Introduction

Greetings to you all!

This month I am back at my desk in Reigate and write to you from there. Kate and I returned from our round the world trip that has taken us to California, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore on 5th April. It is hard to believe that we have been back almost a month, and what a busy month April has been, both with DGS matters, and of course catching up with everything else back here after an absence of nine weeks. In the March issue “Daltons in History” included news of the earlier part of our travels. Last month there was my diary of the Orange Gathering, and this month you will find some more travel notes on the latter stages of the trip.

In addition, in mid April I was able to attend the Guild of One Name Studies annual conference held in Peterborough, UK, and I report on this separately in this issue.

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 be found below, and they are also published in the “Forthcoming Gatherings” section of this website. Additionally they have been distributed with the most recent 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. 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. 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. 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 gives some further preliminary information in her notes below.

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

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 am now at last finding the time for completing 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 during this coming month.

For those who have not met Chris Pomery or seen him in action, we have a link to a video (just click here) of a recent interview that he gave to Dick Eastman at the "Who Do You Think You Are" Live Show held in London at the end of February 2009. Chris talks about the value of DNA in family history research and previews the contributions that he is going to make to the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter at www.eogn.com.

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 three months we have received an encouraging number of enquiries and there are already new participants in the pipeline with results now awaited 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 June.

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

On 1st February 2009, Michael and Kate Dalton set off on a round the world trip to include their visit to Orange, NSW, Australia for the 2009 DGS Annual Gathering in mid-March. In the March issue of “Daltons in History” Michael reported on the first three weeks of their travels and highlighted a few Dalton related activities and discoveries along the way. The April issue included his diary of the Orange Gathering. Here their journey continues.

The notes of the first three weeks ended in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand at the southern tip of North Island. From Wellington we took the ferry across the Marlborough Sounds to Picton, a spectacular trip in perfect sunshine, and so began a two week tour of South Island. We started with a night in Nelson and the following day spotted a sign for Dalton’s Culvert at the top of Pelorus Sound, near Havelock – nothing especially noteworthy but why was this culvert named thus? Was a Dalton involved with its construction, one wonders? On to Blenheim, centre of the Marlborough wine region and some splendid sauvignon blancs. Then south for some seal watching near Kaikoura and a stay on a sheep station at Blythe Downs near Cheviot, north of Christchurch. From there we headed west to Geraldine and on by way of Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook Village. Sadly poor weather meant that we did not see Mount Cook itself, but we were able to climb up to the Tasman Glacier Lake with its floating icebergs. We enjoyed the superb mountain and lake scenery between Mount Cook Village and Queenstown where we arrived in brilliant sunshine which remained with us for four days, including the visit to Milford Sound on our wedding anniversary, a definite highlight of the whole trip. From Queenstown we travelled north west by way of Lake Wanaka and the Haast Pass to the west coast and another spell of poor weather which hampered our views of the glaciers and, tantalisingly, meant that again we could not see Mount Cook. But no matter, Fox Glacier still looked very impressive and we then enjoyed the four and a half hour train journey from Greymouth over Arthur’s Pass back to Christchurch.

There was little of Dalton note on South Island, but Kate (nee Shrimpton) found herself face to face with Mount Shrimpton at a little place called Makarora, before the Haast Pass. After whom did this substantial mountain acquire its name? – there is some research to be done there. We also made telephone contact with two Daltons, Peter Dalton a DGS member in Dunedin and Joanna Dalton, the daughter of my first cousin Stephen, who lives at Oamaru, but it did not prove possible to include these more remote spots on our itinerary. Next time perhaps – we really enjoyed our first visit to New Zealand, a very relaxing and easy country to travel in with lovely welcoming people, excellent facilities for tourists, spectacular and varied scenery, and above all so empty and unspoilt.

So from Christchurch we flew to Sydney and, with less than a week to go before the gathering, we caught up with Maureen Collins. We stopped over in the Hunter Valley and travelled through the Blue Mountains to get to Orange, and a full diary of the gathering weekend has already been published in “Daltons in History” last month. From Orange, Kate and I drove on to Canberra and stayed with an old college friend who gave us a personal conducted tour of the very spacious Australian capital city.

