Introduction

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

Well, November seems to have gone by in a flash, and what a busy month it has been – putting the details of next year’s gathering in Yorkshire in place, starting to plan our 2013 gathering which is to be in Dublin, Ireland, finalising the last two DNA reports with Chris Pomery, putting our membership database online, and various meetings. You will find more about some of these items below, but before that I have one or two other important matters to bring to your attention.

As usual you will find below all the latest news about DGS events and activities, together with other updates to keep you fully informed about what we are doing.

First it is my very pleasant duty to wish all readers a very Happy Christmas. I know that all the DGS officers and committee members will join me in wishing each and every one of you, and all your families, a peaceful and enjoyable time. Wherever you are and whatever you may be doing, be safe, be happy and enjoy a break from the normal routine of your life.

The Salt Lake City Gathering

Two months on and the memories of the Salt Lake City 2011 DGS Gathering are still very much front of mind. I have been following up on a number of actions that I promised to undertake, and this has given me the opportunity to be in touch with several delegates who I met in Salt Lake City. December will see the coverage of the event, featured in the past two issues of "Daltons in History", moved into the "Past Gatherings" area of the website. This will provide a permanent archive record, which will include the full write up and reminiscences with photographs, together with links to the photo gallery, the videos, and the presentation slides. We would still like some more photographs for our gallery, so if you have some good pictures which you are happy to see on our website, please do send them in. It will be best to email them to David Preston (dpreston@golden-hills.com), who is looking after the gallery, and David can assist you with the technicalities, particularly if you are sending large files.

The Dalton Genealogical Society on LinkedIn

Last month I mentioned that the Dalton Genealogical Society now has its own page on LinkedIn, which can be accessed by anybody – you can find us in the "Companies" section of the LinkedIn website at www.linkedin.com. If you are on LinkedIn yourself, you can click on the box to "follow" the DGS and become a "follower". A few of you have done this already, but we would like to see everyone interested joining us on LinkedIn. By doing this you will be supporting the DGS, and you will automatically receive notification of updates to our page, which we will post on a regular basis. Do please become a follower – the more the merrier!

"The DGS - The First 40 Years" and "The Lucy Slater Archives"

A number of you have said that you enjoy these serialised contributions to "Daltons in History", and your editor is always asking when the next instalments will be ready for publication. As I am sure you will appreciate, they do take some time to prepare and the time has to be found in competition with my other DGS priorities, of which there are many! There is also a question of space – in some months we have much more material for publication than in others.

You will find Part 11 of "The DGS - The First 40 Years" in this issue. It has taken 10 instalments to cover the first 16 years up to 1996. With another 24 years to go, there could be another 15 instalments, so it is going to be a while before the project is completed.

I am hoping to prepare further instalments of "The Lucy Slater Archives" early in the New Year. The winter months afford more time for working on these. So far we have published five instalments, so with 16 arch files in the archive, we have material for another 11 instalments of this one.

Proposed correspondence section in "Daltons in History"

I hope that both these serialised features in "Daltons in History" are jogging the memories of many readers, provoking questions which you may have, or reminding you of further information, substantive or anecdotal, which you might like to share with other readers. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that we instigate a correspondence section in "Daltons in History". I know that our Editor, Dairne Irwin, would welcome correspondence from as many of you as care to write in! So why not make a resolution to comment, provide additional information, or ask a question? Such contributions would be welcomed most warmly and I can foresee a lively discussion ensuing, which will be of interest to all our readers. "Daltons in History" is your online newsletter, so let’s see some of you taking some ownership of this and setting an example to others by becoming regular correspondents! I look forward to seeing some correspondence in January!

