Introduction

As always, greetings to all readers of “Daltons in History!”

November has been yet another busy month for the DGS. We have continued to work on the arrangements for future gatherings and on our DNA project, and below you will find information about these together with the usual updates to keep you fully informed about everything that the DGS is doing.

First it is my pleasant duty to wish all readers of “Daltons in History” a very Happy Christmas. The DGS officers and committee members all join me in hoping that it will be a peaceful and enjoyable time for you and your families.

I am also very pleased to announce a new appointment to the DGS committee. Mike Dalton from Norfolk has joined us as a co-opted committee member. Mike and his wife Kate (not to be confused with myself and my wife Kate!) live in the village of Southburgh, near Thetford. Mike is a member of genetic family B in the Dalton DNA project, which means that he shares ancestry with, among others, Wendy Fleming and Helen Smith in Australia, and Daveda Bundy and Cecelia Lange in the United States. Mike’s own Dalton line has been traced back to Athea in Co Limerick. Mike’s business experience, and his interests in history and military science, will be of great value to the Society and we are all looking forward to working with him. He will be proposed for election as a full committee member at the 2011 AGM.

Future DGS events

On Saturday 19th February 2011, Maureen Collins is planning a one day meeting for our Australian members which will take place in Sydney. If you would like to attend, you are asked to contact Maureen by email as soon as possible (mmcollins@ozemail.com.au), indicating your interest.

The DGS Annual General Meeting for 2011 will be held here in the UK on Saturday 18th June. This will be a one day event hosted by Geoffrey and Jane Dalton at their home in Catherington, Hampshire. Some of you will remember that the 2006 AGM was hosted by Geoffrey and Jane on a glorious summer’s day and we hope that, five years later, the weather will be as kind! The AGM will be held in the morning, a buffet lunch will be served and there will be a talk in the afternoon by DGS member, Martin Griffiths, who will speak to us on his Dalton family, the Church Lawford Daltons, about whom he has written a couple of articles in DGS Journals Vol 48 (Jun 08) and Vol 52 (Jun 10). The detailed programme for the day, together with a booking form, will now be found in the “Forthcoming Gatherings” section of this website, and there will be a flyer with all the details, enclosed with Volume 53 of the DGS Journal due to be published this month.

The DGS Annual Gathering for 2011 is to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA over the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 23rd/24th/25th September 2011. This will be a very special event and the gathering organiser is our North American Secretary, Karen Dalton Preston. At the 40th Anniversary Gathering and AGM, Karen gave us a taster of what is in store, and her team have now put more detailed plans in place. Information can be found in the “Forthcoming Gatherings” section of this website and you can sign up for a regular email newsletter to keep you informed as further details become available.

For the 2012 Gathering and AGM it is planned that we will return to Yorkshire over the weekend of 27th/28th/29th July 2012. We will be making a more detailed announcement about the venue and programme early next 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. Over the gathering weekend this summer, Karen Preston and I were able to discuss with Chris our priorities for further reporting and the format for these reports. It has been agreed that the emphasis will now be on providing updated reports for each individual genetic family. The first of these, for genetic family A, is about to be published and, with the template for these reports now established, the remainder will follow over the period running through to June 2011. The project now has approaching 170 participants and more details will be found in a separate DIDP update included in this issue of “Daltons in History”.

The DGS Journal

Volume 53 of the DGS Journal for December 2010 is in the final stages of preparation. Our editor, John Dalton, is busy putting the finishing touches to the master copy in readiness for it to go to the printers. At the time of writing the date for posting out the journal to members is not finalised, but DGS members should certainly see it early in January and hopefully before.

As always, John 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.

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 given for Volumes 42 to 52 and the full synopses will be uploaded 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 in the New Year at the beginning of January.

Thank you for your attention, and again a very Happy Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year to you all.

Yours very sincerely

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

The third instalment of this personal account of the history of the Dalton Genealogical Society by Michael Dalton was published here in “Daltons in History” last month. In this fourth instalment, Michael moves into the 1980s when the Society’s newly strengthened committee widened the reach of the Society and more gatherings were held.

The success of the first DGS Gathering in 1979 spurred on the newly elected committee to take the Society forward into the 1980s. Just a few weeks after our first Gathering the committee held its first meeting on Sunday 23rd September, 1979 at our then home in Waterlow Road, Reigate. With myself elected as Chairman and Patrick as Secretary & Treasurer, we agreed that I would continue as editor of the journal, that Penny would take the minutes of our committee meetings, that Dick would write an article or two for the Journal and help Patrick with setting up a Dalton Index, and that Joyce would prepare articles for the journal and undertake Dalton family history research. In her covering letter to me with the minutes, Penny wrote that she had “tried to trim their length as much as possible and Roger (her husband in the diplomatic service) flatteringly compared them with Cabinet Office minutes (if you please!), but do not hesitate to correct me where wrong and to indicate future format”. Reading them again today, I am impressed with their clarity and they certainly set a template for the committee minutes, which survived through and has been enhanced by succeeding minute takers.