The Australian War Memorial, Canberra

From a Dalton perspective the most interesting place was the Australian War Memorial with its Roll of Honour to all Australians who have given their lives in the two world wars and other conflicts. This is much more than just a memorial – it includes an extensive museum together with research facilities, and we were able to obtain a list of all the Daltons recorded on the Roll of Honour. This list is reproduced below and, if you require further details about any of the Daltons listed these can be found on the Australian War Memorial website at www.awm.gov.au.

Name

Service Number

Unit

Conflict

Dalton, Alan William

VX61666

2/10 ORD WKSPS AAOC

1939-1945

Dalton, Alexander Reginald

4531

46th Battalion AIF

1914-1918

Dalton, Arthur Victor William

2497

60th Battalion

1914-1918

Dalton, Bernard Joseph

VX24210

2/22 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, Charles

2060

39th Battalion Australian Infantry

1914-1918

Dalton, Clarence Bernard

2011

30th Battalion AIF

1914-1918

Dalton, Clive Malcolm

96

4th Australian Light Horse

1914-1918

Dalton, Douglas Vernon

420863

98 Squadron RAF

1939-1945

Dalton, Francis Patrick

VX129336

HY BTY RAA RABAUL (Coastal Bty)

1939-1945

Dalton, Frank

2685

37th Battalion

1914-1918

Dalton, George Christopher

VX24211

2/22 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, Harold Archibald

NX96933

2/1 BEACH SIG SECTION (SIGS)

1939-1945

Dalton, James

669

1 Brigade Field Artillery

1914-1918

Dalton, James

2468

2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery

1914-1918

Dalton, James

7th Australian Light Horse

1914-1918

Dalton, James Edward

402320

12 Squadron RAF

1939-1945

Dalton, James William

5571

20th Battalion AIF

1914-1918

Dalton, John Edmund

QX16747

2/9 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, John Phillip Sinclair

418640

26 Operational Training RAF

1939-1945

Dalton, Leslie Charles

401303

70 Operational Training RAF

1939-1945

Dalton, Lindsay

VX31037

2/21 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, Lionel Sydney

HMAS Sydney

1939-1945

Dalton, Maurice Desmond

NX1985

2/4 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, Michael George

1908

55th Battalion Australian Infantry

1914-1918

Dalton, Norman Charles

5384

15th Battalion Australian Infantry

1914-1918

Dalton, Rae Charles

418923

40 Squadron RAF

1939-1945

Dalton, Richard John

V84042

AUST DEFENCE CANTEEN SERVICES 3MD

1939-1945

Dalton, Ronald

NX47140

2/30 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, S

HMAS Yarra

1939-1945

Dalton, Stanhope James

VX43075

2/29 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, William

5963

22nd Battalion

1914-1918

Dalton, William Edward

5792

18th Battalion Australian Infantry

1914-1918

Dalton, William James

644

36th Group Australian Heavy Artillery

1914-1918

Dalton, William James

NX72893

2/20 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, William Leo

18445

7th Brigade Australian Field Artillery

1914-1918

Dalton, William Shortall

1351

1 Australian Tunnelling Company

1914-1918

Dalton, William Sydney

WX2934

2/28 INF BN

1939-1945

Dalton, Witton Kenworthy

867

30th Battalion

1914-1918

The photographs show the very impressive Roll of Honour, and a detail that lists the particular Daltons who served with the Royal Air Force. Included amongst these is Douglas Vernon Dalton, a third cousin of my father, who was born in 1918 and was killed in action on 20th March 1944 flying over France, aged just 26.

War Memorial Roll of Honour

Daltons serving with the Royal Air Force appear on the Roll of Honour

I am sure that readers will be able to tell the stories of others on this list and I hope that you will forward them to the editor for inclusion in a future edition of “Daltons in History”. We found our visit to the Memorial a very profound and moving experience and we will always remember all those Daltons who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

From Canberra we drove on to Melbourne, but not without a very enjoyable overnight stop at Mansfield as the guests of Brendan and Pauline Dalton. Brendan and Pauline came to Orange with Brendan’s brother Paddy and his wife Pat – they made the trip from Ireland to join us all in Orange and the DGS Irish Secretary, Ciaran, is another brother of Brendan and Paddy. This gave us the time to discuss in more detail the exciting discoveries in the Dalton International DNA Project about genetic family D, and the relationship between this Irish Dalton family, the Daltons of Orange, and the various other lines that the DNA test results have identified.

