Biographical Sketch of

John Dalton

Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 736 - 738 


John Dalton, who resides on Section 32, in the town of Kingston, Green Lake County, is numbered among the pioneers 
of 1849.  He was born in Belfast, Ireland, Dec. 29, 1817, and is a son of John and Margaret (Christy) Dalton.  He 
was educated in the schools of his native city and at the age of fifteen years entered Her Majesty's Service as a 
member of the detective force, continuing to act in that position for a period of twelve years, when he left the 
army with the determination to try his fortune in America.  Crossing the broad Atlantic, he landed on the shores 
of this country in 1844.  The vessel dropped anchor in the harbor of New York and for some time he remained in that 
great Eastern metropolis, but in December of the same year went to Utica.  In the spring of 1845, he engaged in 
business in York Mills, where he remained until 1849.  As before stated, 1849 was the year of his arrival in Green 
Lake County.  In 1848 at New Hartford, N. Y., he was united in marriage with Miss Janet Blackwood, a native of 
Scotland.
 
In 1848, Mr. Dalton had purchased land in this community and with his young bride he now came direct to the Territory 
of Wisconsin, settling on section 32 in the town of Kingston.  Previous to that time not an improvement had been made 
upon his land.  Mr. Dalton built his own cabin, it being his first work in the carpenter line.  The tract of land which 
he purchased comprised 320 acres of prairie and it was therefore not so difficult to build upon, but the task at best 
was an arduous one for our subject who was wholly unfitted by experience for such work.  He would cut round and round 
a tree, watching it each moment to see it fall, his carefulness probably owing to his fear that it might fall upon him.  
At length however, the logs were all prepared but he did not understand putting them together.  He could do no less than 
try and his efforts were finally successful.  It was one of the happiest moments of his life when his cabin was completed.  
He next built a fire in the center of the room but the heat melted the sand and he was again forced to fill up the cracks 
to keep out the snows of winter.  No windows had yet been made and for the purpose of letting in light he made two apertures 
in the logs, after which he hung a door on heavy iron hinges.  The cabin was now complete and his next task was to construct
furniture.  He had brought some tools with him and from green poles made a bedstead.  He says it was not a "mahogany finish" 
but it served the purpose.  He then chopped a large white oak from which he made a table and also a bench on which to sit 
when partaking of a meal.  The house was now in readiness for occupancy and Mr. Dalton turned his attention to outside work.  
He paid out all his ready money for stock and with a yoke of oxen began breaking the wild land and preparing it for cultivation.
Some time afterward three chairs were added to the household furniture.  Some friendly neighbors also gave to Mr. Dalton a 
pair of chickens and with these he embarked in the poultry business.  Such was the primitive manner in which our subject and 
his family lived during those early days.  In that pioneer cabin they made their home for thirty years, but long before their 
removal to their new home they had made an addition to it of hewn logs with a puncheon floor and roof and bed chambers above.  
When they came to Wisconsin, while making the trip with teams between Milwaukee and Green Lake County, they got stuck in the 
mud and another team had to be procured in order to get them out.  
 
Thirteen children came to gladden the home of our worthy subject and his estimable wife, all born in the little log cabin.  
Previous to their settlement in this community one other child had been born to them.  Elizabeth, whose birth occurred in New 
York, May 1, 1851.  One of the greatest sorrows of their life was the death of that little daughter soon after they had settled 
in their new home, she dying on the 7th of December, 1854.  Edward, the second child, who was born Oct. 24, 1854, is now engaged 
in farming in Columbia County, Wis.; Sarah, born April 4, 1856, is the wife of Ephraim Dixon of Waukesha, Wis., where both are 
employed as teachers in the industrial school; John, born April 23, 1858, is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Marquette 
County, Wis.; William, born March 1, 1860, is also a farmer of Columbia County; Janet, born Dec. 17, 1861, is the wife of Edward 
Judd, a farmer of Columbia County; Isabel, born Sept. 26, 1863, became the wife George Judd and died Oct. 22, 1885; Diantha, 
born Dec. 2, 1865, died Nov. 25, 1870, Robert, born June 1, 1868, Charles, June 22, 1870, Mark, Feb. 22, 1873, and Walter, Nov. 
12, 1877, are at home; Mary, born March 8, 1878, died March 23, 1883.
 
As the family increased in numbers and size the pioneer home became too small for its accommodation, and in 1878, a handsome 
two story residence of Milwaukee pressed brick was erected upon the site of the old cabin.  The entire family removed to the 
new and elegant home prepared for them, but one by one the children are leaving the parental roof for other scenes of labor.  
They have been provided with good educational advantages and excellent reading matter, and are now prepared for useful and 
honorable careers.  Their parents provided for them books, magazines, periodicals and other sources of pleasure such as would 
be both instructive and interesting, and may well feel a just pride in their children.
 
By his own honest efforts and the assistance of his sons, Mr. Dalton has added to his possessions until his farming lands now 
amount to 524 acres.  Well kept fields indicate the thrift and enterprise of the owner and the fine improvements which have 
been made thereon testify to his progressive and enterprising spirit.  It has taken years of labor to accomplish this but Mr.
Dalton finds no task too great which will enhance the happiness and welfare of his family.  He and his wife hold an honored 
place among the pioneers of the community.  None of those who were living in the neighborhood at the time of their settlement 
are now there found; some have gone West, some East, others North of South and still others have been called to that land whence 
no traveler returns.  Not many years will have passed before this worthy couple will be numbered among the latter class and it 
thus becomes the duty as well as the pleasure of the historian to perpetuate their memory by written record.  Their upright 
lives have justly entitled them to a representation in this volume.  They are faithful and consistent members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, have ever been prominent in the promotion of the educational and moral interests and have been useful members 
of society.  The first sermon preached in the neighborhood was delivered through the earnest solicitation of Mr. Dalton, and he 
was instrumental in establishing the first Sunday-school.  In political sentiment, he is liberal in his views, voting for the 
man and not the party.  He has filled various township offices of trust and by his open and honest dealing with all public 
affairs has won the confidence of the entire community.  The modesty of Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, their purity and lives of Christian 
endeavor, are well worthy of emulation and they are widely and favorably known throughout the county. 






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