The committee met again in November and then four times during 1980. I found our meetings invaluable and it was really good to be able to share what I wanted to do with others. However, it did take a while for us to settle into a mode of working and, if I am honest, to start with I found it quite hard to delegate tasks. Bearing in mind that I was juggling a demanding job, and a growing family and home, with running the DGS, there was never quite enough time to do all the things that I wanted to do. There were delays in producing the Journal so Volume 9 No 1 appeared in the summer of 1980 with No 2 at the end of that year. In their different ways Patrick, Joyce, Dick and Penny all made substantial contributions to the work of the Society and we learnt to work together as a team. The results were very encouraging with excellent articles in the journal – a write up by Dick on the first British Family History Conference which he attended (it was organised by the Federation in Bedford); an article by Patrick on the Daltons of Holderness; one by Penny about Sir Llewelyn Chisholm Dalton and another by Dick about Lawrence Dalton, Norroy King of Arms. Meanwhile Joyce took on the task of organising and hosting the second DGS Gathering, to be held at her home in Brighton on 17th May, 1981. In addition we agreed a number of research projects and grappled with our responsibilities as a fully constituted society affiliated to both the Federation and as a founder member to the Guild. It is hard to believe what we achieved without all the facilities provided by computers and the internet that we enjoy today.

DGS Committee Meeting held at the Chairman’s home in Reigate, Surrey in August 1980

Michael Dalton, Penny Barltrop, Patrick Dalton, Joyce Parker & Dick Hamilton

In September 1979, Kate and I had been able to revisit Thurnham Hall and Hoghton Tower in Lancashire. By then the restoration work on both houses had been completed, and they were both open to the general public. It was fascinating to meet Stanley and Olive Crabtree, the owners of Thurnham Hall, and Sir Bernard Hoghton at Hoghton Tower and see the wonderful restoration work that had been undertaken.

In February 1980, I attended the first official conference of the Guild of One Name Studies, held at the same Leicester venue as the 1978 event organised by the Federation. It felt good to be part of the Guild and a founder member and I strengthened friendships with many one namers, a number of which I still enjoy 30 years on.

In the autumn of 1980 I was able to make two visits to South Wales, the second one with Joyce. We visited Kidwelly, Pembrey, Swansea and the Gower where our Dalton ancestors had lived for over two hundred years from 1651 and the flight from the Civil War battlefield at Worcester. This was my first sight of the gravestone of my direct ancestor, James Dalton born 1650 and died 1721.

And so now we turn to the second DGS Gathering at Joyce’s Brighton home in May 1981. For me Joyce was a major source of family history data relating to all the descendants of John Dalton and Hannah Neale. She knew about everybody! And her home, where she had lived since childhood, was a sort of Dalton museum, full of fascinating family memorabilia collected over 60 years or more. I knew that all who attended the Gathering would enjoy seeing this wonderful collection, and it is sad to think that when Joyce died in 1995, so much of this Dalton heritage was sold at auction and dispersed.

The 1981 DGS Gathering held at the home of Joyce Parker in Brighton, Sussex in May 1981

Roger Barltrop admires an exhibit with
Joyce Parker and Dick Hamilton looking on
Sally Young and Penny Barltrop
talking with William Young and Lucy Young
Dick Hamilton, Dan & Biddy Lysons, Paul Wayne Jones and Colin Walker

We all enjoyed the day immensely and at the AGM Morag Simpson, another cousin of mine, was elected to the committee. We had been informed by Penny, that Roger was about to be posted abroad and this would mean her retirement as a committee member. She agreed to remain until their departure. Another decision of the meeting raised the subscription from £3 to £4 per year. This was a sign of the times and reminds me of inflation at 20% per annum and the crippling interest payments on my mortgage!

In October 1981, our son James was born, a brother for Julia, by then three and a half years old. Reporting this event two months later in my letter from the editor in DGSJ Vol 10 No 2, I wrote:

James is now a healthy two month old lad spending most of his time eating and sleeping and sometimes I have really envied him when I have struggled against the elements these past three weeks. For those of you overseas, we have experienced the worst snow and cold weather here in Britain that anyone can remember before Christmas. I am sure you will have read about it.

Well history has a happy knack of repeating itself and the weather here in the south of east of England in late November/early December 2010 has been very similar. The only difference is that James is now a healthy 29 year old man, still eating and sleeping, but also living a busy life working for Shell, based in The Hague over in The Netherlands!

In 1982, the DGS committee had to cope with a number of changes. In addition to Penny’s departure to Fiji, where Roger was appointed British High Commissioner, Patrick had to resign as Secretary and Treasurer due to ill health, although continuing as a committee member. This meant I had to take these tasks back under my wing. Despite this blow, we were able to continue producing the journal and Morag undertook to arrange the third DGS Gathering to take place in Lancashire and visit Thurnham Hall in July 1983. Dick Hamilton took over the minuting of our frequent committee meetings. In my letter from the editor in DGSJ Vol 11 No 1, I see that I wrote that the family is now even more demanding with young James now eight and a half months and crawling into everything including the DGS files! It’s a wonder that anything has survived from these times to enable me to write this record. It was in May 1983 that we moved house from Waterlow Road on the south side of Reigate, to Harewood Close on the north side. I remember this was quite a major upheaval – it’s amazing how much a family of four accumulates. Even though we were not moving far, everything still had to packed up and unpacked, including all the DGS files. Those files survived this trauma as well!

