Introduction

Greetings to you all!

Here in South East England, as the month of May draws to a close, we have been blessed with fine, sunny and warm weather. So, apart from family history, it has been out in the garden and a time to visit various different places. Kate and I spent a few days in Cornwall earlier in the month and more recently we have been to Hampton Court, to Christchurch in Dorset and to Eastbourne in Sussex. And of course we still have those treasured memories of the Orange Gathering in Australia back in March and our associated round the world trip, full details of which have appeared in the recent issues of “Daltons in History”.

As always, the notes below include the usual updates to keep you fully informed about all our various DGS activities.

Future DGS Events

Still to come this year, – on Saturday 22nd/Sunday 23rd August 2009 – is the DGS Annual General Meeting in England. It is to be a full weekend event, with the AGM itself taking place in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire on the Saturday morning and a visit to Queen Street Mill in nearby Burnley in the afternoon. There will be a dinner on the Saturday evening and the opportunity to visit Thurnham Hall on the Sunday and have lunch. For those travelling from further afield, and we hope there will be many of you, accommodation has been arranged at the Swallow Hotel, Samlesbury. Full details will again be found below, and they are also published in the “Forthcoming Gatherings” section of this website. Additionally they were distributed with the last issue of the DGS Journal (Vol 49 Dec 2008). Thanks go to John Dalton, Editor of the DGS Journal, for making the arrangements for this weekend. With less than three months to go, it is important that you now return your registration forms to John as soon as you can. This will ensure that we can accommodate everyone who wishes to attend.

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 will arrange 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” in due course. In the meantime, please reserve the dates in your diary now. 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 now 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 very grateful to our American Secretary, Karen Preston, who has agreed to be the Gathering Organiser. Karen and her team are now putting the more detailed plans in place and these will be announced here in “Daltons in History” in due course.

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 over the past few months, and whose results have now been made available by Family Tree DNA. There were 99 participants included in Issue 2 of the report published a year ago. 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. I had hoped to complete the distribution by email before the end of May, but this has not proved possible and it is now scheduled to take place during the month of June.

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.

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 already new participants in the pipeline and further results are starting to come through from Family Tree DNA.

The DGS Journal

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 49 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 July.

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

The Society’s 2009 Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday/Sunday 22nd/23rd August 2009 in Lancashire, where we shall meet at the Library & Research Centre of the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society in Oswaldtwistle. There is, in the meeting room, computer access to the internet. Society Chairman Michael Dalton will use this to demonstrate the features of the DGS website before the formal business of the AGM.

In the afternoon, we shall visit what was once a typical Lancashire cotton-weaving mill. Queen St. Mill, in Burnley, is now preserved as a museum in operating condition, complete with looms and steam engine, and we hope to organise a guided tour. Many Lancashire Daltons will have worked in this type of factory, now almost extinct.

On Sunday, there is an opportunity to go up to Thurnham Hall, seat of the Daltons in Lancashire for over four centuries and now a country club, for a mid-day meal, and those who wish can visit the Cockersand Abbey Chapter House, where the Daltons of Thurnham are buried.

PROPOSED PROGRAMME

Friday 21st August 2009

Saturday 22nd August 2009

Sunday 23rd August 2009

The hotel we have chosen, the Swallow (www.swallow-hotels.com) at Samlesbury, PR5 0UL, is the one we used in 2004, and is conveniently situated both for access and the planned visits. It is 1 mile east on the A59 from M6 junction 31 and 5 miles from Preston railway station. I can meet trains if required. The rooms are all en-suite and there is an indoor swimming pool and fitness room.

We have agreed a special rate for the weekend, to include bed & breakfast on the Friday & Saturday nights, and 3-course dinner on the Saturday night, for the inclusive price of £100 per person. A non-returnable deposit of £15 per head will secure your booking.

This should be sent to me with the form below completed. The £15 will be used to defray incidental expenses, including lunch on the Saturday and admission to Queen St. Mill.

