Thomas Dalton (abt. 1782 - 1840)

Born about 1782 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England

Died 26 Oct 1840 at about age 58 in Toronto, York, Upper Canada

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Biography

Thomas Dalton was a businessman, author, politician, and newspaperman; he was baptized 28 June 1872 in Birmingham, England, son of William Dalton and Rebecca Watson

Thomas Dalton married twice:

• 30 May 1803 Sarah Pratt (d. 1804)
• 9 Nov 1805 Sophia Simms (1784 - 1859)

He had one child with Sara Pratt:

• Henry Dalton (1804-)

His children with Sophia Simms

• Thomas Dalton (born 27 Apr 1807 in St. John's, Newfoundland) ^[1]
• Sophia Dalton (1808-1875), m. Bartlett
• William Henry Dalton (1813-1890)
• Robert Gladstone Dalton (1819-1892)
• Emma Dickson Dalton (1821-1906), m. Sir Adam Wilson
• Harriet Dalton (1825-)
• Mary Dalton (1831-1884), m. Daniel McMichael (1817-1894)

In 1803, just 21 and newly married, he took over his father's business when his father was “unjustly detained” in France by Napoleon’s interning all British civilians of militia age. In January 1808 Thomas was forced into bankruptcy, and about 1810 he engaged himself as Newfoundland agent to prominent merchant James Henry Attwood. With Sophia, his second wife, he moved his growing family to St John’s where he quickly established himself in local society. By 1814 he was back on his feet, with his own mercantile business.

Following a general economic collapse, in November 1816 Dalton found himself bankrupt for the second time in less than ten years. The following February he left Newfoundland for England, but a few months later the family, accompanied by Thomas’s father and younger brother William, came out to Upper Canada prepared to try again.

In December 1817 Thomas obtained a few acres of land on Lake Ontario just west of Kingston and, after persuading a local businessman, Smith Bartlet, to come in as a partner, set up a brewery. The partnership was dissolved amicably in June 1819 and Dalton carried on the Kingston Brewery alone.

Dalton had to mortgage the brewery after having invested in a start-up bank in Kingston which was shut down after the provincial legislature stepped in with a hastily drafted bank act declaring Kingston’s “pretended” bank illegal and making its directors personally liable for its debts. Although later that year Dalton and his partner Smith Bartlet were successfully defended by John Beverley Robinson in suits brought by the commissioners, the bank affair effectively ruined Dalton. Dalton attempted to revive the brewery business, but ongoing crises related to the bank endeavour forced him to sell it in 1831 to Thomas Molson.

On 12 Nov. 1829 Dalton launched his most important project, the Patriot and Farmer’s Monitor, which quickly gained a fair share of popularity. He continued working with the Patriot until his death, after which his wife Sophia took over the paper.

Research Notes

According to a secondary source:

• Thomas was the son of William Dalton and Rebecca Watson;
• He had a younger brother William;
• He was related to the British chemist John Dalton.

Sources

1. ↑ "Newfoundland Vital Statistics, 1753-1893," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9T-NRXF : 8 May 2015), Thomas Dalton in entry for Thomas Dalton, 27 Apr 1807; citing Birth, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada, Provincial Archives, St. John's.

• Ian R. Dalton, “DALTON, THOMAS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed April 21, 2017, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/dalton_thomas_7E.html
• Thomas Dalton on Find A Grave: Memorial #144417806 retrieved 21 Apr 2017