The Lancashire Gathering was based at the University of Lancaster, conveniently situated very close by for our visit to Thurnham Hall and other local places of Dalton interest. Morag made excellent arrangements and the accompanying photographs show a little of what was our first weekend event “away from home”. A particular feature of this Gathering was meeting many new faces, among them Lucy Slater, who was elected to the committee, Howard Dalton from Yorkshire, Antony Cox, Pamela Richards, and Dorothy Dyke (all later to become committee members), and John Dalton (now editor of the DGS journal). The photographs below capture a little of the event and, for those who have seen the rather poor quality black and white pictures of 27 years ago in DGSJ Vol 12 No 2, you will enjoy these rather sharper colour images.

The 1983 DGS Gathering held at Lancaster in July 1983

Dinner held at the University of Lancaster
Group outside the Hall of Residence where we stayed
The Front of Thurnham Hall
Tony Cox with Stanley and Olive Crabtree
Cockersand Abbey and wind-pruned tree

The 1983 Gathering was a landmark event for the DGS, bringing new blood into the organisation which was to be so important to us over the coming years. I will elaborate on this further in Part 5 of these recollections, to be published in the next issue of “Daltons in History”.

During her many years as General Secretary of the DGS, Lucy Slater accumulated a vast quantity of documentation and correspondence relating to Dalton family history. Following her death in June 2008, no less than 16 arch files full of documents were passed to Michael Dalton together with an index of their contents. Michael has been delving into these archives and this is the third of a series of articles for “Daltons in History”, in which he shares some of this material with readers, this time from arch file number 3.

Index to File 3

The Index of Dalton Documents, Vol 1 listed 105 separate documents and Vol 2 listed 94. In Vol 3 we find another 60 documents. These relate to Daltons in several English counties including Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Suffolk, Warwickshire and Yorkshire; and a few to Alaska. For this article, I have again selected several particular items of interest to bring to the attention of the reader.

Doc 0119J – First draft of paper on Norfolk Daltons by L J Slater with family trees

The paper relates to a Dalton family residing in King’s Lynn. The family tree starts with Francis Dalton of Wiggenhall St Germain (d 1564), married to Margaret, by whom he had a son, John Dalton of King’s Lynn, a baker. John married Anne ? and they had a large family. The tree is constructed from information contained in five wills, transcribed for Lucy by Margaret Bone. Tantalisingly the typescript draft runs from pages 1 to 5, and then page 9 suggesting there was more. At the end is reference to Daltons in Wimbotsham and also in Swaffham. On checking the DGS Journal Index, I find that the completed article was published in DGSJ Vol 30 (May 1999), and a very comprehensive article it is too. It demonstrates the skills that Lucy developed to turn raw material into a highly readable article for the journal. She always undertook extensive research and used resources, such as the transcription of early wills by Margaret Bone, to the full.

Doc 200B – 1995 articles about the Dalton Highway in Anchorage Daily News

Doc 200C – 1995 letters from Millicent Craig, Morag Simpson & Dalton Eash about the Dalton Highway and Alaskan Daltons

Doc 200D – 1995 article “Dalton Highway to Deadhorse” in The Millpost

Doc 200E – 1995 letter from Edward V Dalton and article about Jack Dalton

Doc 200F - 1995 letter from Nancy Samuelson and article “The year the Klondike almost starved” referring to Jack Dalton

Doc 200G – 1995 draft of article by Morag Simpson on the Dalton Highway

This set of documents constitutes the research papers and correspondence from which Morag prepared her article “The Dalton Highway, Alaska, USA”, which was published in DGSJ Vol 26 (June 1997). The letters are interesting and show how several DGS members on both sides of the Atlantic cooperated to provide material for this article about a major highway opened in 1994 and named after James William Dalton. The family history conundrum is to ascertain more about James William and from where he came. It appears that he may have been descended from Jack Dalton, a Klondike and Yukon gold rush pioneer, who himself originated from Oklahoma and was born Jack Miller. During his illustrious earlier career as a cowboy, gunfighter, logger, seaman, trader and miner, Miller found himself in trouble on more than one occasion and changed his name. So James William Dalton may not be a Dalton at all, but I suspect there is more of this story to be told than appeared in Morag’s article. And we have the research papers in the archive!

Doc 0200H and following – letters, family trees and draft articles about the Bedfordshire Daltons by Betty Wilks

Betty Wilks, with assistance from Lucy, undertook detailed research of her Bedfordshire Dalton forebears, following the death of her husband, Peter, in 1993. Peter had himself taken a considerable interest in his wife’s family taping the family recollections of Betty’s father. The result was a series of no less than four articles appearing in DGSJ Vols 25 (November 1996), 26 (June 1997), 28 (May 1998), 30 (May 1999), starting with Matthew Dalton, born in 1658 in the village of Shillington. Again we have the research papers, including extensive handwritten family trees, in the archives. The trees were prepared by Betty Wilks, and have been annotated extensively by Lucy with further information that she had found.

Doc 0202 – Will of Robert Dalton, of Bristol 1638

Doc 0203 – Will of Peter Dalton, brickmaker of St Phillips, Gloucester, 1736

Doc 0204 – Will of William Dalton, mariner of Bristol 1741

Doc 0205 – Will of John Dalton, brickmaker of St Phillips, Gloucester, 1757

Doc 0206 – Will of James Dalton, brickmaker of St Phillips, Gloucester, 1767

Doc 0207 – Will & codicil of Elizabeth Dalton, widow of St Phillips, Gloucester, 1769

All of these are photocopies of original hand written wills, the last extending to no less than 17 A3 pages in a beautiful italic hand.