Brendan, Pat, Paddy, Michael and Pauline
at Brendan & Pauline's home in Mansfield, Victoria

All too soon it was time to bid our farewells and move on, passing through areas of the state of Victoria so badly affected by the very recent bush fires. After Melbourne we drove along the Great Ocean Road with its spectacular coastal scenery, and after three overnight stops we reached Adelaide. From there we flew up to Alice Springs and enjoyed a tour of the so called Red Centre of Australia and the magnificent scenery of Kings Canyon and Ayers Rock, or Uluru as the Aboriginal people call it. We then flew on to Perth and spent time in Fremantle and the Margaret River wine region to the south, before starting our long journey home via Singapore, where we stopped over for three nights.

We arrived home on Sunday 5th April exactly nine weeks after our departure from Reigate, and we continue to enjoy so many happy memories of a wonderful trip, which we would probably never have made, but for the 2009 DGS Gathering being arranged in Orange. And aren’t we glad it was – it provided the perfect excuse for a long vacation and the opportunity to explore so many places that were new to us. What a wonderful world we live in – and somehow the troubles of the world are put into perspective when you can travel and visit such truly memorable locations. They are very clearly etched on our minds.

From Maureen Collins the Australian and New Zealand Secretary

The following comments have been received by me since the meeting in Orange NSW and in response to my open letter of thanks to delegates. I also sent photos on line to a few people. I have included comments not necessarily related to the Orange meeting but still connected to family and local history, for example from Jilly Warren.

It should also be noted that the thanks are more general than personal as I represent the DGS in Australia and New Zealand and I have had a lot of help from various members and friends.

If there are other notes of thanks they may well be at my home in Sydney and I will find them on my return there in October. It is likely there are new membership applications there also and I will enquire about this and be in contact where necessary and in a short while.

From June and Catherine Self, Melbourne:

Catherine and June Self with Pat Barlow and Maureen Collins

Dear Maureen,

Hope that by now you have recovered from "Daltonia" and can relax with a superb job well done. The effort of yourself and team is much appreciated as Catherine and I had a great time and think ORANGE is just a beautiful part of this country......Complaints?????????

WE WERE JUST TALKED OUT

Enjoy your time away.

June and Catherine

From Roslyn Chapman in response to my query about possible food poisoning over the week-end but which turned out to be a virus affecting some people:

Thanks. I ate the veal dish and the beef on Sunday and I was 100% OK, but my family says that I have a cast-iron stomach, as I do not get sick in the tummy very often. I had a great time.

Love Ros

From Wendy Fleming:

Wendy Fleming

Thank you for the Australia plate I do like that ware but I did very little, and what I did do was just to help the weekend go well. It seems it did.

Re the bush poet Frank, he served his purpose and gave the older Australians a trip down memory lane.

From Paddy and Pat Dalton, Ireland:

Trish Fox, Paddy and Patricia Dalton with Pauline Dalton and Maureen Collins

Maureen,

A huge thank you for your work on the convention in Orange.....it was all so enjoyable and exciting, and the DNA relationship with the Daltons of Orange was really a great surprise. They were lovely people and have already sent on details of the family.

I know that you were upset about the food hitch, but these things happen everywhere without notice. That Sunday lunch was beautifully served in idyllic surroundings. The negative part will be forgotten very quickly and we will remember all the great things that occurred at this Conference.

At this point we are heading up to Cairns to complete a great holiday.

So once again, congratulations to all the team.

Pat Dalton


To: maureen collins
Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 8:51 AM
Subject: Re: Emailing: Birthday dinner; afternoon tea; orange meeting 070

Dear Maureen,

Congratulations on a job well done and more than well done. It was a splendid weekend. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Rosemary is coming around later to read the emails, etc. She has been very busy with school and private students. I really don't know how you managed to arrange all that and have it all go off so well. I would be interested to know your Dalton family history. I'm afraid I did not get around to finding out, if it was possible, how we have the same DNA as Wendy and Helen.

You are as I imagined you to be. You have done a wonderful job too. I hope we will meet again some day Maureen.

