The Story of Matthew William Dalton

Material researched, collected, complied, and written by Rodney Garth Dalton.

Matthew William Dalton was not a member of our Utah Dalton family, but settled in Ogden, Utah to stay and raise his family. His family was from Ireland.

Descendants of Peter Dalton

Generation No. 1

1. Peter Dalton was born Abt. 1752 in Ardbroccan, Meath, Ireland, and died 22 Mar 1877.  He married Nancy NAULTY. 

Child of Peter Dalton and Nancy NAULTY is:

i.    John J^. DALTON, born 1786 in Navan, Meath, Ireland.

Generation No. 2

2. John J DALTON was born 1786 in Navan, Meath, Ireland.  He married Mary MCGOVERN 1818. 

Child of John DALTON and Mary MC GOVERN is:

i.    MATTHEW DALTON, born 01 Nov 1829 in Madrid, St. Lawrence, New York; died 14

       Mar 1918 in Willard, Box Elder, Utah.

Generation No. 2

3. Matthew William DALTON was born 01 Nov 1829 in Madrid, St. Lawrence, New York, and died 14 Mar 1918 in Willard, Box Elder, Utah. He married (1) Sarah Ann HYMAS.  He married (2) Alice Ophelia MILLER. She was born 09 Jul 1845 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, and died 13 Jan 1900 in Provo, Utah, Ut. He married (3) Rozilla WHITAKER 15 Dec 1850 in Ogden, Weber Co., Utah.  She was born 12 Dec 1829 in Fairview, Buncombe, North Carolina, and died 03 Jun 1898 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.

Child of Matthew DALTON and Sarah HYMAS is:

i.    Moroni Hymas Dalton, born 15 Feb 1903 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 23 Apr 1957.

Child of Matthew DALTON and Alice MILLER is:

i.    Frederick William DALTON, born 07 Apr 1870 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 04 Feb

      1959 in Boise, Ada, Idaho            .

Children of Matthew DALTON and Rozilla WHITAKER are:

i.    George Alfred DALTON, born 12 Oct 1866 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 31 Mar 1867

       in Willard, Box Elder, Ut.

ii.   John Alma DALTON, born 26 Oct 1858 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 10 Dec 1949

       in Soda Springs, Caribou, Idaho. He married Elizabeth Jane COOK; born 02 Nov 1860

       in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 04 Feb 1948 in Grace, Caribou, Idaho.

iii.  James Mathew DALTON, born 31 Oct 1851 in Ogden, Weber, Utah; died 12 May 1924

       in Willard, Box Elder, Ut.  He married Isabella Dock PERRY 14 Feb 1924 in Salt Lake City

       Utah; born 27 Mar 1857 in Perry, Box Elder Co.,  Utah; died 14 Feb 1924 in Willard,

      Box Elder, Ut.

iv.  Ellen Maria DALTON, born 08 Feb 1864 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 14 Jul 1892.

v.   Jane Emeline DALTON, born in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 25 May 1932 in Brigham

      City, Box Elder, Utah.

vi.  Mary Malinda DALTON, born 12 Apr 1855 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died 14 Sep 1855

       in Willard, Box Elder, Ut.

vii. Martha Melissa DALTON, born 10 May 1862 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut.

viii.      William Albert DALTON, born 10 Dec 1856 in Willard, Box Elder, Ut; died in Willard. 

The history of Matthew William Dalton:

He was an outsider in Utah but not for long - By Lyndia Carter, History Blazer, February 1996

Matthew William Dalton settled in Utah: he had three wives. He was born in Madrid, NY, came from a large family and his parents were born in Ireland His father was also from a large family. 

After the death of Matthew's mother in Madrid, his father went to live in Wyocena, WI. Between Ireland and the U. S. there must be many hundreds of Daltons from this line.

Matthew William Dalton was a busy man in the fall of 1850. A newcomer to Ogden, he hurried to find work and get a house and shop built before winter set in. The settlers had been kind, loaning him tools and a team and wagon. They had even helped him "raise" the house.

Young and single, he was excited when the other young people asked permission to have a dance and party in his new cabin to celebrate. On the evening of the dance, lively youths filled his cabin. But Dalton's anticipation soon turned to disappointment when he was told he could not participate. He was informed at the dance "that the Mormons or Church members did not dance with any person not a member of their faith. Although I furnished the 'hall' I could only be a 'looker on', at the happy function of 'dancing in' my new house!" But Dalton was a good sport and accepted the fact that people had a right to do what they thought best. In his words, he "acquiesced with their 'peculiar' custom." He enjoyed watching the people dance on his bare dirt floor and marveled at their ability to be happy and full of zest regardless of their humble conditions. He continued: "So on that night, and a bitter cold night it was, I kept up the fires in the house, did the 'good offices', and acted as janitor."

