Introduction

Greetings to all readers of “Daltons in History” !!

Firstly, I apologise for the delay in the publication of this issue of “Daltons in History”. This has been caused by various other commitments having to take priority. We will endeavour to return to our normal timetable and a fuller issue next month.

In the meantime, the DGS has continued to keep the officers and committee members as busy as ever, and below you will find the latest information together with the usual updates to keep you fully informed about everything that the DGS is doing.

Now only a few days away, the DGS Annual General Meeting for 2011 takes place here in the UK on Saturday 18th June. This one day event is being hosted by Geoffrey and Jane Dalton at their home in Catherington, Hampshire. We are expecting about 30 people to attend and 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. Geoffrey and I, together with the other officers and committee members, look forward to welcoming everyone to what we anticipate will be an informative and enjoyable day. There will be a report on the event in the next issue of “Daltons in History”.

Future DGS events

The DGS Annual Gathering for 2011 is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA over the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 23rd/24th/25th September 2011. This very special event is being organised by our North American Secretary, Karen Dalton Preston. Karen and her team now have all the detailed plans in place. Information can be found in the “Forthcoming Gatherings” section of this website, just click here for the link. If you haven’t already done so, you can sign up for a regular email newsletter to keep you informed – the third newsletter has just been published and it includes full details for registration and booking, including the facility to make payments by PayPal. Please note that the final deadline for booking guaranteed hotel rooms is 30 June, 2011.

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 Ramada Hull Hotel. This hotel is very accessible and is ideally situated between Hull, which has a number of interesting Dalton connections, and Beverley with its Minster and an excellent Record Office. More details of the hotel, which is a 19th Century manor house set in 12 acres of gardens, can be found at http://www.ramadajarvis.co.uk/hotels/hull.aspx?mckv=mkwid|stdl8vXAWRm|pcrid|50623303531|plid||kword|. I am most grateful to Howard Dalton of Pickering for his assistance with making these arrangements. 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. Further information will be found in the “Forthcoming Gatherings” section of this website, just click here for the link.

For 2013 we are considering returning to Ireland and for 2014 and beyond we have a number of suggestions already. But, if you have any particular thoughts about where you might like to meet, or a particular Dalton theme you think we should incorporate, we would really like to hear from you with your ideas.

The Dalton International DNA Project (DIDP)

We are indebted to our DNA consultant, Chris Pomery for all his assistance with the project over the past five years, which includes the preparation of three issues of the very comprehensive project progress report, and most informative presentations at our annual gatherings on two occasions. We now have approaching 170 participants in the project, and well over 80% of these are members of one of the 15 identified genetic families. The latest DIDP news and a full DIDP update were published in December 2010, and these can be found in the “Dalton DNA Project” section of this website, or simply click here for the link.

The emphasis is now on providing updated reports for each individual genetic family. The first of these, for genetic family A, was published in December and, with the template for these reports now established, the remainder will follow during the first half of 2011. The ones for genetic families B, C and D will be ready for publication soon. Further information on this programme was published in a separate report last month and can also now be found in the “Dalton DNA Project” section of this website.

The DGS Journal

Our editor, John Dalton, is now working on Volume 54 of the DGS Journal, due to appear in July 2011. John will welcome 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.

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 53 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 July.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours very sincerely

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

From Gillian Hunt, Research Assistant, The Ulster Historical Foundation

The Ulster Historical Foundation is a long-established, highly reputable research and publishing agency. It offers extensive knowledge on the sources available for tracing Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors.

We are an educational non-profit organisation. Our aim is to encourage an interest in the history of the province of Ulster; promote a positive image of Northern Ireland overseas; strengthen the links between Ireland and those of Ulster descent; broaden access to historical documents and records for Irish and Scots-Irish genealogy; and to inspire pride in Irish and Ulster heritage and culture.

We also organise several activity holidays throughout the year. Our genealogical summer school in June is already sold out but we are also running one in October which will focus on both family history and emigration.

This is a joint project between the Ulster Historical Foundation and the Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh. It will run from the 9th to the 15th October 2011 and will be based in Omagh, County Tyrone.

If you are interested in finding out more about your Ulster ancestors or wish to explore the history of Ireland’s northern province this is the perfect opportunity in which to do so. Over six days you will be assisted to carry out research for yourself as well as discover the history of Ulster first hand through excursions to some of the province’s most historic sites. In the evenings you can relax and enjoy some entertaining and enlightening talks and discussions.

This is a unique activity holiday which caters for all abilities and levels of interest. The autumn school itinerary can be viewed at: www.ancestryireland.com/autumnschool.

If the dates of this tour do not suit, we will be running a series of activity holidays throughout 2012 or we can also create an itinerary specifically for your group or clan reunion. In addition we offer bespoke family history packages for individuals as well as high-end luxury Ulster-Scots tours. Further information can be obtained through our website www.ancestryireland.com.

The Foundation is also a leading publisher of Irish history books and genealogical guides with over 200 titles in our backlist. Details of our publications can be found at: www.booksireland.org.uk.