Very best wishes from Anne


From Jilly and Ralph Warren:

Jilly and Ralph Warren

Subject: Photos and Job Well Done

Dear Maureen, Great photo!!! Haven't even looked at mine yet. Haven't had time yet.
Have refrained from sending an email to you knowing how busy you were getting ready to go away. You must be very pleased with your accomplishments. Everyone seems pleased with the whole weekend, real pity about the ones who got sick. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit inland. Orange is such a lovely country town.

As usual I arrived home to dramas. Not family but local government/State Planning issues re Riverstone and the old Meatworks. I am presently wading through 3 inches of double sided proposal for Riverstone West to be developed. Almost all floodplain.
We are in for quite a time while we fight the proposed demolition of 14 heritage listed houses and the filling of the floodplain all supposedly for the generation of 12,000 jobs.
Well actually 12,000 jobs moved from somewhere else. Anyway protests underway with a public meeting called. Hope my lobbying has got the National Trust involved and also the Greens. Filling a floodplain albeit as stated, moving one pile of dirt from one place to another, is not my idea of Environmental Good Works.

Kate and Michael sent an email saying how much they enjoyed Orange and the doings and their individual gifts and I was quite touched by the copies of thanks you sent on to me re some of the other gifts. Really overwhelmed with this Riverstone stuff. Quite important to a lot of the local people, the destruction of much of their history.

Well done again. Have a bit of a rest.

Much Love

Ralph and Jilly


The following is from a member of the Orange and District Historical Society who attended the Saturday morning meeting and came on the historical tour in the afternoon. The tour was kindly arranged by Phil Stevenson, President of that Society, and who attended the Saturday meeting and the Sunday lunch and barbecue. I have also received a note of thanks from him.

From: julie sykes [mailto:djsykes@tsn.cc]
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 7:03 AM
To: 'Maureen Collins'
Subject: Dalton weekend at Orange


Hi Maureen

Congratulations on a wonderful weekend! Thank you for extending such a warm welcome. I enjoyed the Saturday immensely and was very grateful to be able to attend. As a new comer to Orange and its history it was a great opportunity to learn about the Dalton family and their contribution to our city we now call home. I found the information about the DNA project very informative and have decided to look at a similar one I’ve heard about a few years ago for the Sykes family. It was great visiting all the Dalton houses and especially felt privileged to be able to see ‘Mena’. Thank you for a great day!

Cheers
Julie

From Patricia Barlow of Mount Isa, Queensland, cousin of Gerry Dalton:

It was great to have so many Daltons in attendance. Finance permitting I would love to attend the next gathering in Salt Lake City.

My final para:

I have thanked all the delegates for coming but I have not added my own comments except in the open letter already published.

In some ways it is easier to look back at the whole week-end from afar, rather than when so closely involved and I have to say it was a very new experience in my life. Although I was one of those secretarial "dragon ladies" for most of my working life, anything I organised was done to a plan made by someone else. This year in Australia I felt the responsibility was largely mine and that the DGS in Australia and New Zealand would charge ahead or waver depending on how it all went. The fact that the meeting has been an unqualified success is thanks to all those who took part as observers, students or active participants and all who attended should give themselves a pat on the back for doing so.

The city of Orange, New South Wales, is certainly now on the DGS map and I think and hope that friendships and family connections will evolve even further in the next few years. I hope too that many will take advantage of everything gained from the week-end adventure and continue their own researches, take part in their own DNA tests and tell the rest of us something of this. So it's over to you, DGS members worldwide and I look forward to many contributions over the next few months and years. Since I obviously have to include myself in this rallying cry, watch this space everyone!

Maureen Collins

From our continually travelling correspondents Gerry Dalton and Tom Wood

Tom and I had another busy month of travelling and are back at the lovely Dalton Cottage at Moss Vale in the New South Wales Southern Highlands. The Highlands are picturesque with all the glorious autumn colours of the introduced species of European trees against the greens and greys of the Australian native flora. The nights have turned quite cool and there have already been a few frosts.

In mid April, we took the train to Sydney from Moss Vale for a few days of sightseeing. We had glorious autumn weather to do our exploring in and around this beautiful city of Sydney. Always on the search of more information on my Dalton family, our sightseeing took us to Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney where my grandfather The Honorable Christopher Alfred Dalton was a member of the Legislative Council from 1943 to 1970.