Arrangements can be made if you wish to extend your stay, or attend only part of the event. If you have any queries about the arrangements please contact me directly.

JOHN DALTON

Email: johndalton78@hotmail.com

BOOKING FORM

Please complete the booking form below, which may be downloaded as an Adobe Acrobat (bookingform.pdf) or Word (bookingform.doc) document for printing, completion and return.

DGS AGM 22nd/23rd August 2009
Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, England

NAME……………………………………………………………………………….

ADDRESS…………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………..

TEL: …………………….. EMAIL: …………………………………….

I/we wish to attend the 2009 DGS AGM and visits and enclose a non-returnable deposit of £15 per head (cheque made payable to J. Dalton).

I/we do/do not require the package arrangement at the Swallow Hotel as described.

I/we would / would not like to book Sunday lunch at Thurnham Hall. (This is to be paid for on the day)

SIGNED…………………………………….

DATE …………………….

Please complete and sign this form and return it to:

John Dalton, 5 Highfield Close, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, BB5 3TD England

From our Australian correspondents, Tom Wood and Gerry Dalton

Tom and I have had another busy month with our travels, visiting friends, relatives and family connections as well as continuing with our family history research. We said farewell to Dalton Cottage on 20th May and we’ve headed west into the New South Wales countryside, where we will spend the next month or two. We are farm sitting an Alpaca Stud Farm till the end of June. This farm is nearby to the place where my paternal grandmother was born and is only 20 kilometers from the town where my grandparents Christopher Alfred Dalton married Rita Mary Jupp in 1920. Once again we are well situated for more Dalton family research.

During May we made two trips to the beautiful City of Sydney. The second trip was to keep an appointment with the Curator of the Police and Justice Museum. We were in search of any information we could find about my father and his years in the New South Wales Police Choir. Our family story says that my father, Clyde Dalton, was a member of this choir and had a beautiful tenor voice. The tenor voice is remembered by my brother and I but being a member of the Choir is something I was interested in confirming. The Choir was an accomplished ensemble and even performed with the great Gladys Moncrieff. In Clyde’s Police Records there is no mention of him being a member of the Choir and we were keen to prove the family story about him being a member.

When we arrived at the Police and Justice Museum the Curator had several exhibits laid out ready for us to peruse. Tom and I carefully looked over every item and the final item we looked through gave us the information we were looking for. It was the New South Wales Police Choir practice attendance book and amongst its pages were several mentions of my father’s name. We had the evidence to back up the family story that Clyde Dalton sang in the New South Wales Police Choir.

In our family collection, we have an old newspaper clipping of Gladys Moncrieff practicing for a performance with the New South Wales Police Choir at the Sydney Town Hall. Our research has not led to the original newspaper from which the clipping was removed.

While searching for further information about these performances, which were held on Thursday, 23 May 1940 and Saturday, 25th May 1940, we did find a reference to one of the performances being broadcast on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) Radio Station to parts of country New South Wales. We are in possession of a program from these two performances. We have inserted the cover of the program at the end of this story.

Gladys Moncrieff OBE (1892–1976), known affectionately as 'Australia's Queen of Song' and then 'Our Glad'. Gladys was an accomplished singer and performer on the stage and during her career performed in Australia and abroad.

Programme advertising Gladys Montcrieff

Another article from Tom Wood and Gerry Dalton

Dalton’s in the New South Wales Country Area – 1909

In an e-mail from my relative, friend and fellow researcher Janice, I received copies of a few of the Sands Sydney and New South Wales directories. The Sands directory was a Post Office type directory. Access to these directories can be of great assistance and can make family history research more productive and interesting.

As a follow up to the Dalton Genealogical Society Annual Gathering at Orange this year, we thought that a copy from the Sands directory in 1909, would show the spread of the Dalton name in country and rural New South Wales. The page below shows the alphabetical country listing and does not include the Sydney area. We choose a page from 100 years ago as a poignant indicator of the extent of the Dalton name in country New South Wales. Those who attended the Orange Gathering will recognise the names of “Dalton’s of Orange” and their businesses.