Future DGS events

As already announced, for the 2012 Gathering and AGM we are returning to Yorkshire over the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 27th/28th/29th July 2012. The venue for this event will be the Mercure Hull West Hotel. The hotel is very accessible and is ideally situated between Hull, which has a number of interesting Dalton connections, and Beverley with its Minster and an excellent Record Office. The arrangements that we have in place for the 2012 gathering are published this month in a separate section of "Daltons in History" which you will find below. These include a draft of the planned programme for the weekend, and full details about costs, registration and how to book your place. We expect this to be a popular event for both UK and overseas members, and I would recommend that you register as early as possible. This will secure a firm place for you, and the earlier we have an indication of likely numbers, the easier it will be for us to ensure that we can accommodate as many of you as wish to come.

I am most grateful to Howard Dalton of Pickering for taking on the task of Gathering Organiser. Howard is a past DGS Treasurer and well known to many DGS members. He organised previous DGS Gatherings in Scarborough in 1992 and in Pickering in 2002.

For 2013 we are now making plans to return to Ireland. It is proposed that we should be based in Dublin, as we were in 2005, and provisional dates are Fri/Sat/Sun 26th/27th/28th July 2013. I am working on the details of this with Ciaran Dalton, our Irish Secretary and Chieftain of Clan Dalton, and we will make a further more detailed announcement early next year.

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 six years, which includes the preparation of three issues of the very comprehensive project progress report, and most informative presentations at our annual gatherings on three occasions. We now have some 170 participants in the project, and well over 80% of these are members of one of the 15 identified genetic families. The latest DIDP news and a full DIDP update were published in December 2010 with a further update in May 2011, and these can be found in the "Dalton DNA Project" section of this website, or simply click here for the link.

The emphasis is now on providing updated reports for each individual genetic family. The first of these, for genetic family A, was published in December 2010, establishing the template for these reports. During September we completed initial versions of the reports for genetic families B, C and D in time for the Salt Lake City Gathering, so we now have four reports available as follows:

- Genetic Family A - the Virginia Daltons

- Genetic Family B - the Eireann Daltons

- Genetic Family C - the Carmarthenshire Daltons

- Genetic Family D - the Golden Vale Daltons

These proved very useful at the gathering with each of these groups well represented by delegates, and much useful discussion took place, both formally and informally. On the formal side, Chris Pomery gave a video presentation updating us all on the project, and then participated in a discussion and question time via a live link up from his home in Yorkshire, UK. Also Melanie Crain, Rodney Dalton and Cathy Negrycz gave presentations about groups A, C and D respectively. This all helped us to take forward both the details of the project by identifying specific further research for these groups, and also the project as a whole by demonstrating its breadth and depth, and the ways in which it will help other delegates in due course. Links to all the presentations and the supporting slides will be found by clicking here.

There are two further reports still to be published as follows:

- The first will cover genetic families E, F, G, H, J and K together with R1b singletons

- The second will cover genetic families Q, W, X, Y and Z together with non-R1b singletons

It is planned to complete these by end December/early January.

All these reports are made available to the members of the group or groups covered in each one, and it is generally a requirement that recipients of reports are paid up DGS members. This enables us to reimburse Chris Pomery as our DNA consultant for the immense amount of work that he undertakes on an ongoing basis for the project.

Karen Preston and I are now in discussion with Chris about how we propose to take the project forward in 2012, and we will be making further announcements about this in January, so watch this space!

The DGS Journal

Volume 55 of the DGS Journal for December 2011 is due to be published by the end of the year. Editor, John Dalton is now assembling and preparing the material for Vol 55 and all contributions should already have been sent to him. If you have items which you wish to see included in Vol 55, please contact John by email urgently so that he is aware of this, and make sure they are sent to him as soon as possible.

John always welcomes articles and other items for publication in the Journal. Any material for publication should be sent to him as early as possible, so that he can plan the content of future issues. John is happy to advise and assist contributors and, if you have any questions or need help, please contact him by email at johndalton78@hotmail.com.

Back issues of the DGS Journal continue to be available. On this website you can access the "DGS Journal Index" from the homepage or by clicking here. 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 54 and the full synopses will be uploaded in due course. Copies of all back numbers are available for purchase and these can be obtained through your local secretary using the order form that you will find on the link above. Details of prices, including postage and packing, will be found there as well.