We were delighted to see photos of The Hon. C.A. Dalton appear twice in the gallery. The Parliament House attendant allowed Tom and I to leisurely look around the Legislative Council chamber – the place where my grandfather would have spent many hours in almost 27 years of service to the State of New South Wales.

Above is an enlarged copy of a Parliamentary photograph of The Honorable Christopher Alfred Dalton from their website:
www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/

The Legislative Council is the State Upper House in our Australian system of government and is also referred to as a House of Review. In Australia, the Government system is three-tier. On the State level, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly or Lower House are the two houses of Parliament. The third level is Federal Government, seated in Canberra.

The photo above shows Tom standing at the front of Parliament House near the Camellia hedge at the entrance to the Legislative Council. The Honorable Christopher Alfred Dalton would have climbed these stairs many times during his years of service to the State of New South Wales.

Parliament House, located in Macquarie Street, Sydney is surrounded by several other historic buildings.
In 1824, the first Legislative Council in New South Wales was constituted.

The above photo depicts the members of the Legislative Council of New South Wales at the time of the Royal Visit in 1954.

My grandfather’s photo is the fourth row down and the second from the left.

In 1954 the recently crowned Queen of England, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her husband His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh toured Australia. The Royal couple toured around Australia for about two months and they visited many parts of Australia, both Cities and the Outback. While there have been some 50 Royal tours of Australia, Queen Elizabeth was the first reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil.

On Thursday 4th February 1954 the Governor of New South Wales, Lt-Gen Sir John Northcott (1 Aug, 1946 to 31 July, 1957), held a State dinner in their honor and the members of the New South Wales Parliament were in attendance and presented to Their Majesties. Northcott was the first Australian born Governor of NSW. In our family collection, we have an original wine list from that dinner.

Photo image above shows the cover of the menu from the State dinner

The photo image above shows the list of wines served at the State dinner.

This displayed a selection of popular wine labels from the then budding Australian wine industry.

Above are photos from our family collection of a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation medal

Also in our family collection is a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. Christopher Alfred Dalton was awarded the Coronation medal for his contribution to the community and State of New South Wales. While we have not been able to verify when it was actually presented, it has been suggested that the Coronation medal was actually presented by Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II to my grandfather, Christopher Alfred Dalton.

The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation medal was a commemorative medal struck to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2nd June 1953. 138,214 medals were struck for presentation throughout the Commonwealth, of this total, 11,561 were presented to Australians.

Next month we will report on another trip to Sydney and a visit to the Curator of one of the museums, again in search of more information on my Dalton family.

Cheerio for now and Tom and I wish you all a wonderful month and Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers. Mothers Day in Australia is the second Sunday in May.

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

Arrival
Check in to Swallow Hotel, Samlesbury. Evening meal available at the hotel.

Saturday 22nd August 2009

9.30am

Meet at Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society, Library & Research Centre, 2 Straits, Oswaldtwistle, BB5 3LU

10.00am

Demonstration of DGS website and other internet resources on the Library's computers.

10.45am

Break for coffee and biscuits.

11.00am

Annual General Meeting of The Dalton Genealogical Society.

12.30pm

Lunchtime - Lancashire potato pie

2.15pm

Meet at Queen St. Mill, Harle Syke, Burnley

5.00pm

Leave Queen St. Mill to return to hotel

7.00pm

Informal reception at the Swallow Hotel, Samlesbury.

7.30pm

The Dalton Genealogical Society AGM Dinner, with a Lancashire flavour.

Sunday 23rd August 2009

1.00pm

Mid-day meal at Thurnham Hall (Paid for individually on the day)

afternoon

Afternoon walk to Cockersand Abbey Chapter House

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

Our Chairman Michael Dalton attended the 30th Annual Conference of the Guild of One Name Studies, held in Peterborough, UK over the weekend of Friday 17th to Sunday 19th April 2009. Here he reports on this event.