Could one of the Dalton’s of Orange family please expand and send comment and information to Dairne and Mel Irwin identifying which businesses listed in this 1909 directory were part of the “Daltons of Orange” family enterprise?

A page from the Sands Post Office Directory of 1909

An article compiled from various sources by Mike Dalton of Oregon

This is the first of at least two articles on this very special priest.

Major Most Reverend Father Michael Joseph Dalton (a Roman Catholic Priest) passed away, aged 106 years, on 6th April, 2009 at Tilsonsberg, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He was born on 5th May, 1902 to a Goderich farmer.

Father Michael Joseph Dalton

Father Dalton was the most decorated priest who ever served in the Canadian Army. He was the oldest living priest in Canada and the oldest surviving serviceman from World War II. When asked how he managed to live so long, he remarked: "Only God knows."

Father Dalton was ordained to the priesthood on 21st May, 1932 at St. Peters Cathedral in London. His early ministry was at St. Alphonsus in Windsor, Ontario. In 1939, he became a chaplain in the Essex Scottish Regiment of the Canadian Army, and headed for World War II in Europe. When asked why: he realized that the very kids he gave First Communion to, were headed off to war: "I had to go with them."

Father Dalton would often be on the front lines, saying Mass, using the hood of his jeep for an altar. On more than one occasion, he continued to say Mass, while everyone else had ducked for cover from flying sharpnel: "I heard not a thing."

On the Battlefield

Father Dalton was the first Catholic Priest to receive the Member of the British Empire decoration from King George VI at Buckingham Palace on 2nd June, 1943. He also received the Military Cross for Bravery. He continued to serve as a military chaplain until 1946, when he returned to Canada.

Father Mike Dalton seated at the piano

Father Dalton was buried at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cemetery which is in Kingsburgh, Ashfield Township, Ontario, Canada. There are more than 60 family members buried there. He is survived by nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews and cousins.

Father Michael Joseph Dalton was born 5th May, 1902 to Morgan Dalton and Mary Sullivan, one of 6 sons and 5 daughters. He appears in the 1911 Census of Ashfield Township, Huron West District, Ontario: Michael Dalton, son born May, 1902.

Genealogical Tracing:

1901 Census of Ashfield Township: Morgan Dalton born 2nd May, 1857; wife Mary (Sullivan) Dalton born 23rd September, 1865.
1881 Census of Huron North, Ashfield Township: Maurice Dalton, Farmer aged 65 years, born Ireland; wife Margaret Dalton (King) born Ireland.; son Morgan Dalton, aged 23 years, born Canada.
1842 Assessment Roll Project, Township of Ashfield: a Morris (Maurice) Dalton, Lot 7 with wife.

This same Maurice Dalton went to America from Ireland where he married a Margaret King (native of County Kerry) at Buffalo, New York in 1841. This same Maurice Dalton (1809 - 1886) is the named son of Maurice Dalton and Mary Riddle. This is mentioned in the Will of Maurice Dalton of Bromore, Kilconly Parish, County Kerry, Ireland, made in 1809 and proved in 1812. This same will is posted on "Daltons in History" Newsletter website - Volume 9, No 8, August 2006, Article 5.

A copy of this will is also in the National Archives at Dublin, Ireland. Penciled notations on back:

"From copy by G. Meares. solicitor at 16 Molesworth Street, Dublin 1886; plain copy of will in private possession, Canada."

There are Maurice Dalton family members living in the vicinity of Asdee, not far from the Town of Ballylongford, North County Kerry, Ireland; they live in the Townlands of Ballynoneen and Rahavanig.

There are family members buried at Graveyards at Kilconly and Killehenny.

The Village of Asdee is believed to the ancestral home of the American outlaw Jesse James. This same Jesse James is believed to genealogically connected to the Dalton Gang family. During the American West of the 1890s, these gents had the proclivity for robbing banks and trains.