Docs 0208, 0208A-F, 0209A-M – Papers, letters and articles relating to the Daltons of Cucklington, Somerset and the Grant-Daltons of Brodsworth Hall, Yorkshire and other related families.

This is the archive of material used by Lucy for her articles about these families in DGSJ Vol 27 (November 1997) and Vol 29 (November 1998). It is extensive and I have just picked out one anecdotal item from a letter written to Lucy by Dick Hamilton in June 1995. The letter commends Lucy on the excellent production of DGSJ Vol 23 (May 1995) and, inter alia refers to MN&Q 23.3 where Lucy talks of the Grant-Daltons and her plans for future articles. Dick writes:

I am not sure whether you are a member of English Heritage, but the current, June issue of their magazine contains an illustrated article on the restoration of Brodsworth Hall in Yorkshire, which mentions Mrs Sylvia Grant-Dalton in two places. In the first place it says ‘Mrs Sylvia Grant-Dalton (Pamela Williams’s mother, who lived at Brodsworth for 57 years until here death in 1988) had washbasins plumbed into many of the bedrooms and the walls painted in plain colours’. In the second place it says ‘Staffing levels gradually declined to seven in the 1930s and to two in the 1950s. By the end of its life as a private house, there was only one resident member of staff, a chef-butler, who looked after the frail Sylvia Grant-Dalton, the only other occupant in the 50 roomed house.

What a sad commentary, but the decline of the great houses of the 18th and 19th centuries was all too common place in the mid-20th century. It is good to know that Brodsworth Hall has been saved and restored by English Heritage and this is a place that I still have to visit – I am sure it will be very interesting and worthwhile.

Conclusion

Once again, with the time and space available, these notes can only give an indication of what a wealth of information is contained in this file. It forms an important supplement to many published articles in the DGS Journal. The DGS is very fortunate to have had such in depth research undertaken in order to prepare these articles, and the supporting archive is a valuable source of additional material for anyone interested in resuming and adding to the research already undertaken.

This month’s “Notes from the Chairman” refer to this further update as the project takes new steps forward. Here Michael Dalton, the DIDP Coordinator, gives the latest summary of progress to date.

During November, Chris Pomery, Karen Preston and I have reviewed the whole project and brought in new participants identified to us by the Dalton America Project and from the Dalton DNA project set up with Ancestry.com. This has resulted in an expansion of DIDP to nearly 170 participants. It has also seen the creation of three new genetic families (K, Q & W), and the merging of genetic family I into genetic family A. Thus we now have a total of 15 genetic families and currently there are 31 singletons – this means the proportion of singletons in the overall project is still well under 20%, and remarkably low for a project of this type. We have continued to maintain a high success rate for new project members finding matches with existing project participants.

It has been agreed that we should now concentrate more on the individual genetic families. We have therefore commenced the publication of a series of reports, one for each genetic family, as follows:

• December 2010 – Report for genetic family A (being distributed to members of GF A now)
• This will be followed by those for genetic families B, C, D, F, W and Z to be completed by the end of February 2011
• Finally, between March and June 2011, reports for genetic families E, G, H, J, K, Q, X and Y will appear, with a separate report covering singletons.

With the template that has been created for the GF A report, the format of these documents has now been established and each one will include more comprehensive data on the earliest known Dalton ancestors (name, dates and location) for each participant; a phylogenetic tree, which Chris introduced to us in his presentation at the 2010 gathering; and recommendations for further documentary and DNA research. Each report will also include an introductory section giving an overview of the project as a whole and the more general key conclusions to date; and appendices with an explanation of the DNA process and, for most reports, a table of marker differences from the modal values for the particular genetic family.

During November we have circulated by email a fully updated list of project participants to all members of the project. This arranges all DIDP participants by genetic family and gives the number of markers tested, email addresses and other details. We have invited participants to notify us of any corrections or additions to be made, and we will shortly be issuing a final version of this document.

In determining the sequence for the publication of the reports, we have taken into account the size of each genetic family and the amount of change since Issue 3 of the DIDP Progress Report issued in October 2009. Priority has been given to the larger genetic families and those where there has been more change in terms of new participants and upgrading of markers. Inevitably some genetic families will have to wait longer than others for their report and, of course, if there are significant developments ahead of the report becoming available to you, we will endeavour to keep you informed about these. This is where the role of genetic family coordinator will take on an increasing importance, and we will rely on them to be your first point of contact. We still have a number of coordinators to be appointed and the list is reproduced below with the request that volunteers come forward to fill the gaps.

Genetic Family

Co-ordinator

Email Address

A

Karen Dalton Preston

karen@golden-hills.com

B

Michael Francis Dalton

mfdalton@btconnect.com

C

Michael Neale Dalton

michaelndalton@aol.com

D

Karen Dalton Preston

karen@golden-hills.com

E

Millicent Craig

millicenty@aol.com

F

to be appointed

 

G

to be appointed

 

H
to be appointed  

J

to be appointed

 

K

to be appointed

 

Q
to be appointed  

W

to be appointed

 

X
to be appointed  

Y

John Dalton

johndalton78@hotmail.com

Z

Howard John Dalton

h.dalton1@ntlworld.com

Singletons

Michael Neale Dalton

michaelndalton@aol.com

It is some while since we provided an updated overview of the project as a whole and the identified genetic families for readers of the DGS website. Below you will find such an update.

