James Lewis Dalton (1770 - 1860)

Born 1770 in Pittsylvania, Colony of Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1860 at about age 90 in Lincoln, West Virginia, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jim Riddle [send private message]

Biography

James was born about 1755.

Great Grandfather of the infamous outlaws, The Dalton Gang.

Generations earlier, James Lewis Dalton's (D'Alton) forbears had left France for Ireland. Their descendants ultimately came to Kentucky from Virginia.

James Lewis Dalton served an even 365 days under General Zachary Taylor as a fifer for Company I, Second Regiment of Kentucky Foot Volunteers during the Mexican War.

Lewis Dalton came west from Kentucky to Missouri during the late 1840s. By 1850 Lewis Dalton was trading horses and running a small saloon at Westport (now Kansas City). Lewis and Adeline Younger Dalton had 15 children. The Daltons moved to Coffeyville, Kansas in 1886 and lived there for a short time. Coffeyville, Kansas became the hometown of "the Dalton boys." They went on train robberies and gun battles throughout the West.

Research Note

Indeed a James Dalton who was the s/o David Dalton (Dalton-7294) and his wife Hannah married Agnes Dyer in Pittsylvania County Virginia in 1782. Beyond that, this profile and biography mixes a number people named James Dalton. I am not certain which of these various James were the intent of this profile.

The James Dalton highlighted in the paragraph above was born c1756. His first appearance on a Pittsylvania County tithe list in 1773 as "son of David"^[1] would suggest he turned 16 in 1772 or 1773. Certainly he was 21 by 1777 when he signed the Oath of Allegiance in Pittsylvania County. He lived in northwest Pittsylvania County, probably somewhere along the Pigg River. As the years passed he and Agness drifted southwest in Pitttsylvania County along with her Dyer family, owning land on Bearskin Creek^[2] and later on the North Fork of the Sandy River in southwest Pittsylvania County^[3].

Although this James' death date is not certain, he is not the James Dalton who died in Lincoln County [W]VA. An Agness Dalton is charged with one head of cattle on the tax list in 1803^[4] and we know of no other Dalton married to an Agness. James himself disappeared from the tax lists 1797 and this may indicate a health problem that took his life by 1803.

Nancy Samuelson in her Dalton Gang Story does not claim certainty in her genealogy of the Gang, and she does not identify this James as their great grandfather but the James Dalton who married Agatha Patterson. That identification can be shown to be incorrect^[5] but, in fact, this James Dalton married to Agness Dyer is plausibly their great grandfather with their grandfather Benjamin Dalton named after James' older brother Benjamin. There is not enough evidence yet to confirm this possibility, however.

I have found no source associating the middle name "Lewis" with this James Dalton. The biographical information on the James Lewis Dalton who served in the Mexican War and went west to MO obviously is not the James Dalton at the core of this profile who had died by 1803.

It should also be mentioned that the list of siblings and children listed in this profile is wildly incorrect. This is because Wikitree's internal algorithms force the spread of errors from a profile^[6] that conflates three David Daltons as if they were the same person.

Research by Jim Klumpp

Sources

1. ↑ List of William Witcher, "David Dalton and son James" 2 tithes.
2. ↑ 21 Feb 1782, John Dyer to James Dalton, 100 acres on both sides of Bearskin Creek, Pittsylvania County DB 7:396. The deed where he sold this land has not been found.
3. ↑ 17 Feb 1793, James Dalton toBenjamin Gosnell, 121 acres on the North Fork of the Sandy River. Pittsylvania DB 9:541.
4. ↑ List of John White, Pittsylvania County.
5. ↑ https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~jklumpp/gen/dalton/montgomery.html
6. ↑ see my comment in Dalton-294

• Samuelson, Nancy B (1993). The Dalton Gang Story. (Lists Genealogy of Dalton Family Members)
• https://www.dolton.org/dalton_gang.htm
• https://www.daltondatabank.org/Chronicles/Dalton_Gang.htm