Henry Dalton

The History of Henry Dalton, 1794 - 1833;

First Son of John Dalton Sr. & Elizabeth Cooker;

by Rodney G. Dalton.

Henry Dalton was born about 1794 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and was the first son of John Dalton Sr. and Elizabeth Cooker Dalton. He moved with his family to Wysox, Bradford Co., Pennsylvania some time around 1805. He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Green about 1818. She was born on March 10th, 1803, in Wilke-Barre, Luzerne Co. Penn.

While trying to cross the Susquehanna River in April of 1833, during the spring high water season, Henry Dalton drowned. His widow moved to Michigan with the other Dalton's. She died on Oct. 24, 1875 in Chester, Howard Co. Iowa.

The following paragraph is taken from the John Dalton Sr. History:

"In April of 1833, a tragedy over took the Dalton Family. One of John Dalton's sons, Henry Dalton drowned attempting to cross the Wysox Creek near its confluence with the Susquehanna River during the spring high water season. It would be several more years before the Dalton clan would understand that the Susquehanna River would forge their destiny. Looking back and knowing the fate of these men, one wonders whether they had already heard the rumors, or read the gossip, or had any inkling of the gospel storm swirling around them. Would the John Dalton family have accept the gospel restored to earth when Joseph Smith & Oliver Cowdery baptized each other in the Susquehanna River, some 50-60 miles from their home on May 15, 1829. After the organization of the LDS Church in 1830, one of the first branches was in Columbia, Bradford Co. Pennsylvania, which is less than 35 miles from the Wysox area"

We don't know if Henry Dalton was ever recovered from the river, but if he was he's probably buried somewhere on the Dalton farm, but also could be buried in the Church Cemetery. This cemetery is located behind the Wysox Presbyterian Church. The first burials in Wysox were made on the slope toward the river. According to the Memorial Paper, written by Edward E. Hoagland for the Centennial of 1928. "When the railroad was put through this valley in 1869, it became necessary to remove the cemetery that was near Dr. Madill's, and many of the families who had ancestors buried there had them removed to the cemetery back of the church. There were few costly markers in those days, and most of the graves were marked by a stone of local origin that was not hard enough to withstand the erosion of the elements. Hence, it is to be lamented there is a section of this cemetery where it cannot be determined who is buried there, for there are no inscriptions remaining on the markers.”

Not much is known about Henry Dalton because he died at the age of 39, two years before all the Dalton family moved to Michigan. Would he have turned out like his younger brothers and joined the LDS Church like they did? He only married one wife & had 6 children by her, three sons and three daughters.

The first son was named after his father & grandmother. John Green Dalton was born in June of 1819 in Wysox Township, Bradford County Pennsylvania. He died as far as we know about 1845 in Wheatland, Kenosha Co., Wisconsin. John Green Dalton married Minerva J. Parmenton.

The next child was a girl named Jane Lucy Dalton, born October 1822 in Conklin, Broome County, New York. She married Joseph Utter Searle on December 26, 1837, in Wisconsin and they had 8 children. Jane Lucy Dalton died on October 1, 1895, in Chehalis, Lewis County Washington.

From Jane Lucy's obituary in the Oct. 18, 1895 Chehalis, Washington Bee:

"Died in Chehalis, Oct. 1st, 1895, Mrs. Jane L. Searle of Paralysis. Deceased was born in Conklin, Broome Co., New York Oct. 7th 1821 and was therefore 74 years of age at the time of her death. She was married to Joseph U. Searle Dec. 26, 1838. In 1856 they removed to Wisconsin. The country was very new and full of hardships, yet their home was ever cheerful and full of sunshine. Being left a widow in July 1876, Mrs. Searle disposed of her home and lived with her children. In June 1881 she turned her face westward to visit a daughter, Esther Searles Benson, who was the first wife of Simon Benson. (He was a Portland, Oregon timber baron) who was very sick with TB, caught in the logging camps, of which she died on August 28, 1891 in Colfax. She landed in Portland, Oregon July 3rd, 1881. She came to Chehalis Jan. 1st 1883, since that time she has made Chehalis her home. She was the mother of thirteen children:

Mrs. Angeline Borman of Colfax, A.N. Searle and Mary Randall of Lynxville, Wisc, and Mrs. David W. [Lorette] Drew of this city are all that survive. She has been a devoted Christian for over forty years, at the time of her death she was a member of the Episcopal Church. She was also a member of the order of the Eastern Star under whose auspices her funeral was conducted.

Henry and Elizabeth's second child was also born in Conklin, New York and was named Henry Simon Dalton. Henry's birth date was on April 3, 1824 and he moved back to Wysox with his parents before he traveled to Michigan with the rest of the Dalton's in 1835. Henry married Elizabeth Jane Kittleman of Downington, Chester County, Pennsylvania on March 12, 1848 in California. They then moved to Utah to be with Henry's uncles, the Dalton brothers. (Read the history of Henry Simon Dalton in the another chapter of this book.)