GENERAL UPDATE ON THE DALTON INTERNATIONAL DNA PROJECT (DIDP) December 2010

Introduction

The Dalton International DNA Project (DIDP) commenced in May 2003. Since then, three comprehensive DIDP Progress Reports have been published, the third of which appeared in October 2009. This took account of the results of tests for 126 participants. At that time 13 genetic families had been identified and 21 of the participants were classified as singletons, in other words they did not appear to be members of any of the identified genetic families.

General observations

The project has been expanded since October 2009 in two ways. 34 new participants have been added to the project and many tests have been upgraded to either 37 or 67 markers. We have also identified three new genetic families and merged one into another.

Of course, the project is very much an ongoing one and we continue to need new participants, particularly from known Dalton families with roots in various English counties. It is open for any male with the surname of Dalton to come forward and join the project and, if you wish to participate, you should contact either myself (michaelndalton@aol.com) or Karen Preston (karen@golden-hills.com) as the project administrators, and we will be pleased to discuss what is involved in more detail. Alternatively, you can visit the Family Tree DNA website using this link:

www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Dalton-International

and join the project immediately by ordering a 37 marker Y-DNA test.

R1b1b2 Haplogroup Genetic Families

A substantial majority of the project participants are categorised in R1b1b2 haplogroup genetic families. For a more detailed explanation of haplogroups and other aspects of genetic genealogy go to www.daltongensoc.com/dnaproject/text.html#4, where the DNA process is described more fully. The R haplogroup families are as follows:

Genetic Family A – coordinator Karen Dalton Preston

This group now has 55 participants. 28 of these are at 67 markers and another 17 at 37 markers. 5 participants do not carry the Dalton surname or a variant. The group is traced back to the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, USA and the key issue remains to determine who the first immigrant(s) were in the 17th century and from where they came. The Niall link suggests possible Irish descent and further research continues to focus on this. Karen Preston, who coordinates this group is working very closely with Melanie Crain from the Dalton America DNA Project on more detailed documentary research of the various lines within the group.

Genetic Family B – coordinator Michael Francis Dalton

There are now 16 participants in this group, 3 at 67 markers and 11 at 37 markers. Two participants do not carry the Dalton surname. The group originates from the counties of Meath, Westmeath, Leitrim and Limerick in Ireland and further work is being coordinated by new DGS committee member, Mike Dalton, who has recently taken this role over from Wendy Fleming.

Genetic Family C – coordinator Michael Neale Dalton

There are now 6 participants in this group, 5 at 67 and one at 37 markers. The family originates from Carmarthenshire, South Wales in the 17th century with a link back to Oxfordshire, and possible links back to Lancashire in the 13th century.

Genetic Family D – coordinator Karen Dalton Preston

With 21 participants, this is the second largest group in DIDP. There are 10 participants at 67 markers, and 8 at 37. One does not carry the Dalton surname. This is another Irish Dalton family which is distinct from Group B. Lines have been traced back to Tipperary, Clare, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.

Genetic Family E – coordinator Millicent Craig

This group with origins in Lancashire, England has three participants, all at 37 markers.

Genetic Family F

There are now 4 participants, with one at 67 markers and two at 37. This group has English origins with London and Kent identified. Some singletons may be eligible for inclusion in this group in due course.

Genetic Family G

This group has 5 participants with two at 67 and two at 37 markers. Their Dalton origins are in Virginia, USA and it may be that there is a link through a non-paternal event with Group A.

Genetic Family H

This group has two participants with one at 67 markers. Lines have been traced back to Berkshire and Surrey, England. The result at 25 markers needs to be upgraded to establish a definitive DNA signature for this group.

Genetic Family J

This group has 3 participants with one at 37 markers. It is the family that emigrated from Suffolk, England and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire, USA in 1635. The two 25 marker results need to be upgraded to establish a definitive DNA signature for the group.

Genetic Family K

This group has two participants, one at 67 markers. The line is traced back to Newfoundland, Canada in the early 19th century. It is thought that the family may originate from Ireland.

R1b1b2 Haplogroup singletons – coordinator Michael Neale Dalton

There are 20 participants in this category with 4 at 67 markers and 11 at 37. A number have very well documented Dalton origins and it is hoped that, in due course, matches will be found for some with new DIDP participants, thus creating new genetic families.

Q Haplogroup Genetic Families

Genetic Family Q

This is a new genetic family with two members. Origins are traced back to England.

I Haplogroup Genetic Families

Genetic Family W

There are two participants, both tested at 37 markers. This group has been separated from Group Z and has Dalton origins in Yorkshire, England.

Genetic Family X

This group has 3 participants, two at 37 markers. The origins of the family are in Virginia, USA and this may be another group which links to Group A through a non-paternal event.

Genetic Family Y – coordinator John Dalton

This group has two participants, both at 67 markers and a definitive DNA signature established for the group. The family originates from Oldham, Lancashire, England and has been well documented.

Genetic Family Z – coordinator Howard Dalton

This group has 3 participants and only one at 37 markers. Tests for the other two need to be upgraded for further conclusions to be drawn. The identified origins of the group are Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire, England.

Non-R1b Haplogroup singletons – coordinator Michael Neale Dalton

There are 11 participants in this category with 3 at 67 markers and 3 at 37. Again, a number have very well documented Dalton origins and it is hoped that, in due course, matches will be found for some with new DIDP participants, thus creating new genetic families.