We would appreciate it if you would circulate this information to your members via your website or email/mailing list.

If you would like to speak to a member of staff directly please contact us on enquiry@uhf.org.uk.

Dalton's Bar, Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Remember this from "Daltons in History" Volume 11, No 5 - May 2008? Well, Howard Dalton, the original contributor, has sent some additional information:

"The Licensee was a John Dalton who was born in 1871 in England. In 1901 he was trading from the premises near what is now the Heritage Hub in the centre of Hawick.

His wife was Mary and she was born 1873 in Midlothian, possibly with a maiden name of Davidson, as their first born was Elsie Davidson Dalton born 18/2/1896.

A brother followed 16/10/1898, Robert Reginald D'Alton, and John described himself as a wine & Spirit Merchant.

In 1924, Robert, by then a Civil Engineer, married at St Giles in Edinburgh, Jenny Gault Gemsmell. By then John was in London as a Commercial Traveller.

I hope this helps someone.

From Maureen Collins, Secretary for Australia and New Zealand

New Newspapers Website from the British Library

The first million pages of the BL collaboration with FindmyPast.co.uk are to go online at the above site in the autumn, with the first stage being major city newspapers pre-1900. In ten years there will be forty million pages. Examples are available.

Here's some more:

http://www.ireland-genealogy.com/

This website provides access to green forms which were filled in from 1908 when new pensions regulations meant that the 1841 and 1851 censuses needed to be searched to prove the claimants age. Formerly available only on fiche, they have now (for the first time!) been indexed by surname and made available to purchase for a fee of £2 per record. The surviving forms cover applications from about 1915-1922, and can be extremely useful substitutes for the destroyed census

London Blitz Blog

Our readers may be interested in the above website, the Diary of Ruby Thompson (1884-1970) an English housewife and mother of seven sons living in London during the World War Two Blitz. A real product of its time, some of the attitudes are dated, but it certainly reflects the period.

Website Updates

Death Records Search at FindmyPast.co.uk

The site has now indexed the following, enabling one-stop searching: England & Wales deaths 1837-2006; British nationals died overseas 1818-2005; British nationals armed forces deaths 1796-2005; British nationals died at sea 1854-1890.

Origins.net Update

The site has now indexed electoral registers of Somerset 1832-1914 including property qualifications and made them fully searchable.

They have also completed the Oxfordshire Wills Index 1516-1857, with digitisation of images almost complete and to be placed in the National Wills Index later on this year.

FamilySearch.org Update

The 1930 Mexican census is now online.

TheGenealogist.co.uk Update

Additions to the Peerage and Heritage sections of the site in the latest update include Blood Royal of Britain, the Plantagenet Roll, the Tudor Roll, the Book of Dignities and more.

They have also agreed a discount for members of the Guild of One-Name Studies on its Diamond and Gold subscriptions: £40 off its Diamond subscription and £10 off its Gold subscription. Current Guild members who already have a subscription with TheGenealogist can take advantage of this offer when their subscription renewal becomes due.

1. From Kenneth Smith, Preston, Lancashire

I have just joined the D.G. Socy and hope to submit interesting articles in due course. After years of unsuccessful research, I have just achieved what I hope is a breakthrough in locating JOHN DOLPHIN DALTON, son of Dr William Dalton of Cheltenham. A John Dolphin Dalton was recruited into the Adelaide Police Force, Mounted Division in 1852 when my JDD would have been 18/19 years old. He would have been alive in 1870 when his father sailed from England to Sydney "on a visit to his son". I hope that you will forgive me if such enquiries are not within your remit, but I would be most grateful if you could provide me with a contact e-mail address who might know where such police archives are kept. I have tried Adelaide Police Records but my computer security blocks some of them as being dangerous! I have a sneaking suspicion that they might even be kept in U.K for that period.

If anybody can help Kenneth please email him at kenandlilian@gmail.com

2. From Mary Pettett, New Zealand

I'm a member of the NZSG and a descendant of Thomas Richard Hewitt DALTON.

Not sure if this information will be of any use.

Early in 2009, I requested assistance from the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc. in finding information about Thomas.

Their research team responded, 27 Jan 2009.

"We have provided the birth entry for the un-named male Dalton born on 10th November 1845 in Launceston. Unfortunately, there is no record of a baptism entry for this child. Sometimes a notation appeared at the end of the birth entry of the un-named child indicating that they were named at baptism. There is no such information for this birth entry.

Another sibling, John's birth wasn't registered but he was baptized. The other two children, Mary Ann and Ann were registered at birth but there is no surviving baptism entry for either of them.

We did receive a similar request for the same information from New Zealand about seven months ago.

We are unable to assist you further with your request but feel sure that this is the Thomas Richard Hewitt Dalton you are seeking".

Do you have any information on when and how our Thomas arrived in New Zealand?

If anybody can help Mary please email her at ett2x@vodafone.co.nz.

From David Preston, Las Vegas, USA

The following two pieces of information together with the information that appears in the Data Section of the North American Secretary's Report every month shows how important "Daltons in History" is to visitors to the DGS website.