The Jesse James family can be traced back to Kentucky.

The Dalton Gang family can be traced backed to Kentucky and Virginia. The Dalton Gang family can be genetically linked to Daltons of Wales.

There is a John James listed in the 1852 Griffiths Valuation and 1825 Tithe Applotment records for the Townland of Asdee, Aghavallen Parish, County Kerry. This John James family had come from Pembrokeshire, Wales.

NOTE: There is a considerable amount of information available on Father Michael Joseph Dalton. We have had contact from a number of sources, including relatives. We would like to thank Father Mike's relatives and associates for the considerable information and photographs they supplied. Both Mike Dalton and Dairne and Mel Irwin have received this information but Mike is undetaking extensive research in Co. Kerry on the Dalton family there and this breaks through a previous "brick wall."

It's surprising what chance encounters can do to enhance your research - so don't give up!!

From Karen Preston, Secretary for North America

This is an excerpt from "A Biographical Sketch of Sir Charles Dalton, Foxman", by Robert Allan Rankin, University of Prince Edward Island, 1974. This document has been contributed by member Tom O'Connor, of Hingham, MA, and can be read in its entirety at the Dalton Data Bank. Sir Charles Dalton is credited with breeding the Silver Fox.

Sir Charles Dalton

Sir Charles Dalton looms large in any social and economic history of Prince Edward Island. His rise from humble birth to riches
practically overnight is, in itself, sufficient to have made the man a legend in his own time. But, the "isolation" of his experimental breeding and the sense of "creation'" which surrounded it, attaches to Dalton the pretense of "romance" and "mystery".

The legend of this fox pioneer is, however, more than a of economic phenomenom. It is the portrait of an unusual individual and his environment! What is so unusual is that the individual lived in complete harmony with his environment, and moulded a "freedom" through integration with it. This spiritual attachment with Nature gave Dalton the patience and understanding to unlock one of Her secrets - natural selection as applied to the domestic breeding of Silver Foxes. It is this scientific discovery which is a historical fact, and forms the basis of any Dalton Legend.

Charles Dalton is rightfully to be credited with having first successfully bred silver-black foxes, the strain which eventually formed the base of the fur-farming industry in Prince Edward Island.

Silver Fox

Dalton's first real success in breeding silver foxes as a business dates back to this partnership with Oulton. The latter's patience and clever ideas about ranching the animals, combined with Dalton's experience and management, resulted in the Cherry Island ranch becoming a prototype in the developing Industry.

Sir Charles Dalton was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island on November 29, 1930. It was but the official recognition of a simple man whose perserverence, intelligence and kindness had been blessed by luck, and the Will of God. Observed the Guardian: "No representative of His Majesty the King could be more deserving the honor and esteem.....of the position, or more conscientious in the discharge of its responsible duties .....”. Dalton assumed the Governorship at the ripe age of eighty years, but without any signs of failing, either phyically or mentally. He attended Governmental functions with regularity and delighted at stumping some expert mathematician with a problem he had created. When not engaging in these activities, Dalton either took to the outdoors or settled into an evening's study of an English classical novel. It was during
Dalton's stay at Government House that he bestowed upon his own Parish of Tignish, the Dalton Normal School. At time of its construction in 1930, the school was of monumental importance to the community. Sir Charlie was fully aware of that significance, and the Dalton School stands today [1974] as a tribute to him.

From Michael Neale Dalton, Chairman of the DGS

A Dalton at Eton College

These two photographs were taken for the DGS by Chris Pomery, our DNA consultant. He regularly passes by this board which is on the fives court at Eton College. The name of Rev T Dalton is recorded for 1894 together with J D Birchall and G F Warre. I have discovered that Rev T Dalton was an Assistant Master at Eton College, but what is this record for? Is it anything to do with the game of fives, or is it something else? Some further detective work to be done here!