Concluding note

The above information is necessarily brief. Anyone interested to have further information about any particular genetic family group is invited to contact the appropriate group coordinator. For groups without a coordinator or more general enquiries, please be in touch one of the project administrators, Michael Dalton or Karen Preston, in the first instance.

From Karen Dalton Preston, Secretary for North America

We will be sending a out a newsletter dedicated to the Gathering in Salt Lake City starting in December.

Sign-up for the 2011 Gathering Newsletter:

To keep everyone informed, we are preparing a Newsletter that will be devoted to the Gathering. The first issue is planned for this December. If you are planning to attend the Gathering, or are just interested in following the latest news about what we are planning, we invite you to subscribe now! To subscribe, go to http://www.daltonamericas.org/gathering, and click on "Subscribe to our Newsletters". You will be prompted to enter an email address and your name. You will receive a confirming email. Click on the link in the confirming email to verify your email address.

If you do not see the confirmation email, check your junk or spam folders and allow emails from gathering@daltonamericas.org (you may have to add this address to your Address Book).

If you have any difficulties with the subscribing process, please email me at karen@golden-hills.com.

From Mike Dalton, Portland, Oregon

THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY, ITS TOWNS AND CITIES
By J. P. Munro Fraser; published by Wood, Alley & Co. of San Francisco, CA 1879.

A synopsis: Alfred Dalton was born in London, England on March 13, 1830 to Charles James Dalton and Mary Elizabeth Fairthorne. He went to sea at age 13; having visited home several times. He arrived at San Francisco, CA during July, 1852 on the Clipper Ship Antelope from Boston, Massachusetts.

Maiden voyage of Clipper Ship Antelope reported by Daily Alta newspaper of San Francisco arriving on October 10, 1852 after 149 days. Boston Daily Atlas reported departure of ship from Boston on March 1, 1852. Detailed descriptions of ships built are also in this newspaper.

He worked on Sutter Slough doing gardening and chopping wood until April, 1853. He then went to Rio Vista for three weeks and then Cache Creek Slough. He came to Benicia in July, 1855. In 1859 he laid the first water line for the City of Benicia. All of these locales are on the Sacramento River Delta that extends upriver from Benicia, Solano County and Martinez, Contra Costa County to the City of Sacramento.

In 1860 he purchased a schooner and was a merchandise trader on the Sacramento River. He returned to Benicia for good on January 1, 1862. He was elected City School Director for six years in 1873. He was elected County Supervisor during September, 1878 on the Republican ticket.

He married Mary Kenny in 1857 at Benicia; she died in 1871. Their children were listed as: John H., Alfred, Willie, James C., George E. and Ella Florence, living and having lost 4 children – 1 son and three daughters. Albert Dalton remarried again to Emma Carr in August, 1873 – no issue.

Alfred Dalton’s English Genealogy

Parents: Charles James Dalton was married to Mary Elizabeth Fairthorne at Clerkenwell, St. James, Middlesex – London, England on July 7, 1818 by Dir. Richard Burnet. The witnesses were Samuel Brown and Elizabeth Heath. Note: Charles James Dalton may have been born in 1798 and died in 1846. Reference: ancestry.com

Children christened at London, England within Islington Borough, Finsbury Parish, St. Luke Old, Bride Lane: Thomas Fairthorne Dalton – 22 August, 1819; Charles Leafe Dalton – 29 April, 1821; Margaret Dalton – 22 September, 1822; Charles James Dalton – 28 November, 1824; Samuel William Dalton – 30 April, 1826; Edward Dalton – 17 February, 1828; Alfred Dalton - 25 April, 1830.
Reference: ancestry.com and Dalton Databank for England.

Solano County, California, USA Genealogy

Marriages

28 November, 1857: Alfred Dalton to Mary Seouts (Kinney) at Benicia by George H. Riddell

11 July, 1859: Samuel Dalton to Anna Moherty Given at Benicia. Note: Samuel is Alfred’s older brother.

23 August, 1873: Alfred Dalton to Emma Carr at Benicia by J. Lloyd Beck, Dir. Of St. Paul’s Church: both born England – Alfred 43 and Emma 39. Witnesses: David Dalton and W. W. Dellingham.

25 July, 1885: Alfred Dalton, Jr. to Hanna Newmark at Benicia by J. H. Winfield.

Early births from San Francisco, CA newspapers for Benicia, Solano County

30 October, 1858 - son to A. Dalton and wife

31 January, 1866 - twin sons to A. Dalton and wife

Burials at Benicia City Cemetery

Alfred Dalton b. March, 1830 London, England d. December, 1916

Emma Dalton b. July, 1833 London, England d. December, 1911

Jesse L. Dalton* b. 1896 d. 1924

Ann Dalton b. 1840 d. 1904

Mary Dalton d. 1868

Murray S. Dalton b. 1899 d. 1947

Samuel W. Dalton b. 1827 d. 1883

James C. Dalton b. 1866 d. 1882

William S. Dalton b. 1860 d. 1938

*Jesse L. Dalton in Quinn/Dalton/ McFadden plot

Burials at Dixon Cemetery

David Dalton 1836 1904: note appears as a witness to Alfred Dalton’s marriage to Emma Carr. His relationship to Alfred Dalton is unclear.

Reference to Solano County Genealogy: Dalton Databank for California – from Solano County Genealogical Society records. Additional burial details can also be found by Google search on Benicia City Cemetery and then following the links on findagrave.com

A. From Howard Dalton, Pickering, North Yorkshire, England

I am down in New Zealand and thought the following may be of interest.