1. Attached is a view from the Google Analytics tool for the home page of the DGS site.

The tool collects clicks for links on a page, and summarizes them. The attached image shows that for the month of May, 25% of all visitors to the DGS site went to the "Daltons in History" section.

Chart showing % of Visitors going to "Daltons in History" in May 2011

2. Another query ran on the DGS site shows that an astounding 77.4% of ALL visitors to the DGS site went to the "Daltons in History" section in 2011 year to date.

It's hard to believe it is June already, and the 2011 Gathering is fast approaching!

I am happy to report that registrations for the Gathering have been rolling in and we currently have 22 people registered to attend.

A reminder to those who may be planning to attend, but have not yet registered; PLEASE complete your registration at the on-line store OR send in your registration form by mail. Even if you have emailed me to say that you plan to attend, YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED UNTIL YOUR REGISTRATION AND DEPOSIT HAVE BEEN RECEIVED.

We still have rooms available in our reserved block of hotel rooms for the 3 days of the Gathering. However, we MUST release any unbooked rooms to the hotel on June 30th. As I mentioned in last month's newsletter, there is a large family history research tour which is also booked into our hotel, with dates that overlap our event. As a result, the hotel is filling very quickly.

Please get your registrations in as soon as possible!! We don't want anyone to be disappointed!!

Dalton Forum:

The Dalton Forum has been a very active resource and we now have over 300 Forum members who have registered on the site. There are currently 48 posts that have gone unanswered. In many cases these are questions about Dalton ancestry in many parts of the world.

I would like to encourage DGS members to visit the site and try to respond to one question that pertains to your area of Dalton ancestry. Even if you don't have the specific answer, perhaps you can point someone in the right direction to find an answer.

Dalton Data Bank Update and Web Site Statistics:

Web Sites Update:

For the period from 1 May to 30 May 2011

Addition to the Data Bank:

9 May, 2011:

Dalton Chronicles - Sarah Dalton Contributed by Rodney Dalton, Utah

DDB Web Site Usage Statistics:

30,505 visits came from 162 Countries / Territories

Map showing May DDB visitor distribution

Top 10 Countries by Visits:

1. UK – 7,779
2. United States – 4,252
3. India – 3,148!
4. Pakistan – 2,419 !
5. South Africa – 1,295 !
6. Australia – 810!
7. Colombia – 801!
8. Ireland – 724
9. Algeria – 649
10. Argentina – 621

Top 10 Pages Visited:

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

Comparatives:

DDB Comparison Chart

Dalton Forum:

There are a total of 235 Posts in 140 Topics by 301 Members.

During the reporting period, there were 3 new topics added, 7 new posts and 7 new members added.

DGS Web Site Usage Statistics:

1,493 Visits from 78 Countries / Territories

Map showing DGS visitor distribution

Top 10 Countries by Visits:

1. United States – 587
2. UK – 353
3. Australia – 101
4. Ireland – 88
5. Canada – 61
6. India – 42
7. Pakistan – 34
8. New Zealand – 21
9. South Africa – 17
10. Brazil – 14

Top 10 Pages Visited:

1. Home
2. Daltons in History
3. Membership
4. Daltons in History (May)
5. Daltons in History Archive
6. Dalton International DNA Project
7. Photo / Video Gallery
8. Clan Dalton
9. Forthcoming Gatherings and Events
10. USA Gathering, Salt Lake City

Comparatives:

DGS Comparatives

Membership Page Tracking:

There were a total of 324 visits to the Membership page. 288 Visitors (93%) were as a result of links from the DDB “Become a Member!” pop-up box and the Google Ad
Campaign. The remaining 38 Visitors (7%) 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:

16,439 Visitors reached the Data Bank by clicking on one of the 1,779,032 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

DGS Site:

4 Visitors reached the DGS site by clicking on one of the 2,731 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

Google Ads for new memberships:

This Ad Campaign generated 4 visits to the Membership information from 3,904 Google Ads served during the reporting period.

Best wishes for your summer!

Karen Dalton Preston
Secretary for North America

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

Salt Lake City is now only a few months away!! Click this link for details. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO BOOK A GUARANTEED HOTEL ROOM AS WE HAVE TO HAND BACK ANY UNFILLED ROOMS ON 30TH JUNE, 2011. IF YOU ARE GOING TO SALT LAKE CITY BOOK NOW!!

Due to time constraints the Lucy Slater Archives and The DGS 40 Years On do not appear this month but will be back in July 2011. Also the next part of Bill Dalton's family history will be back in July 2011.

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

If you don't think that "Daltons in History" is an important part of the DGS Website look at the figures provided by David Preston in Section 6 and the data section of the North American Secretary's Report in Section 7.

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

Contributions for the July 2011 issue need to be with me no later than 25th June 2011. (e-mail: dairneirwin@ntlworld.com). We must stick to this deadline as Mel is going to Scotland on 1st July, 2011 to meet a cousin from America!!