The last Guild Annual Conference that I attended was three years ago, so it was with particular pleasure that I looked forward to going to Peterborough and the Thorpe Wood Holiday Inn this year. As a member of the original committee that formed the Guild back in 1979, I always enjoy meeting one namers (or GOONS as we are affectionately called) old and new. Over the years the Guild has developed into a substantial and very professionally run organisation and the annual conference is an important component of this. This year was special because the conference celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the formation of the Guild and the ten founder members present, including me, were presented with commemorative Certificates of Appreciation, which are in recognition of our status as founder members of the Guild and in appreciation of 30 years of continuous membership.

Aptly, the theme of the conference was “Pearls of Wisdom”, and the programme included many. Friday evening started with a light hearted talk by Howard Benbrook, the Guild’s Bookstall Manager, entitled “Finding your way around London”. Howard’s ancestors come from London and he provided a walk through many of the lesser known sources of information, illustrating them with a wealth of extracts and anecdotal stories based on his experience of using them. We were definitely off to a good start!

First up on Saturday morning’s agenda was the Guild AGM. Following an upbeat report from Peter Walker, the Chairman, and the usual routine business, the eagerly awaited results of the new Guild Publications Awards were announced by Anne Shankland, the Guild’s webmaster. With 106 entries, the panel had a difficult task. There were 44 websites entered including ours, and although ours was not placed in the first three, I know that we stand comparison with the best. Other categories for awards included periodicals, books, videos and blogs.

After coffee there were two sessions, John Titterton with a talk entitled “Records before the Tudors – what chance?” and Ian Waller‘s “Researching before Parish Registers”. Both talks covered their topics in a very professional and thorough way and I learnt of many new sources which will be of value to the DGS with our substantial interest in researching earlier Dalton families. In the afternoon we were treated to an entertaining talk on interpreting family photographs and advice on getting to grips with old handwriting, always a difficult task. These were followed by a choice of workshops on dating family photographs and reading old documents. In the evening, the Guild laid on a reception and a splendid banquet which was much enjoyed by all.

Sunday’s first talk was about the use of coroners’ records in family history research and given by Kathy Chater. Again there was a wealth of entertaining illustrative examples and I felt that this is another source that the DGS should look at more closely. We then moved to two presentations from findmypast.com who have managed the digitisation of the 1911 Census. Ian Tester talked about the task that faced findmypast.com when they were awarded the contract to undertake this massive project. He was followed by his colleague, Debra Chatfield, who talked about the practical aspects of exploring the 1911 Census now that it is available online.

The closing session of the conference on Sunday afternoon was given by Paul Millington, a member of the Guild Executive and former Vice-Chairman. Those who attended the DGS Worcester Gathering in 2007 will remember Paul as our guest at the Annual Dinner. Paul looked back over the 30 years of the Guild, and shared his thoughts about what might happen in the world of one name studies over the next 30 years. His talk was very well prepared and thought provoking. Such is the pace of change in family history that we all need to keep abreast of the many developments now under way, and those to come.

With 180 delegates. a first class programme and an excellent hotel to look after us all, the Guild can again count its conference as a resounding success. There was a good atmosphere throughout the weekend and ample opportunity to socialise with other delegates and enjoy the exhibits and bookstall as well. So, congratulations to the organising committee and particularly to Kirsty Gray, the Guild Secretary, who brought it all together.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Guild of One Name Studies, a visit to their excellent website at www.one-name.org is recommended.

From Gerry Dalton and Tom Wood

A friend in England who knows we collect anything Dalton sent us this headstone photo that they took in the cemetery in Itchingfield. The photo was taken on a frosty winter morning.

Whose ancestors are Catherine and William Edward Dalton?

From David Preston, Las Vegas, USA

The James W. Dalton Highway, usually Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11) is a 414-mile (666 km) road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oilfields. Once called the North Slope Haul Road (a name by which it is still sometimes known), it was built as a supply road to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1974.

The highway, which directly parallels the pipeline, is one of the most isolated roads in the United States. There are only three 'towns' along the route: Coldfoot (population 13) at Mile 175, Wiseman (population 22) at Mile 188, and Deadhorse (25 permanent residents, 3,500–5,000 or more depending on oil production) at the end of the highway at Mile 414. Gas is available at the Yukon River bridge (Mile 56), as well as Coldfoot and Deadhorse.

