1613 Jenkin Conway was granted Killorglin Castle, town and lands. He married Mary Herbert - having a son Jenkin who married Avice Dalton.

page 30: Robert Blennerhast, first Provost for Tralee in 1619, married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Jenkin Conway.

Jenkin Conway and his wife Avis Dalton were buried in Castle Conway (Killorglin), private chapel, with a memorial. All that remains today is a castle wall ruin behind the Allied Bank of Ireland and pub in Killorglin.

Some family genealogy can be found on humphrysfamilytree.com.

From Gerry Dalton and Tom Wood

The attached snippet was copied from the Canberra Time newspaper 1st November 1935 on page 4:

Love these newspaper articles that are a real window into the past!

From Pat Robinson, England

General Alexandre D'Alton's name on the Arc de Triomphe erected for Napoleon's generals

The above photograph was taken on a visit to Paris in May this year.

Further information can be found in Millicent Craig's excellent article "Mademoiselle X, Mademoiselle Aimee Irene d'Alton", in the DGS Journal Volume 32, May 2000, p.19. Another article on this family "A Boulogne Soldier called William Dalton", by Maureen Collins, appears in the DGS Journal, Volume 28, May 1998, p.24.

Fall weather may have come to most of you by now, but we are still having Summer temperatures here in sunny Las Vegas! Temperatures are still hovering in the 90's, even in late September, as I write this. We're hoping that October will finally bring cooler weather, and we can put our shorts away until next year!

September was a busy travel month for us. We made a visit to Ogden, Utah, where we met with DGS members Rodney Dalton and his cousin Arthur Whittaker.

Rodney and Arthur will be working with me on the DGS 2011 Gathering in Salt Lake City. We spent a pleasant afternoon talking about the role the Daltons played in the settling of Utah, and how to incorporate this theme during the 2011 meeting. Arthur and Rodney's ancestors descend from the Daltons of Pembrey, Wales.

The photo above shows, from left to right, David and I
with Rodney Dalton and Arthur Whittaker at a restaurant in Ogden

Gathering in Salt Lake 2011

From Ogden, we also travelled to Salt Lake City and spent a few days there to begin the process of "interviewing" hotels for the 2011 Gathering. The weather was perfect and it was very easy to get around the city using their free downtown tram system.

For a preview of typical temperatures in October, click on the link below to view average weather, in both English/Fahrenheit and Metric/Centigrade. http://tinyurl.com/DGSweather.

The hotel meetings went well, and we are close to selecting a hotel venue for the 2011 Gathering. Salt Lake City provides a unique location, since it is the home of the Family History Library, the largest genealogical library in the world. The Library's collection includes over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm, on 5 floors. We are planning to offer seminars on various aspects of family history research, conducted by specialists in their field. There will also be time to use the Library's wonderful facilities to further your own research, if you wish. All this will be in addition to the traditional program of presentations by DGS members.

I know that this event is still two years away, but it is never too soon to start planning! Here is a link to a map with some approximate flight times and mileage distances to Salt Lake City, Utah from various US gateway city locations: http://tinyurl.com/DGSMeeting. We hope this will help you in your travel planning!

If you are thinking of attending, I would like to hear from you. I am trying to get a rough idea of how many members might be there, so that I can give hotels a preliminary "guess-timate" of the number of hotel rooms we might need. Please send me an email at karen@golden-hills.com.

Here are some photos of Salt Lake City to whet your appetite for travel! We hope that you will join us for what promises to be a very unique Gathering!

Two views of Salt Lake City, Utah

Dalton Data Bank

This has been another banner month for new additions to the Dalton Data Bank. Included is a list of all of the additions and updates that have been posted in the month of September. There are also new statistics on how the number of visitors to the Data Bank has increased. We are reaching more and more people who are interested in the Dalton surname!

DDB Updates - September 1 to 25, 2009

25 September, 2009:

Dalton Chronicles - The First Daltons in America Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

24 September, 2009:

Dalton Chronicles - Life in Medieval Times Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

15 September, 2009:

Canada - Updated Ontario Births & Marriages Contributed by Karen Dalton Preston, Nevada

13 September, 2009:

Republic of Ireland - County Kerry Ballyheigue Baptisms Updated Contributed by Mike Dalton, Oregon

11 September, 2009:

Dalton Chronicles - Daltons in the News - 1198 to 2002 Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah
Dalton Chronicles - Memoir of Captain Dalton Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

3 September, 2009:

Dalton Chronicles - Major General Sir Charles Dalton Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

1 September, 2009:

Dalton Chronicles - Added Volumes IV & V to "Knights & Dreamers" Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

I invite all members to contribute to the new "Dalton Chronicles" section of the Data Bank. Is there a Dalton in your family who has an interesting or amusing tale? Did you discover something surprising about your Daltons while doing your family history research? We'd love to hear YOUR Dalton family stories! Please send your stories to David Preston at dpreston@golden-hills.com.

Dalton Data Bank Usage Statistics:

1,647 total Visitors from 23 Countries

48.5% USA
27.4% UK
6.7% Ireland
4.7% Australia
3.2% France
3.0% South Africa
1.7% Brazil & Argentina
1.3% Canada
1.2% New Zealand
1.6% Rest of World

67.1% were New Visitors

Thanks to information provided by Millicent Craig, visitors to the old adware DDB site (www.daltondata.0pi.com) are now automatically re-directed to the new DDB site. This has added 6.3% more traffic to the site in September.

We have also re-initiated the free Google Ad Words Campaign in September, which delivered 823 new visitors. The Ads were viewed 164,842 times between September 1st and the 24th.

Best wishes to everyone!

Karen Dalton Preston
Secretary for North America

Our usual thanks to this month's contributors. We always look forward to receiving your e-mails and reading the latest news about your Dalton families. Why not consider putting your family history into print through "Daltons in History" or into the DGS Journal that is produced twice a year.

It seems a long time since the AGM Gathering in Lancashire, we now look forward to the 40th Anniversary next year and Salt Lake City in 2011.

For those who missed Lancashire, the Minutes of the AGM are included in this month's issue of "Daltons in History" together with last year's accounts. Photographs of the Lancashire event are available on the "Photo/Video Gallery" at http://www.daltongensoc.com/gallery/index.html.

Please continue to send to me any ideas for future articles and also keep looking for any information to include in the "Dalton Strays" section and the "Anything Dalton Challenge".

We are still hoping to start a new topic on places called "Dalton" around the world. All contributions will be gratefully received. Please send them to Howard Dalton at howard.dalton@hotmail.co.uk who is co-ordinating this topic.

Contributions for the November issue need to be with me no later than 25th October 2009. (e-mail: dairneirwin@ntlworld.com).

Please be on time with your articles as it causes problems when it comes to actually producing "Daltons in History" and putting it up on the website.