During the reign of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary Tudor, James Dalton, Esquire, was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in London on 7 August 1555. There was a short period of Catholic ascendancy which continued until the Queen's death in 1558. She was succeeded by Queen Elizabeth I. Dalton, a Puritan in his younger years, rose to positions of authority at the Inn, was elected to the House of Commons, appointed Undersherriff and Counsellor of London, and became more religiously conservative and a supporter of Protestantism in his later years. In Parliament he was extremely active and vociferous. His main concerns were those of religion, succesion, and the issue of Mary Stuart Queen of Scots, (who was imprisoned for alleged treason). He considered Mary to be a threat to the life of Elizabeth and railed for her execution. Queen Elizabeth leaned toward moderation and clemency and forbade Parliament to discuss succession. Dalton, who did not heed the command, was subsequently called to account. Shortly thereafter, the Queen released the House from this order and in the Parliament of 1572, two Bills were introduced: one for the execution of Mary for alleged treason; and the other making it impossible for her to succeed to the throne. Dalton campaigned for the first option.

While Mary was imprisoned a group of her supporters plotted to murder the Queen and free Mary. This occurred on 15 July 1586 and was know as the Babington plot. The fourteen conspirators were executed two months later. After this event, Dalton and seven other members of the House delivered speeches, arguments and reasons for the death of Mary. They drew up the execution order, and although Elizabeth still demurred, she finally signed the death warrant on 1 Feb 1589 and seven days later Mary Queen of Scots was executed at the Castle in Fotheringhay, Northhamptonshire.

A detailed account of the life, career and associates of James Dalton, Esquire, was featured in Vol.17, #2 of the DGS Journal published in 1988. It was researched and written by Mr. Richard Neville Dalton Hamilton, Esquire, a DGS Committee Member. Although the Journal's contents are under copyright, the DGS has given permission to print this abstract.

The first Dalton Genealogical Society in America was organized by Charles Dalton and his father, John Luther Dalton (and other Daltons) in February 1889 in Davis County, Utah. They were Mormon pioneers who literally assembled thousands of names of Daltons and allied lines.

On a trip to Great Britain, John Luther Dalton stayed with Thomas Masters Dalton, a barrister, in Pembrey who later became a rather renowned painter. Any information about this man, his life and his art would be greatly appreciated.

This large, Utah Dalton family is spread over many states and abroad. They still have reunions but because of size, are organized by branches. In 1997 the reunion of the Dr. Edward Adams Dalton's branch was held in Parowan, Utah.

The older children of Peter and Ann Fizackley Dalton were born in Liverpool between 1833 and 1849. Their christenings are duly recorded at St. Peters, Church St., Liverpool, England. Information about this couple prior to the birth of their first child is lacking. Assuming a marriage date of 1832 and birth dates of between 1807 and 1810 for the parents, does any one have these Daltons on their pedigree chart? It is thought that Peter could be from Ireland or perhaps Cumberland since there was reportedly a pocket of Peter Daltons there. Fizackley (and variants) are definitely Lancashire in location, particularly in the general Liverpool area.

The next child was born in 1851 in New York and we assume that emigration took place between 1849 and 1851. Peter's trade has been listed as whitesmith and tinsmith in the states and therefore may have been the same in England.

Does anyone have any creative ideas on finding the birthplaces and birthdates of these two Daltons?

By: Dr. Lucy Joan Slater

The following talk was given in 1993 by Dr. Lucy J. Slater, Executive Secretary of the Dalton Genealogical Society, Cambridge, England. It has been published in several genealogical journals in the states and because of its length, will be presented on this web page in several parts.

In 1086 in the Domesday Book, there are three places called Dalton. Dalton near Wigan. Dalton in Furness and Dalton near Kirkby Stephen. The name Dalton appears only as a place name, not a surname. It simply means of the hill village. The earliest Dalton we hear of as a named man, is Michael of Dalton, the Abbot of Furness Abbey in 1136. There is a tradition that there was a man known as LeSieur de Dalton, who was the head of the village of Dalton. He had two sons, one known as Dalton of Byspham and a second son, Symon, and a grandson, John Dalton, who was still alive in 1193. (These are Lancashire villages). It is also known that Le Sieur went with the Earl of Manchester, on behalf of King Stephen to treat with Henry II in France for his return to England in 1154. This man may have been called Walter and there is a tradition that when he finished his business in France, he secretly married Princess Jane, daughter of King Louis VII of France. He fled back to England, and was a Knight in Henry II's army that invaded Ireland. He settled in Meath, Ireland and founded the Irish Daltons, who called themselves D'Aliton or Daton.

Another tradition says that three brothers, sons of John, went to the Crusades in the late 1100's. One of them, Sir Richard Dalton, killed a Saracen in the Holy Land and was given the green Griffen on the crest of the coat of arms which the family carried for their services to King Richard. The description of the shield is a silver Lion Rampant Guardant on an azure blue shield with gold crosslets. In the Heraldic language it is a shield azure propre, or crussely, a lion, rampant, guardant, argant and the crest is a dragon's head vert, between two wings or (gold). This coat of arms can be viewed on page one. This talk will be continued in Vol 1. No 2 beginning with Flower's Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-64 and the Battle of Crecy.