Despite its remoteness, the Dalton Highway carries a good amount of truck traffic: about 160 trucks daily in the summer months and 250 trucks daily in the winter. The highway comes to within a few miles of the Arctic Ocean. Beyond the highway's terminus at Deadhorse are private roads owned by oil companies, which are restricted to authorized vehicles only. There are, however, commercial tours that take people to the Arctic Ocean. All vehicles must take extreme precaution when driving on the road, and drive with headlights on at all times. There are quite a few steep grades (up to 12%) along the route, as well.

It is named for James Dalton, an Alaska-born engineer who supervised construction of the Distant Early Warning Line in Alaska and, as an expert in Arctic engineering, served as consultant in early oil exploration in northern Alaska.

Sign for Dalton Highway

Where the Dalton Highway Ends

From Gerry Dalton

In Oct 2008 we sent in an article on an Aussie boxer, Don Dalton. Anyway to cut a long story short.......we all need to remember we never actually know who is going to read something we send into D in H. I always try to give the source of the info, and I am really glad I did in this case! I received the following email from my cousin Pat Barlow (Pat attended the Orange Gathering) Pat's brothers were both journalists and the following was a real surprise. This is an excerpt from John Philps email to his sister Pat:

"Had a quick look at the Dalton site and was amazed to find a news story I wrote when I was on the Mount Isa Mail 47 years ago. The reference to it was in an article by Gerry Dalton in the October 2008 edition of Daltons in History.

It was a story previewing a night of boxing at Kruschnitt Park in which a boxer named Don Dalton took part. I am 99% sure I wrote the article and can remember attending the fights. I think Don Dalton was part Aboriginal.

I look forward to reading more of the site when I get more time."

From Karen Dalton Preston, Secretary for North America

We start this month with sad news of the death of one of our members' mother as the following e-mail explains:

From: "Dianne Jackman" <djackman@warp.nfld.net>
Date: April 23, 2009 11:55:56 AM PDT
To: "'Karen Preston'" <karen@golden-hills.com>
Subject: RE: Mom's passing


Hi Karen.

It would be nice if you could put an obituary in for Mom.

BYRNE, Madeline Mary (nee Dalton) - Passed peacefully away, surrounded by her loving family, on Monday, April 20, 2009, age 84 years. Predeceased by her parents, William Dalton and Margaret Mealey, sisters: Helen Dalton, Mary Skinner and Viola Greene. Left with fond and loving memories her children; Dianne Jackman (Neal), Judy, Carol Pratt, Bobbi Gosse, Kelly, John (Hilary); seven grand children and seven great grand children; sisters: Betty Murphy, Eileen Millacci (John) and Carmelita Furlong; brothers: Billy Dalton (Gloria), Frank Dalton (Dot) and Walter Dalton (Carolyn); as well as a large circle of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Thank you.

Dianne

Notes from the North American Secretary:

I am pleased to announce that we have selected a venue for the 2011 DGS Gathering! We will be meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah on the weekend of October 14-16, 2011. Many of you may be familiar with Salt Lake City as the home of the Family History Library, and may want to plan some time there for personal research, too.

Map of the USA showing Salt Lake City's Location

Salt Lake City is also located on the edge of the beautiful Wasatch Ridge of the Rocky Mountains, and was home to the Winter Olympics in 2001.

Map of Salt Lake City

While the preparations are in the early stages, I must thank members Rodney Dalton and Arthur Whittaker for quickly stepping forward to assist with the planning of the event. They will both be instrumental in making sure that the Gathering in Salt Lake City will be a memorable event! So, a huge THANK YOU!!!

Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree - June 26, 27, 28, 2009

The DGS has been invited to attend the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in Burbank, California in June. This year's meeting is focused on family history research in the British Isles. I will be attending, and the DGS will have flyers available at the event to help publicize our organization.

If you live in or near Southern California, or are planning a trip to the Los Angeles area in June, I hope you will plan to attend. For more information on the event, and to view the complete schedule of the conference sessions, speakers and exhibitors, please visit their web site at http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2009jam-home.htm

I look forward to meeting many of you there!

