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Introduction As always, greetings to all readers of "Daltons in History"!! In contrast to August, September has been a very busy month, with the highlight of course being the DGS Gathering in Salt Lake City. Kate and I spent the first week of September on a canal boat in the Midlands with friends. We meandered around the "Warwickshire Ring", something over 100 miles and as many locks all manually operated, so quite strenuous and a thirst and appetite built up each day for visiting the canal side pubs along the way! This left us just 10 days to prepare for our three and a half week trip to the United States and Canada, to include of course Salt Lake City. During this time, I wrote my presentation for the Gathering and completed the work on three more of the individual genetic family reports for the "Dalton DNA Project" (more of that below). We left the UK on 15 September and, as I write in early October, we have travelled some 3,000 miles and are now in Boulder City just near the Hoover Dam and not far from Las Vegas, from where we fly to Calgary for a short stay with our son, James, before flying home. Our time in the US has included visits to many of the wonderful National Parks - Zion, Bryce Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Arches, Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon to name the highlights. What a magnificent country for scenery and natural beauty on an amazing scale. "Daltons in History" this month is a little late because all the key players in the process of bringing this newsletter to you each month have been travelling. I trust we are forgiven. In this month's edition you will find a brief report on the Salt Lake City Gathering from North American Secretary Karen Dalton Preston, together with a few photographs. You will also find a link to a new page on the Dalton Data Bank website www.daltondatabank.org/SLCPresentations.html which includes the slides and videos for all the presentations given at the conference over the weekend. We have to thank David Preston for compiling this and making it available so quickly. Next month we will carry my traditional "Chairman's Diary" of the weekend, a full library of photographs of all the activities, and a selection of reminiscences from delegates. The weekend was an unqualified success and very much enjoyed by all 46 participants. We had a wonderful time and all credit is due to Karen and David for the hard work that they put in both before and during the Gathering to ensure that everything ran so smoothly. So a big thank you to both for all you did, to those who gave presentations and to all the delegates who attended, many of whom helped in numerous ways. More of all this in my diary next month! As always you will find below all the latest news about DGS events and activities, together with the usual updates to keep you fully informed about what we are doing. Future DGS events For the 2012 Gathering and AGM we are returning to Yorkshire over the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 27th/28th/29th July 2012. The venue for this event will be the Mercure Hull Hotel. This hotel is very accessible and is ideally situated between Hull, which has a number of interesting Dalton connections, and Beverley with its Minster and an excellent Record Office. More details of the hotel, which is a 19th Century manor house set in 12 acres of gardens, can be found here. I am most grateful to Howard Dalton of Pickering for taking on the task of Gathering Organiser. Howard is a past DGS Treasurer and well known to many DGS members. He organised previous DGS Gatherings in Scarborough in 1992 and in Pickering in 2002. Howard and I visited Hull back in April and further information will be found in the "Forthcoming Gatherings" section of this website, just click here for the link. Full details of the programme and booking arrangements will appear towards the end of this year. For 2013 we are considering returning to Ireland and for 2014 and beyond we have a number of suggestions already. But, 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) We are indebted to our DNA consultant, Chris Pomery for all his assistance with the project over the past five years, which includes the preparation of three issues of the very comprehensive project progress report, and most informative presentations at our annual gatherings on two occasions. We now have approaching 170 participants in the project, and well over 80% of these are members of one of the 15 identified genetic families. The latest DIDP news and a full DIDP update were published in December 2010, and these can be found in the "Dalton DNA Project" section of this website, or simply click here for the link. The emphasis is now on providing updated reports for each individual genetic family. The first of these, for genetic family A, was published in December 2010, establishing the template for these reports. During September we completed initial versions of the reports for genetic families B, C and D in time for the Salt Lake City Gathering, so we now have four reports available as follows: - Genetic Family A - the Virginia Daltons - Genetic Family B - the Eireann Daltons - Genetic Family C - the Carmarthenshire Daltons - Genetic Family D - the Golden Vale Daltons These proved very useful at the gathering with each of these groups well represented by delegates, and much useful discussion took place, both formally and informally. On the formal side, Chris Pomery gave a video presentation updating us all on the project, and then participated in a discussion and question time via a live link up from his home in Yorkshire, UK. Also Melanie Crain, Rodney Dalton and Cathy Negrycz gave presentations about groups A, C and D respectively. This all helped us to take forward both the details of the project by identifying specific further research for these groups, and also the project as a whole by demonstrating it's breadth and depth, and the ways in which it will help other delegates in due course. Links to all the presentations and the supporting slides will be found by clicking here. There are two further reports still to be published as follows: - The first will cover genetic families E, F, G, H, J and K together with R1b singletons - The second will cover genetic families Q, W, X, Y and Z together with non-R1b singletons It is planned to complete these over the next few weeks. All these reports are made available to the members of the group or groups covered in each one, and it is generally a requirement that recipients of reports are paid up DGS members. This enables us to reimburse Chris Pomery as our DNA consultant for the immense amount of work that he undertakes on an ongoing basis for the project. Karen Preston and I are now in discussion with Chris about how we propose to take the project forward in 2012, and we will be making further announcements about this in the coming weeks, so watch this space! The DGS Journal Volume 55 of the DGS Journal for December 2010 is due to be published by the end of the year. Editor, John Dalton will shortly commence assembling and preparing the material for Vol 55 and all contributions should be sent to him by mid November at the latest. John always welcomes articles and other items for publication
in the Journal. Any material for publication should be sent to him as
early as possible, so that he can plan the content of future issues. John
is happy to advise and assist contributors and, if you have any questions
or need help, please contact him by email at johndalton78@hotmail.com.