We are most grateful to DGS member Mrs Pat Robinson, who holds stocks of back numbers for the Society and arranges for their distribution in response to requests from the local secretaries (address: Mallards, 3 High Street, The Green, Barrington, Cambridge CB2 5QX, UK email: gandprobinson@waitrose.com.)

Conclusion

Enjoy this month’s issue of "Daltons in History", your regular monthly update on everything that is happening in the world of Dalton family history. We will be back again in January 2012.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours very sincerely

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

For 2012, the DGS Annual Gathering is being held in Yorkshire and will be based at the Mercure Hull West Hotel, situated between Hull, which has a number of interesting Dalton connections, and Beverley with its Minster and an excellent Record Office. This event will take place from Friday 27th to Monday 30th July, 2012.

The Dalton Genealogical Society extends an invitation to all DGS members and their families to attend the 2012 Gathering of the Society in Hull, Yorkshire, England from Friday 27th to Monday 30th July. All will be welcome, and the theme of the weekend will be the origins and the history of Yorkshire Dalton families and particularly those with Hull connections. Coupled with this we will review some of the projects that the Society is working on and look ahead to the future.

The weekend will include the opportunity to visit a number of interesting places local to Hull, some with Dalton connections, together with talks about Dalton family history and, of course, the opportunity to meet and chat with fellow members. The DGS Annual Dinner will take place on the Saturday evening.

Full details of the programme for the weekend, costs and booking arrangements will be found below. If you require any further information or have any queries, please contact Howard Dalton (2012 Gathering Organiser - email: howard.dalton@hotmail.co.uk) or Michael Neale Dalton (DGS Chairman & 2012 Gathering Coordinator - email: michaelndalton@aol.com) who will be pleased to assist.

A note about travel arrangements

If you are travelling to England from overseas, you may wish to consider flying to Manchester in Lancashire, which is about a two hour drive from Hull. Another option is Leeds/Bradford airport, about one hour from Hull. The journey from one of the London airports will take considerably longer. Another point to consider is that London will be extremely busy at this time with the Olympic Games starting on 27th July, 2012.

For those who wish to travel by train, there is a good direct service from London King’s Cross to Hull which takes about two and a half hours.

It is anticipated that delegates from overseas will want to combine their stay in Hull with visits to other parts of the UK. There are many options – you can hire a car and explore at your leisure; you can travel by rail between the major cities; or you can take one of the many organised coach tours around the country. It all depends on what you want to see and perhaps whether or not you are a first time visitor to England.

If you need any advice, guidance or assistance with your travel plans, please contact Howard or Michael who will do their best to help you.

A note about the Mercure Hull West Hotel

The venue for the Gathering is the Mercure Hull West Hotel. This hotel has recently been transferred from Ramada Jarvis to the Accord/Mercure Group. Originally a 19th Century manor house, the hotel is set in 12 acres of gardens and is spaciously appointed with excellent facilities for conferences and events. The bedrooms are comfortable with all the usual facilities expected in a four star hotel, including high speed internet access. Further details about the hotel can be found on their website. Just click here.

Annual Gathering for 2012
Friday 27th to Monday 30th July, 2012
Hull, Yorkshire, England

PROGRAMME FOR THE WEEKEND

Friday 27th July 2012

Saturday 28th July 2012

Sunday 29th July 2012

Monday 30th July 2012

REGISTRATION FORM

The form is given below and may be downloaded as an Adobe Acrobat (registrationform.pdf) or Word (registrationform.doc) document for printing, completion and return as per the accompanying notes.

REGISTRATION FORM NOTES

The Registration Form follows. Please note the points below:

Prices for accommodation are as follows:

Mercure Hull West Hotel - £90 per night for bed & breakfast for 2 people in a double/twin room, or £80 per night for bed & breakfast for 1 person in a single room.

If you prefer to take alternative accommodation there are a number of other possible options locally. Please indicate this on the registration form and we will assist if we can. It is also possible for those who live locally to join the weekend as a day delegate.