History of the town of Conklin, Broone County New York:

The town of Conklin was formed from the old town of Chenango, March 29, 1824. A part of the town of Windsor, was taken off in 1831, and a part of the same town was annexed to Conklin in 1851. Conklin is one of the southern tier of towns and lies west of the center of the county, its eastern boundary being formed by the Susquehanna River. The surface is generally hilly, the summits of the hills rising from 400 to 600 feet above the valley; their declivitous generally terminate quite abruptly on the river, along which is in places a broad intervals. The hills rising from the West Side of the river are quite steep. The town is watered by several small streams tributary to the Susquehanna, and Big Snake creek flows through the town in an easterly direction, a little south of the center, through a narrow valley, which is bordered by steep hills. The Little Snake Creek flows across the southeast corner. The soil of the town upon the summits of the hills is a hard, clay and gravel loam, largely intermixed with fragments of slate. In the valley it is a deep, rich alluvium and gravelly loam. The town is the smallest in the county and covers an area of 14,858 acres.

Henry Dalton had moved back to Wysox when his next child was born. Her name was Maria C. Dalton and was born on Feb. 19, 1827, in Wysox, Bradford Co. Pennsylvania. She married Robert Densmore Titcomb of Salem, New Hampshire in 1854. They had 2 children. Maria C. Dalton died on Feb. 22, 1896 in Lemas, Iowa.

Number 5 child was named Sarah E. Dalton, born Sept. 15, 1829 in Wysox, Pennsylvania. Sarah married Jonathan Hale of Steuben Co., New York on Feb. 18, 1850 in Bloomfield, Wisconsin. They had 5 children. Sarah Dalton Hale died, October 25, 1901 in Tripoli, Bremer Co. Iowa.

The last child was a son, Oremus Willard Dalton who was born in Wysox Pennsylvania on June 19, 1832. He was less than a year old when his father drowned.

Oremus married Victoria Elizabeth Buckland of Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence Co., New York on December 24, 1844 somewhere in Iowa. They had 8 children.

Oremus Willard died in April of 1914 in Trosacks, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Henry moved his young family to Conklin, Broome Co. NY sometime after his first son was born in Wysox in 1819. Conklin, NY is just across the border from Bradford County Pennsylvania.

Henry Dalton is listed in the 1820 & 1825 Federal Census of Broome Co. NY. and does not appear on the 1820 Tax rolls of Wysox Township.

Next we find of Henry Dalton is back in Wysox Township on the 1826

Tax rolls. (See the history of Henry's father, John Dalton Sr.)

Why did Henry Dalton move to New York from about 1819 to 1826? To find work maybe.

The following is taken from the history of John Dalton Sr. It lists Henry Dalton.

Most of the Dalton family joined the First Presbyterian Church of Wysox. This Church was first organized on Nov. 29th, 1827 by those members of the Presbyterian Church of Wysox who preferred the Presbyterian form of government. The church only existed until Sept. 29th, 1830 when it united with the Congregational Church, which in the meantime had adopted the Presbyterian format of government, so that the two Presbyterian Church's came one under the name of the "Old Presbyterian Church of Wysox". The Church leaders decided they needed a bigger Church building, so they asked their members to "subscribe" to the building fund. Church records show:

Those members who subscribed amounts under the first column heading for the "Old Presbyterian Church" is as follows:

John Dalton Jr. $25

Simon Cooker Dolton $10

Moses Varguson $10 (husband of Jemima Dalton)

Charles V Dalton $10 (the v in the name is not known)

Lloyd Merithew $10 (Family member of Stephen Potter Merithew, husband of Margaret Dalton

John Varguson $10 (Husband of Elizabeth Dalton)

Stephen Cranmer $10 (Family member of Rebecca Cranmer, wife of John Dalton Jr.)

The second column shows the names of members who agreed to transfer, and who paid supplementary subscriptions:

John Dalton

Henry Dalton, a "Methodist" who paid $10

Copies of pages of the original Tax Book that shows Henry Dalton on the tax rolls of Wysox Township. There are separate pages for each year.

These taxes are listed under the heading of:

Real & Personal Property & Occupation.

Year: 1818

Henry Dalton - Single freeman, value $100

                              2 oxen, value $30

                              1 cow, value $11

                              Amount $141

                              Tax  .70

This is the first time Henry Dalton shows up in the tax records. He is about 21 years old and was taxed .70 for being single!

Now this is an interesting item about Henry Dalton. He is listed in the Wysox Township

Tax Rolls starting in 1818. He married Elizabeth Green about 1818. So he has gotten married after he paid his taxes to Wysox Township.

Year: 1819

Henry Dalton - 2 oxen, value, $$35

                             1 horse, value, $35

                             Amount $70

                             Tax  .35

(Henry Dalton and family move to Conklin Township, Broome Co. NY.)

Year: 1826. This is the year that Henry Dalton is back in Wysox.

Henry Dalton - 2 cows, value, $24.

                            Tax, (Blank)

Year: 1828

Henry Dalton -    3 oxen, value, $40

                            1 cow, value, $10

                            Tax,  (Blank

Year: 1829

Henry Dalton - 3 oxen, value, $45

                            1 cow, value, $12

                            Tax,  (Blank)

So this ends the history of Henry Dalton of Wysox Pennsylvania. More will be added as we search the records we search for our Dalton family of Pennsylvania.

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