Irish Times - Notices of Births, Marriages and Deaths 1859-2006

The Irish Times newspapers have been the news source for Dubliners, and other residents of Ireland, since its founding in 1859. The newspaper is celebrating its 150 year anniversary. To commemorate this special event, the Irish Times web site made its entire digital archive available for free for a limited time. I took advantage of this special, limited access to transcribe the notices of births,marriages and deaths that mentioned a Dalton. I have recorded over 250 events, which is now available as an addition to the Dalton Data Bank at http://www.daltondatabank.org/irish_times.htm

The listings are not limited to Ireland; you will find notices from England, Australia and Kenya. Some examples of what you will find are:

1861 - "Marriages - FEGAN - DALTON -- August 19, 1861, in Edgeworthstown Chapel, Sergeant James Fegan, late of the 18th Royal Irish, now Instructor of Musketry, on the Longford Staff, to Alice Jane, third daughter of Mr. J. Dalton, of Edgeworthstown."

1905 - "Births - D'ALTON -- May 15, 1905, at 11 Edenvale road, Ranelagh, to John R and Anna D'Alton, a daughter."

1907 - "Deaths - D'ALTON -- On the 27th December last [1906], at Melbourne, Edward, the beloved husband of Ann D'Alton, Dennis street, Northcote, Melbourne, second eldest son of the late William D'Alton, 11 Stephen's Green, Dublin, and brother of John D'Alton, Peel street, West Melbourne, age 54 years. R.I.P."

1951 - "Marriages - GRANT - DALTON -- March 31, 1951, at the Cathedral of the Highlands, Nairobi [Kenya], Malcolm, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. David Grant, of Highgate, London, to Joan, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Dalton of Nairobi"

2002 - "Deaths - DALTON -- (Lacknallooha, Mallow, Co. Cork) -- May 4, 2002, in the presence of his loving family, Andrew (Andy) (late C.I.E) in his 84th year, husband and best friend of Nellie and devoted father of Michael, Anne, Kieran and the late Ted; sadly missed by his loving wife, family, brother Jack, son-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and friends. Removal this (Monday) evening at 7 o'c from O'Connell's Funeral Home, St. James Avenue, Mallow, to St. Mary's Church. Funeral tomorrow (Tuesday) after 12 noon Mass to St Gobnaits Cemetery."

DDB News Feed

We have added a News Feed to the DDB which will automatically inform those who subscribe about new and updated entries to the DDB. To subscribe, simply click on the "Subscribe to our News Feed for automatic update announcements" link on the DDB Home page and follow the instructions presented by your web browser.

When new updates or additions are published, you will be automatically informed.

NB: Windows XP and Explorer 6 at minimum are required. Any version Mac OS X.

Automatic Forum Notifications

The Dalton Forum has a feature that will automatically send an email when someone posts or replies to a topic in the various Categories. To automatically receive email notices, go to http://daltonamericas.org/messageboard/ and click on a Category that you wish to monitor. On the right-hand side of the screen, click on the NOTIFY link, and accept the automatic notification action.

Web Statistics

The Dalton Data Bank continues to enjoy a rising popularity amongst web surfers. As of April 30th, 2009, we have had over 32,178 visitors since December of 2008. In the month of April we enjoyed an additional 6,845 new visitors to the site.

Since we launched the revised DDB in December 2008, 54% of the site visits have been from the UK, 31% from the USA, 6% from Australia, 4% from Ireland, 2% from Canada, 2% from New Zealand and the balance of 1% are from the rest of the world. You can track the growth of the DDB readership at http://www.daltondatabank.org/Visitors.htm which is updated monthly.

In closing, April has been a sad month for North American members, and my Group D genetic cousins. Madeline Mary Byrne, nee Dalton, the mother of member Dianne Jackman, in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, passed away on April 20th (See obituary above).

Also, I regret to say that member Ann deLargie D'Alton in Australia, who is a member of Genetic Family D, sadly lost her fiance Richard. My thoughts and prayers are with them both.

With warm regards,
Karen Dalton Preston
Secretary for Norh America

Thank you to all who have contributed to the May 2009 issue of “Daltons in History” which is a bumper issue with lots to keep you interested. Mel and I hope you are all keeping well and that those of you who have been travelling around the world are home safe and sound.

We were glad to see that everyone enjoyed the Gathering in Orange and, this is reflected in the comments and photographs for all to see in this month's issue of "Daltons in History".

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 June issue need to be with me no later than 25th May 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.