Indicative prices for events and visits are as follows:

Subject to demand, we plan to arrange transport by coach on Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon and Sunday. The indicative prices include an allowance for this. As soon as final details and costings are known, they will be advised to all those who have made reservations, and they will be published on the DGS website.

Notes for overseas members

Members in the United States and Canada may remit to the Society’s North American Secretary in US dollars. Please convert at the rate of $1.70 to the pound sterling and send your remittance made payable to “Dalton Genealogical Society” together with a copy of the registration form to: Karen Dalton Preston, DGS North American Secretary, 2777 Turtle Head Peak Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89135, USA.

Members in Australia and New Zealand should contact the Australian Secretary, Maureen Collins by email (mmcollins@ozemail.com.au) for guidance.

Please remember that even if your remittance is being sent to either Karen Preston or Maureen Collins, you must also send your registration form with all the details to Michael N Dalton at the UK address on the form.

Additional elements of the weekend programme

Please fill in to indicate your expected participation in the following events and the numbers in your party:-

Declaration

I have read the enclosed details and ticked the boxes as requested, and enclose my cheque for the total indicated above and made payable to ‘Dalton Genealogical Society’. Alternatively I have made arrangements for the payment to be sent to one of the DGS Overseas Secretaries.

I understand the terms outlined above relating to the return of deposit monies paid to the Society.

In the event of any changes to my booking or cancellation, I undertake to notify the DGS Chairman & 2012 Gathering Coordinator, Michael N Dalton, at the earliest opportunity.

Signed:  ............................................................................ Date:     ............................................................................

In the September 2011 issue of "Daltons in History", the last instalment in this series covered the year 1996. This personal account of the history of the Dalton Genealogical Society by Michael Dalton continues with an eleventh instalment, commencing at the beginning of 1997.

Thinking back to the beginning of 1997, I remember a number of things. My work at de Stafford School had several added dimensions with the school becoming a College of Technology and attracting additional government funding. We had some exciting projects in hand installing a new computer network and creating new teaching rooms equipped with the latest technology. Alongside that a major project was underway to build a new Sports Centre with swimming pool, sports hall and fully equipped gym. This was a joint venture with the local authority to provide much needed facilities for both the school and the community and we had secured a substantial grant from the Sports Lottery Fund to fund it. All this kept the Bursar very busy! Kate and I celebrated our silver wedding anniversary and had a wonderful holiday in Zimbabwe in the February half term. Our daughter, Julia, was in her first year at Southampton University studying medicine and our son, James, had started his GCSE courses at school. Busy times and I am not sure how I fitted in the DGS.

On looking through my files, I see that I continued to be helped enormously by Lucy and Morag, together with Dick, and then there were Millicent Craig in the United States and Joy Chesson in Australia actively promoting the Society and recruiting new members. How fortunate the DGS was to have this team of loyal and hard-working people keeping everything going. Volume 26 of the DGS Journal was published in June 1997 and, looking through it 14 years on it contains much of interest. The first item that caught my eye is an item in MN&Q about Daltons on the internet with a list of email addresses. It was around this time that we all started using email to communicate with each other, but in those early days, of course, a relatively small proportion of the members of the DGS were on email, indeed only some of the committee were. This made for some awkward moments when I could communicate instantly with some and only by "snail mail" with others. Fortunately Millicent was an early adopter of all things technical and we started a regular and full exchange of emails which proved extremely valuable in developing our ideas about how to take the DGS forward. Also in Vol 26 was a word of caution about the turn of the millennium and whether your computer would work after 31 December, 1999, what should you do about it and how to manage without if the unmentionable happened! Well my view in retrospect is that many people made a lot of money out of the "millennium bug" scare, because in the event it was something of a damp squib. I note that one of our early DGS members, one Bertram Albert Dalton died at the age of over 90 on 20 January, 1997. He joined the DGS in 1975 and we all had the pleasure of meeting him when he and his son, Hugh, attended the 1983 DGS Gathering held at Lancaster University. Bertram was a descendant of the Daltons of Bedfordshire line, now so well written up by his niece, Betty Wilks, and the second instalment of her series of articles is to be found in Vol 26 as well. I see that Betty was recorded in Vol 26 as becoming a DGS member, thus continuing the link between this Dalton line and the DGS. Then there is another obituary, this time of Sydney Herbert Dalton, who lived to be 101. Sid was born in Bermondsey, SE London in 1895 and was the father of Frances Dalton, who I met as a teacher at de Stafford School, where she was Head of Music. Sid served in the Signal Corps of the East Sussex Regiment during the First World War. He married Kit and their daughter and only child, Frances, was born in 1935. He was apprenticed and became a Master Craftsman and eventually Queen’s Carver and Gilder, designing and creating picture and mirror frames, and wall decorations, and restoring antique furniture and pictures, a very talented man and in great demand. The full obituary by his daughter makes fascinating reading and I am only sorry that I never had the opportunity to meet Sid. There is plenty of considerable interest in Vol 26 but space precludes me from mentioning more here.