Name on the Wall - 1894 Reverend T Dalton

From Michael Neale Dalton, Chairman of the DGS

Henry Dalton Jackson

On a recent visit to Cornwall, we were taken to the church in the tiny village of St Kew in North Cornwall to see the spectacular medieval stained glass window depicting the story of Christ's Passion which has recently been restored. Whilst there, I found Henry Dalton Jackson recorded as the vicar of St Kew Parish Church of St James the Great from 1916 to 1927. The first photograph shows a detail from the list of incumbents, which goes back to the 12th Century. The second photograph is of the memorial to him, which is in the chapel that contains the famous Passion window in the north east corner of the church. A little research has shown that Henry Dalton Jackson married Florence de Lancet Willson on 24 July 1906 at Kirkinton Church, Carlisle. But who were his parents and did he have a Dalton ancestor, from whom he was given Dalton as a middle name?

Reverend Henry Dalton Jackson - Vicar 1916 to 1927

Memorial to Henry Dalton Jackson

Does anybody have the following in their family tree:

Mary DALTON born Sydney, New South Wales - 18 April 1842: Baptised on 23 April 1842 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. Mary's parents were Michael DALTON and Catherine O'DONNELL of George Street, Sydney.

If so please contact Gerry Dalton on: tomngerrytravel@hotmail.com

Summer is definitely upon us here in Las Vegas! The month of May has been hotter than average and we have already experienced several days with temperatures over 100 degrees F. That's 38 C for those of you who are outside the US.

Dalton Data Bank News and Updates:

A big THANK YOU to member Cathy Negryz in Florida for adding some additional birth records to the Irish records section of the Data Bank, and also for correcting some entries. The specific Counties that were updated are noted below with the "Additions of May".

As of May 26, 2009, we have the following statistics on the Dalton Data Bank usage:

37,417 Unique Visitors Worldwide

52% from the UK
32% from the US
6% Australia
4% Ireland
2% Canada
2% New Zealand
2% Rest of the World

Additions in May:

Ireland - Irish Times Birth, Marriage & Death Records Contributed by Karen Dalton Preston, Nevada
News - Chris Pomery Interview Contributed by David Preston, Nevada
Ireland - Corrections to Laios, Monahan, Carlow, Wexford, Limerick, Tipperary, Kildare & RoscommonContributed by Cathy Negrycz, Florida

Google Ad Campaign (Dec 2008 to May 26, 2009):

Ads seen by 5.2+ million people worldwide; 25,098 people clicked on a Ad and visited the Data Bank

The National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions:

If you are researching ancestral connections in the United Kingdom, this may be of interest.

The National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions (NAOMI) is a U.K. website which might prove to be a valuable source of information for family historians. It comprises a searchable database of memorial inscriptions from English counties that the company has been developing since 2005. The site now lists over 182,000 names from 630 burial grounds in Bedfordshire and Norfolk, and more records from other locations are being added on a regular basis.

Memorial inscriptions can be difficult to find for family historians in the United Kingdom, and the task is that much more difficult for genealogists outside the country. This site enables anybody to search the database and obtain important information free of charge. If you find a relevant entry, then you can purchase the inscription for £4 with possible extra information, in the form of a photograph and a plan of the churchyard and some historical text about the church, for an extra £1 for each of these, if required.

You can find more information at the The National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions at: http://www.memorialinscriptions.org.uk

Finally, a reminder to members in the Los Angeles area, the Southern California Genealogical Society's annual "Jamboree" will be held June 26-28 in Burbank, CA. I hope I will see many of you there!

I wish you all a wonderful Summer!

With Warm Regards,

Karen Dalton Preston
Secretary for North America

Thank you to all who have contributed to the June 2009 issue of “Daltons in History” another issue with lots to keep you interested. Mel and I hope you are all keeping well as we are here.

We are looking forward to the AGM in Lancashire and hope to see lots of you there.

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".

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

Please try to 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.