DALTON ALL BLACKS

The New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union side are just finishing a tour to the British Isles and Members may be interested in the following details I have found.

Three Daltons have appeared for the All Blacks.

Doug Dalton 1913 - 1995:

Prop forward who played 9 times for his country and played his club rugby for Hawkes Bay. His first appearance for New Zealand was in December 1935 against Ireland in Dublin.

Ray A Dalton 1919 - 1997:

Another prop forward who played 2 matches for New Zealand and played his club rugby at Wellington. First appearance for New Zealand was in Brisbane in June 1947. He had previously played for New Zealand Services in England.

Andy G Dalton born 1951:

Is the son of Ray Dalton and gained 35 caps for the All Blacks. Played as hooker and was Captain of his club, Counties, when he made his debut for New Zealand in Paris in November 1977. He was All Black Captain on 17 occasions.

B. From Gerald Milner, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England

Whilst browsing the other day, I came across some information that might be of interest.

The Prior of Blyth Priory, Nottinghamshire, in 1536 was George Dalton. In that year there was a 'Visitation', when I think he was having problems with some unruly French monks, and had to send them back to Rouen!

Does anybody have any information on this person?

Some Resource Ideas

A. From Maureen Collins, Australian and New Zealand Secretary, Sydney, Australia

Google News

Regarding online newspapers, there are benefits in the Google News site for family history research. You can browse or search through all of the newspapers on this site, many of which date back to the early 1800s.

American and Canadian newspapers are included on the site, together with many French-Canadian publications. Coverage within individual newspapers varies from a single issue - such as a June 1935 issue of L'Avenir National - to thousands of issues such as the 5,597 issues of the Bangor Daily News which date from 1859 to 2008.

B. From Maureen Collins, Australian and New Zealand Secretary, Sydney, Australia

Here’s another bit of information I got from somewhere genealogical – forgotten where at the moment! It was a book I was reading I think.

www.ellisisland.org - This was of course the first port of call in the USA for many immigrants, particularly in the 19th century.

www.1837online.com - This you might know already but I had not used it.

www.jewishgen.org - These may also be of use to someone.

C. From Gerry n Tom Happytravellers, Australia

Cooee All

Another worthwhile site to check out - we have subscribed to it and the weekly information is great.

Check out this website. It is well worth subscribing to: http://www.genealogyintime.com/genealogy_resources.html

The Advanced Searches section is quite helpful.

We've found lots of helpful stuff on this site.

D. From Mel Irwin, DGS Treasurer, Bolton, Lancashire, England

Why not try the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site for information on relatives lost during war. The information contained can be very surprising and helpful. See the example below - my Great Uncle Edward Charles Dalton b.1902 in Tipperary, Ireland.

Name: DALTON, EDWARD CHARLES
Initials: E C
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lieutenant (A)
Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: H.M.S. Goshawk.
Age: 39
Date of Death: 24/02/1942
Additional information: Son of Joseph and Mary Ann Dalton; husband of Helen Betty Dalton, of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Western Portion. Grave 43.
Cemetery: PORT OF SPAIN (ST. JAMES) MILITARY CEMETERY

 

From David Saunders, Sedgefield Village, County Durham, England

I attach a picture of a letter envelope that I have, which seems to be relevant to the Dalton Clan.

It did not have anything in it, but it seems to be addressed to someone's ancestor. I know it is a very long shot, but do you have any idea what it could have contained?

Could be a prisoner of war notification?

Letter addressed to Mrs Lola Dalton

Can anybody shed any light on this? Is so, please contact David (david_jack_saunders@yahoo.co.uk) or the Editor.

From Tom Wood and Gerry Dalton, Our regular Australian contributors

Our reunion for the descendants for the 2 convicts George Gray and Mary Connor was held last weekend (beginning of November 2010) and we had a bumper turn up - over 200 (I am told 212) people registered on the Saturday morning. Everyone had a fantastic time in the lush and green Crookwell countryside. George Gray married Mary Connor and their daughter Mary married John James Dalton and are one set of my gr gr grandparents. Gee it was great to meet people we've been corresponding with for years and never had an opportunity to meet previously. We had descendants attending from USA, New Zealand and from all over Australia. It was great that we could draw on my previous corporate experience in organising large international events and Tom draw on his 30 plus years in the newspaper industry and assist in planning and executing last weekends very successful weekend. It was fantastic to work with a team who could all offer various skills and that made the organising much less complicated. The daytime and dinner venue were chosen initially and the rest very successfully evolved as time went on.

Did I tell you my Aussie Dalton's are having a reunion for the descendants of Matthew Dalton and Jane Greer in 2012....and yes, we will be involved!! Looks like that book I am trying to write on my Dalton's will be on the back burner for a few more years.

From Mike Dalton, Portland, Oregon

It would be nice to see other people contribute articles so that I don't develop a case of writers cramp. I would still like to claim the states of Oregon, Washington and California, which I am most familiar with, because that is where I live.

With a few keywords on google books; I can come up with articles on Daltons in various locales in the US, Canada and overseas in England, Ireland and Australia.

With selection of an article; the the text of a "Daltons in History" article can be supplemented with details from the Dalton Databank.

Understandably participation may have fallen off, with people's lifestyles being cramped by economic setbacks, myself included.