At its meeting in February the committee confirmed its decision that the 1997 DGS Gathering would be held in Lincoln in August with Morag making the arrangements and hosting the event. Unfortunately I was unable to attend as it clashed with an already arranged holiday in France. Kate, James and I spent a week on a boat on the Canal du Nivernais, starting near Decizes, with friends and then travelled to Lot et Garonne to join Maureen Collins at La Planque, the wonderful farmhouse in which she has a share and spends a month each year. This was the first of regular, and much enjoyed visits every few years since. So it was that the 1997 gathering had to manage without Maureen or myself. And manage very well they did. The AGM was chaired by Howard Dalton (Yorkshire Howard that is!) and the meeting opened with a short talk by Jack Richards (husband of committee member Pamela) on hybridisation of fuchsia and other plants and how he had managed to cultivate a fuchsia with the name Dalton. Everyone present was presented with a plant and I wonder if any of these (or their "descendants") have survived 14 years and are living today. The Chairman’s Report was in the form of written message read out to those present and the minutes record the retirement of Joy Chesson as Australian Secretary and the appointment of Maureen as her successor. I presume that, although Maureen was absent, she had in fact agreed to this! Given that she is still in post 14 years on, I am sure she must have done. We are all indebted to Joy for what she did for the DGS down under over a period of three years. I also note from Morag’s report as Treasurer that expenditure was well covered by income and we had over £1,500 on our capital account, a very satisfactory position.

The weekend in Lincoln was much enjoyed by those present, and the venue for the meeting, the dinner and the accommodation was Bishop Grosseteste College. Amongst other activities delegates visited Lincoln Cathedral, where Peter Dalton de Gosbykirk is buried (see article by Lucy Slater on early Dalton priests in DGSJ Vol 17 No 1 p 33 for more details) and Fillingham, the village where two separate Dalton families lived, the one at Fillingham Manor and the other at Fillingham Castle (see another article by Lucy in DGSJ Vol 18 No 2 pp 21-41 for more details). So, many thanks to Morag, Howard and Lucy for such a successful weekend – I am only sorry that I was unable to be there!

The end of 1997 saw the publication of Volume 28 of the DGS Journal. Apart from the account of the gathering and the AGM minutes, to which I have already referred, there were, among others, articles by Pamela Richards, by Lucy and by Arthur Whittaker. I had the pleasure of meeting Arthur again in Salt Lake City just over two months ago and his article was entitled "The Dalton Time Line". The rationale and methodology for the time line had been explained in a preceding article that appeared in Vol 27. The time line itself attempts to present the Dalton line starting with Le Sieur de Dalton in Normandy b circa 1088, tracing it down through 18 generations to James Dalton born in 1650, and his wife Joyce Vaughan, who are the progenitors of what we now call Genetic Family C, the Carmarthenshire Daltons, in our Dalton DNA Project, of which of course both Arthur and I are members. It makes for interesting reading and is a useful framework. Pamela wrote two articles in Vol 27 – one about Professor Antony Cox, healer of minds (Antony is a member of the same Yorkshire Dalton family as Howard Dalton, from Garton-on-the-Wolds and became a DGS committee member in 1998), and the other continuing the delightful series of edited letters written by her father Charles Dalton as an undergraduate at Oxford to the young lady who would become Pamela’s mother. These give intimate insights into matters of courtship at the end of the First World War!