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 in November. Thank you for your attention. Yours very sincerely
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From David Preston, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: Here are a couple of pictures showing the amount of equipment etc. that was taken to Salt Lake City for the DGS Gathering by David and Karen:
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From David Preston, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: Here is what every delegate attending the DGS Gathering received. The bag had the Event Program, DGS pens, a tablet of paper, a badge with lanyard, and several packets of customised M&Ms:
The Welcome Kit |
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From David Preston, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: Here you can see the comprehensive program that was put together to make this a most enjoyable Gathering. See particularly Back Page - nothing left to chance!! Food and transport most important!!
Please will all delegates email the Editor with their comments on the event for the November 2011 "Daltons in History". Email address for the Editor: dairneirwin@ntlworld.com. |
| From David Preston, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: There were 41 delegates for the Gathering itself and 46 delegates for the Banquet on Saturday evening - see the group photograph below: Delegate Group Photograph |
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From David Preston, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: This a picture of the Utah Dalton's:
Val Dunn Dalton, Rodney Dalton, Ashley Dowdy, Arthur Whittaker and his wife Helen Kay Whittaker Rodney gave a presentation on "The Story of the Dalton Family in Utah". Video |
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From David Preston, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA: Here is a picture of Clive Romney, dressed in authentic western clothing of the 1880's, singing the song he wrote especially for the Dalton Gathering in Salt Lake City - "The Ballard of Young Ed Dalton - the Edward Meeks Dalton Story". Video The Lyrics and copyright statement are displayed below
by kind permission of Clive Romney. We should also like to include a link
to his site: www.upharts.org.
Clive Romney - Entertainer - Video The Ballad of Young Ed Dalton (To my knowledge, the only man to be killed as a result of the persecution of polygamists in the 1880s was Edward Meeks Dalton - called "Young Ed to distinguish him from his father, also named Edward. Young Ed's tombstone in Parowan's cemetery reads, "He was shot and killed December 16th, 1886, in cold blood by a deputy United States Marshal, while under indictment for a misdemeanor under the Edmunds Anti-polygamy law.") Coal-black hair a muscular Adonis, Ride, Young Ed, ride through the canyons of the sky, Emily at seventeen, was married (Chorus) Great escapes just angered Ed's pursuers Oh, ride, Young Ed, ride through the canyons of the sky,
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1) From Michael Neale Dalton, Chairman of the DGS: Chairman, Michael Neale Dalton and his wife Kate have been travelling in the South West United States before and after the Salt Lake City Gathering. On their travels they drove on Route 191 to Moab, Utah and about 10 miles north of Moab saw a sign for Dalton Wells Road. Michael picks up the story........
Obviously this required a stop, and on pulling up we discovered it was an historic heritage landmark with a descriptive plaque but very little to see in the surrounding country, which is barren and deserted in the middle of nowhere.
However on reading the plaque we discovered some very interesting history from the 1930s and 1940s.
History Plaque
Text on Left
Text on Right What is missing is any clue as to why the dirt track off Route 191 is called Dalton Wells Road. I imagine that there must have been wells (water or oil?), discovered by a Dalton, perhaps a pioneer in the mid 1800s. We know that many Daltons lived and indeed still live in Utah and we are making further enquiries to see if we can find out any more details. Perhaps one of our readers can help? Let's hope so. Please contact either me at michaelndalton@aol.com or the editor at dairneirwin@ntlworld.com. 2) From Freeman and Marcia Dalton, Maine, USA Here is a birth announcement for our 10th Grandchild, the 4th child of our youngest son, Kevin: Sophie Jane Dalton was born 12 September, 2011 to Kevin and Kristen Dalton of South Berwick, Maine. Sophie weighed in at 7lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long. Sophie joins her sister Grace, 6 yrs., brother Jack, 4 yrs., and sister Natalie, 1-1/2 yrs. Sophie's Grandfather is Freeman Dalton of West Paris, Maine and her Great Uncle is Arthur Daltonof Sanford, Maine.