Please, though, don't leave everything to the few!

It really feels like December! We were only given a brief taste of mild autumn weather before the cold temperatures set in and now it really feels like winter, or at least what we call winter in Las Vegas. I know our Canadian members wouldn't call our recent weather cold!

Christmas is just around the corner. Think about a gift membership or a gift of DNA testing for the Daltons on your gift list. We will send you a lovely gift certificate to announce your gift. The gift certificate is in PDF form, and you can print it out for giving, or you can email it to the lucky recipient. Please get in touch if you are interested; email me at karen@golden-hills.com.

At the AGM in Surrey, I reported on membership numbers for North America. We had 22 new members in the last year, and we've added 4 new members since 1st August, 2010. However, there were a lot of members on the books who had not paid dues in years. In fact, there were several memberships that expired in 2006! But we continued to keep them on the membership list, as courtesy.

In September, I sent notices to all the expired folks to tell them they needed to remit their dues to retain their membership. I had 8 people respond, and reinstate their DGS membership; 69 people failed to respond, or their email or USPS mail was returned. In some cases, I heard back that the person was no longer involved in genealogy, or had lost interest. The economy may also have been a factor.

The names of these lapsed members have now been removed from our membership rolls, and these people will not be receiving the next issue of the Dalton Journal. If you want to insure that you will continue to receive this splendid publication, there is still time to reinstate your membership. If your membership has lapsed, or if you are not sure of your membership status, please email me at karen@golden-hills.com.

DGS Gathering 2011 in Salt Lake City

Last month we announced that we are preparing a newsletter to keep you updated on the preparations for the Gathering next year. The first issue is planned to go out in December.

We have already had 30 people sign-up to receive the newsletter! The newsletter will only be sent to those who express an interest by signing up. If you are planning to join us in Salt Lake City, or if you would just like to stay on top of all the latest news, please sign-up by using the following link http://www.daltonamericas.org/

Dalton Data Bank Update & Web Site Visitors:

Web Sites Update:

For the period from 1 November to 26 November 2010

Additions to the Data Bank:

19 November, 2010:

New link - Added Free Family Templates link Contributed by David Preston, Nevada

14 November, 2010:

Historical Maps - Added 1833 USA Map Contributed by David Preston, Nevada

2 November, 2010:

Dalton Chronicles - John Dalton - England to America Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

DDB Web Site Usage Statistics:

24,669 visits came from 151 Countries / Territories

Map showing October DDB visitor distribution

Top 10 Countries by Visits:

1. UK – 9,475
2. United States – 4,061
3. India – 1,852
4. Pakistan – 1,443
5. South Africa – 982
6. Australia – 926
7. Canada – 644
8. Ireland – 497
9. Argentina – 224
10. France – 224

Top 10 Pages Visited:

1. Home Page
2. Join Us (Pop up on Home Page)
3. England
4. USA
5. Australia
6. Republic of Ireland
7. Scotland
8. Canada
9. Northern Ireland
10. South Africa

Comparatives:

DDB Comparison Chart

Interesting Factoids:

Visits from India dropped considerably as compared to last month.
The Surry Multimedia page is falling in popularity: 45 (down 54% from last month).
We had a high level of new visitors - 94% (probably coincident with the spike in Pakistani viewers).

DGS Web Site Usage Statistics:

1,891 Visits from 68 Countries / Territories

Map showing DGS visitor distribution

Top 10 Countries by Visits:

1. United States – 788
2. UK – 506
3. Australia – 147
4. Canada – 110
5. Ireland – 94
6. India – 36
7. South Africa – 24
8. New Zealand – 16
9. Pakistan – 14
10. France – 14

Top 10 Pages Visited:

1. Home
2. Memberships
3. Daltons in History Newsletter
4. Daltons in History Archive
5. Photo Video Gallery
6. Dalton International DNA Project
7. Clan Dalton
8. Forthcoming Events
9. Clan Dalton Website
10. Daltons in History (January 2010)

Comparatives:

DGS Comparatives

Interesting Factoid:

The Membership pop-up box on the Data Bank generated an additional 359 visitors to the DGS Membership page.

Dalton Forum:

There are a total of 209 Posts in 126 Topics by 270 Members.

During the reporting period, there were no new topics added, no new posts and 5 new members added.

Google Ad Campaigns:

Dalton Data Bank:

10,272 Visitors reached the Data Bank by clicking on one of the 1,545,799 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

DGS Site:

58 Visitors reached the DGS site by clicking on one of the 73,111 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

Google Ads for new memberships:

This Ad Campaign generated 3 visits to the Membership information from 6,410 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

In closing, I want to wish a very Merry Christmas, and a New Year filled with Joy and Peace to all of our DGS members and their families, and to all the non-members out there who have found us on the internet!

With Holiday Wishes,

Karen Dalton Preston
North American Secretary

Thank you to all who have contributed to the December 2010 issue of "Daltons in History".

Back to normal with our contributions I see - All from the usual sources!!

Please send me any ideas you may have for future articles or areas of research we could look at. New ideas are still 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 nice, too. It would also 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.

We look forward to more information concerning Salt Lake City in 2011 over the next few months.

Mel and I would like to wish all members of the D.G.S. at home and overseas a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The January 2011 issue will not be going up until after New Year so contributions for the January 2011 issue need to be with me no later than 29th December 2010. (e-mail: dairneirwin@ntlworld.com).