In conclusion, I must say something about Lucy’s article in Vol 27. It is about the Daltons of Cucklington and is written in Lucy’s usual thorough and well researched way. This large family of Daltons stemmed from Edmund Dalton of Ipswich in Suffolk, who had a son John born circa 1607. John Dalton was an undergraduate at Caius College, Cambridge and he married and had a son, Nathaniel Dalton, who became a parson in Cucklington, a small village in Somerset. The article includes good line drawings of St Lawrence’s Church, Cucklington and Shanks House, the home of the Daltons in the village. Inside the church there is a magnificent monument to the Dalton family and the text inscribed on the monument, which was erected in 1819 gives many details of the family history and of interments between 1706 and 1903 in the family vault below. The article also includes three family trees showing the line of descent through seven generations spanning the years from 1590 to 1854. I am not sure whether Lucy ever visited Cucklington, or indeed if the church and the Dalton monument are still there and I must investigate this. Sadly, the Dalton line ended with no male heirs and only a daughter, Mary Slade Dalton, marrying Robert Foster Grant in 1810. However Robert took the name of Robert Foster Grant-Dalton in order to inherit the Dalton estates and he is the forebear of a line of Grant-Daltons who moved to Yorkshire and lived in Brodsworth Hall. This story is the subject of another fascinating article by Lucy published in DGSJ Vol 29 a year later.

So there we have the 1997 DGS year, one that was full of interest with much Dalton family history recorded in the Journal and another very successful gathering held in Lincoln with visits to places connected with Daltons. This set a pattern which has been repeated almost every year since 1997 and the next instalment in this series will look at the way the work of the DGS developed as we moved towards the turn of the millennium.

From Maureen Collins, Secretary for Australia and New Zealand

I received the following from one of the Society of Australian Genealogists volunteers:

This is to let you know that the British Library is beginning to put their newspaper collection on the web. You can search free which is really just a basic search similar to that we get on Trove. It will not bring up the whole article unlike Trove, it is just an index and reference to the date of the article and in which paper it appears. From the index a few lines are displayed which is probably enough to indicate whether it refers to your search. There are a great number of papers country-wide and is an extra resource in addition to that of the British newspaper collection available at our State Library (in Sydney) using your SL reader’s card. The dates generally do not go beyond 1900, but this is certainly a good start. Copies of the articles are available at a charge and costs are laid out clearly. There are other Q & A sections and help guide. You can also register free and this will enable you to receive updates as they are still digitising.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to everyone!!

From Michael N Dalton, Chairman of the DGS

We have been advised of a holiday season promotion by Family Tree DNA which offers significant discounts on their prices for both new test kits and upgrades for existing participants in the Dalton International DNA Project (DIDP). The promotion runs through to 31 December, 2011 and is a great opportunity to join DIDP and save money. Or why not consider giving a test as a Christmas present to a Dalton male descended in the male line and therefore eligible to take the test we always recommend – the Y-DNA 37 marker test, now only US$119.00, a saving of US$30.00 on the regular price? If you are already a DIDP participant tested to only 12 or 25 markers, you can now upgrade to 37 or 67 markers and make significant savings.

For more details about the Dalton International DNA Project take a look at the DNA Project pages on this website – just click here. If you then visit our page on the Family Tree DNA website at:

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

you will find more details about the testing procedure and see how simple it is to order a test kit. Now is a very good time to place an order with the substantial discounts on Family Tree DNA’s normal group prices. The test that we normally recommend you order is the Y-DNA 37 marker one, now priced at US$119.00 instead of US$149.00.