Sophie Jane Dalton |
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Whew! it is amazing how quickly a weekend can fly by! The 2011 DGS Gathering in Salt Lake City is now behind us. We had a total of 41 attendees for the Gathering and 46 attendees at the Annual Banquet dinner which was held on Saturday evening. Our world-wide membership was well represented, with attendees from America, Australia, Canada and the UK. We had US members in attendance from Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Virginia. A very impressive turnout! I was delighted to meet so many members from the US and to see old friends from previous Gatherings. We opened the proceedings with a talk by professional genealogist Stan Lindass on how to get the most of the Family History Library and the internet, for your genealogical research. We left the remainder of the day free for members to take full advantage of the vast collection at the Library. For those attendees who did not wish to do research, there was the option to tour historic Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. I am very grateful to Shauna and John Hart for organizing and leading the tour. Saturday evening brought our group together for the DGS Gathering Banquet, and annual tradition. The highlight of the evening was our entertainment provided by Clive Romney. Clive is a music historian, storyteller, songwriter and performer, well known in the Salt Lake City area. Clive took information about the early Daltons in Utah and wrote a song especially for us. We will have a video of Clive's performance on the web site soon. There were lots of photos taken. Here are just a few.
Sunday morning began with an inspiring performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Their Sunday morning performance is broadcast live on radio and television and is the longest running radio program in the US, broadcasting since 1929.
The rest of the program on Sunday included presentations on several of the Dalton family lines in the US. I will provide more details on the speakers and their presentations in the next issue of "Daltons in History", so "watch this space"!
I would like to thank all of those who attended the Gathering and also those of you who tuned-in to watch the live webcast of the presentations on Sunday. Now to the usual updates. Web Sites Update: For the period from 1 September to 26 September 2011 Update to the Data Bank: Dublin Ireland - Added personal family information Contributed by Linda Magee Dalton Chronicles - Matthew W Dalton contributed by Rodney G Dalton DDB Web Site Usage Statistics: 64,362 visits came from 185 Countries / Territories
Map showing September DDB visitor distribution Top 10 Countries by Visits: 1. UK – 18,738 Top 10 Pages Visited: 1. Home Page Comparatives:
DDB Comparison Chart Dalton Forum: There are a total of 244 Posts in 146 Topics by 330 Members. During the reporting period, there were no new topics added, no new posts and 6 new members added. DGS Web Site Usage Statistics: 1,694 Visits from 94 Countries / Territories
Map showing DGS visitor distribution Top 10 Countries by Visits: 1. United States – 551 Top 10 Pages Visited: 1. Home Page Comparatives:
DGS Comparatives Membership Page Tracking: There were a total of 591 visits to the Membership page.
539 Visitors (88%) were as a result of links from the DDB “Become
a Member!” pop-up box and the Google Ad The graph below depicts the flow of Visitors to the Membership Page:
Membership Page Graphics Google Ad Campaigns: Dalton Data Bank Site: 34,168 Visitors reached the Data Bank by clicking on one of the 3,149,430 Google Ads served during the reporting period. DGS Site: 14 Visitors reached the DGS site by clicking on one of the 11,773 Google Ads served during the reporting period. Google Ads for new memberships: This Ad Campaign generated 34 visits to the Membership information from 10,872 Google Ads served during the reporting period. Now for another busy month!! With best regards to you all,
Karen Dalton Preston
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Thank you to all who have contributed to the October 2011 issue of "Daltons in History". The Salt Lake City Gathering was a success and this issue has been all about the Gathering. Please send me your stories about the Gathering for next month's issue of "Daltons in History". Due to time constraints the Lucy Slater Archives and the First 40 Years of the DGS do not appear but will be back in November 2011. Please send me any ideas you may have for future articles or areas of research we could look at. New ideas are needed!! Please consider contributing a short description of any Dalton-related travels you may have undertaken anywhere in the world. Also members who are travelling to do research, visit a Dalton-connected site, or have made a connection to a distant cousin through the DGS. might be interested in letting other members know what they are doing through "Daltons in History". Photos from your travels would be appreciated. Also, it would be a way of helping members get to know each other a little better, and might help members who are widely dispersed geographically to feel a bit more connected. Contributions for the November 2011 issue need to be with me no later than 25th October, 2011. (e-mail: dairneirwin@ntlworld.com). Please continue to stick to the set deadlines!! There is no excuse for missing the deadline - PLAN AHEAD!! |