As always, if you need further information or assistance before placing your order, please contact either Michael Dalton (michaelndalton@aol.com) or Karen Dalton Preston (karen@golden-hills.com), the DIDP administrators and we will do all we can to help. Just remember the deadline for the offer is 31 December, 2011.

The full text of the Family Tree DNA announcement is given below:

Dear Project Administrator,

As we approach the holiday season, we feel having one BIG promotion for a sufficient amount of time best supports our volunteer Administrators, in their effort to recruit new members. Current members will also benefit by having simultaneously reduced prices for upgrades.

Effective immediately this promotion will end on December 31, 2011.

We hope that this will give a big boost to your projects!

ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY MIDNIGHT DECEMBER 31st, 2011 TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICES. THIS PROMOTION IS NOT VALID IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANY OTHER PROMOTIONS OR COUPONS.

AT THIS TIME, WE WILL NOT BE OFFERING DISCOUNTS FOR THE Y-DNA111, NEW KITS OR UPGRADES. THOSE MAY BE OFFERED AT A LATER TIME PENDING THE LAB VOLUMES WITH THE TESTS UNDER PROMOTION.

You are welcome to share this information with the members of your groups.

As always, we appreciate your continued support.

Family Tree DNA
www.familytreedna.com

© All Contents Copyright 2001-2011 Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd.

From Alicia Riley, Oldham, Lancashire

Here is a poem written by Helen Steiner Rice (1900 - 1981). She wrote this in 1949.

A bit of fun:

I have a list of folks I know, all written in a book,
And every year when Christmas comes, I go and take a look,
And that is when I realize that these names are a part
Not of the book they are written in, but really of my heart.

For each name stands for someone who has crossed my path sometime,
And in the meeting they’ve become the rhythm in each rhyme
And while it sounds fantastic for me to make this claim
I really feel that I’m composed of each remembered name.

And while you may not be aware of any special link
Just meeting you has changed my life a lot more than you think
For once I’ve met somebody, the years cannot erase
The memory of a pleasant word or a friendly face

So never think my Christmas cards are just a mere routine
Of names upon a Christmas list, forgotten in between
For when I send a Christmas card that is addressed to you,
It is because you’re on the list of folks I’m indebted to

For I am but a total of the many folks I’ve met
And you happen to be one of those I prefer not to forget
And whether I have known you for many years or few,
In some ways you have a part in shaping things I do

And every year when Christmas comes, I realize anew,
The best gifts life can offer is meeting folks like you.
And may the spirit of Christmas that forever endures
Leave its richest blessings in the hearts of you and yours.

November has been a busy month for David and I, but things have been pretty quiet as far as Dalton-related matters go. The American Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, and we are turning our attention to Christmas.

It's time to get those decorations out of the boxes, and get ready to put up Christmas lights outside, and decorate inside. And, it's time to start tackling the gift list.

With Christmas gifts giving in mind, a gift membership to the DGS would make a great gift for the family historian on your gift list. We will email you a lovely membership gift certificate to announce your gift. You can then email this to the recipient, or print it out to present on Christmas morning.

This is also the perfect opportunity to order a DNA test kit as gift. Family Tree DNA, our testing service for the Dalton International DNA Project is offering special sale pricing through to 31st December, 2011. We can also create a special certificate to announce your gift of DNA testing.

Here's an example of the savings:

ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY MIDNIGHT 31st DECEMBER, 2011 TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICES. THIS PROMOTION IS NOT VALID IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANY OTHER PROMOTIONS OR COUPONS.

Please email me if you want to give a DGS gift, and we'll take care of the rest!

Now to the usual updates.

Web Sites Update:

For the period from 1 November to 24 November 2011.

Updates to the Data Bank:

Canada - Home Children Extracts Contributed by Karen D. Preston, Nevada

Dalton Chronicles - Dalton Lands in Lancashire Contributed by Rodney G. Dalton, Utah

DDB Web Site Usage Statistics:

60,120 visits* came from 178 Countries / Territories

Map showing November DDB visitor distribution

*November marked a milestone for the Data Bank website – Over 500,000 visitors have viewed the site during 2011. This is the highest viewership since the site was inaugurated.

Top 10 Countries by Visits:

1. UK – 12,290
2. India – 8,129
3. USA – 3,408
4. Mexico – 3,300
5. Colombia – 3,244
6. Pakistan – 2,280
7. Morocco – 1,890
8. Argentina – 1,715
9. Spain – 1,590
10. Peru – 1,339

Top 10 Pages Visited:

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

Comparatives:

DDB Comparison Chart

Dalton Forum:

There are a total of 249 Posts in 151 Topics by 341 Members.

During the reporting period, there was 3 new topics added, 4 new posts and 1 new member added.

DGS Web Site Usage Statistics:

1,527 Visits from 84 Countries / Territories

Map showing DGS visitor distribution

Top 10 Countries by Visits:

1. United States – 601
2. UK – 352
3. Australia – 65
4. India – 63
5. Ireland – 62
6. Canada – 52
7. Pakistan – 35
8. South Africa – 22
9. Mexico – 19
10. New Zealand – 15

Top 10 Pages Visited:

1. Home Page
2. Membership
3. Daltons in History
4. Daltons in History Archives
5. Past Gatherings
6. Photo /Video Gallery
7. DNA Project
8. Clan Dalton
9. Journal Index
10. Upcoming Events

Comparatives:

DGS Comparatives

Membership Page Tracking:

There were a total of 465 visits to the Membership page. 407 Visitors (89%) were as a result of links from the DDB “Become a Member!” pop-up box and the Google Ad
Campaign. Four visits were from pages within the DGS site. The remaining 54 Visitors (11%) were generated from within the DGS site.

The graph below depicts the flow of Visitors to the Membership Page:

Membership Page Graphics

Google Ad Campaigns:

Dalton Data Bank Site:

32,327 Visitors reached the Data Bank by clicking on one of the 3,141,030 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

Google Ads for new memberships:

This Ad Campaign generated 6 visits to the Membership information from 1,629 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

Report & Ad Campaign Updates:

The measurement tools that are used to create this report have been significantly upgraded, and so there will be a new report format going forward.

In addition, the Google Ad Campaigns have been revised to focus on Countries that are more likely to have a genuine interest in the DGS organization.

Therefore, future reports will have a different set of graphics, and the Ad Campaign numbers will be lower, but of a higher visitor quality.

Finally we have some information on the activity on the videos from Salt Lake City:

Views:

146 in the US
61 in the UK
12 in the Republic of Ireland
15 Rest of the World

234 Worldwide

Whereabouts of visitors

Graph of Visits

Top Videos and Percentage of total views

That's all for December 2011, see you in January 2012!!

We send our very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year! And, hope that 2012 will be filled with lots of new Dalton family history discoveries!

Karen Dalton Preston
North American Secretary

Thank you to all who have contributed to the December 2011 issue of "Daltons in History".

Thank you for sending me your stories and reminiscences about the Salt Lake City Gathering. If those who haven't contributed want to send in theirs we will publish them next month.

Due to time constraints the Lucy Slater Archives and the John Dalton of Ireland Story do not appear but will be back in January 2012.

Please send me any ideas you may have for future articles or areas of research we could look at. New ideas are needed!!

Please consider contributing a short description of any Dalton-related travels you may have undertaken anywhere in the world. Also members who are travelling to do research, visit a Dalton-connected site, or have made a connection to a distant cousin through the DGS. might be interested in letting other members know what they are doing through "Daltons in History". Photos from your travels would be appreciated. Also, it would be a way of helping members get to know each other a little better, and might help members who are widely dispersed geographically to feel a bit more connected. Those who attended Salt Lake City now have the ideal forum to take up the challenge!!

Contributions for the January 2012 issue need to be with me no later than 27th December, 2011. (e-mail: dairneirwin@ntlworld.com). Mel and I are away for New Year.

Please continue to stick to the set deadlines!! There is no excuse for missing the deadline - PLAN AHEAD!!

Finally, Mel and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! See you in 2012!!