Dalton's experience was typical of how many of the gold seekers who passed through Utah in 1849 and the early 1850s were treated. Quite a large number of men going to the gold fields had to spend a winter in Utah, because it was too late to continue on to California. Twenty-two-year-old Dalton had left Wisconsin in the spring of 1850. In Racine he had been a carpenter who built homes and furniture, but he had caught the contagious gold fever. Not having an outfit, he traded his labor for food and transportation west. One duty was to do the hunting for the wagon train with which he traveled. When the company reached Fort Hall, they were told by Captain Grant that the Indians were bad on the California Trail that year and that they should detour to Oregon.

Dalton, however, decided to travel with a Major Singer to Salt Lake City. As they moved south, the land was completely empty of any settlements. By the time they reached the area that would someday hold Brigham City, Singer's oxen needed to rest. The impatient Dalton left Singer and set out on his own. About two miles south of where Willard is now located, Dalton ran into a lone gold seeker pushing a wheelbarrow to California. The loner shared his food, and they camped together that night.

The next day, September 5, 1850, Mathew arrived at the little village of Ogden. By then he had decided he would have to spend the winter among the Mormon settlers and began searching for work. David Moore paid him $2 a day plus board to cut and haul wood from the Weber River bottoms because lumber was much in demand for homes. Using his carpentry skills, Dalton made a bedstead for Moore and launched his furniture-making career in Ogden.

Ogden is named after Peter Skene Odgen, a British fur trapper, part of the Hudson Bay Company, who made an expedition into the Ogden Valley and mountains east of Ogden in 1824-25. Ogden's settlement began in 1843, when Miles Goodyear, a trapper, built a fort and trading post on the Weber River. In 1847 he sold it to James Brown. It was then called Brownsville for a few years at which point it was renamed Ogden.

With winter quickly approaching, his outdoor labor was not needed; he then decided to build a shop and make household furniture, which was desperately needed. During the time he was building his shop, Philip Garner allowed him to use his team, wagon, cabins, and axe to get lumber. He lived with the John Garners who treated him as a family member. He was beginning to fit into the community.

But as he soon found out at the dance, there was still the barrier of religion. Though he had not been able to dance at the party, he had had a very good time watching the young ladies and discovered a reason for wanting to stay in Ogden. Rozilla Whitaker, one of those present had especially attracted his notice. The young outsider, likewise, impressed her.

The day after the dance, Dalton commenced his work in earnest. He purchased tools and a lathe in Salt Lake City, cut wood in the river bottoms, and gathered rushes for caning chair bottoms. He did very well in the furniture business and even had to hire people, including Rozilla's father and brother, to keep up with the demand for furniture. He took a load of furniture to Salt Lake City, selling some to Brigham Young and other prominent people. Dalton was becoming prosperous.

As Dalton lived in the Ogden community, he grew more impressed with the people and their religion. He was fitting in. By early December 1850 he had accepted their religious faith; he was no longer an outsider. His attraction to Rozilla had developed into a friendship and then blossomed into marriage by mid-December. It was now time for another party in Dalton's log house-shop. A merry crowd of over 100 guests gathered for a wedding dinner, including all the best things available to eat, even imported apple cider that had crossed the plains. In the evening it was time for the second dance in the Dalton cabin. To be sure, Mathew was not a "looker on" this time around but a full and lively participant. He was now "one of the people," according to his biographer Fred J. Holton.

Some gold seekers who "wintered-over" found a place in the early communities of Utah, as did Dalton. But many more left Utah and continued to California as soon as the weather permitted in the spring. Among those who stayed, many aided the early development of Utah by the contributions they made economically and socially. Dalton went on to become a prominent citizen of Ogden and later Willard. He and some of the other gold rushers found all the gold they really wanted right here in Utah.

Matthew took a second wife in bigamy, Alice Ophelia Miller, on 5 Sep 1868 at Salt Lake City. They had one son, William Frederick Dalton, and Ophelia divorced Matthew while William was still quite small and "still in dresses". Rozilla died 3 June 1898 and Matthew took a third wife on 7 Jun 1898. She was Sarah Ann Hymas, daughter of George Hymas and Sarah Ann Carter. Matthew's third wife was born in Hockley, Essex, England on 6 Aug 1859. They had two children. Matthew died at age 80 in 1909. From the marriages of Matthew Dalton alone, the descendency chart now numbers 3200.

On Sept. 12, 1877, Brother Matthew W. Dalton, on a church mission,  states that on a certain occasion it became necessary for  missionary companion, Brother Hubbard to get some horses, preparatory to hitching them up for travel. In doing this, he tried to head off the animals in order to stop them, but had hardly taken sixteen steps when he suddenly, without a moment's warning, fell down and instantly expired. Brother Dalton sprang to his side in a moment and did all he could to revive him, thinking that perhaps he had just fainted or become suddenly unconscious, but all his efforts were fruitless. In order to pay proper respect to the body of his companion, Brother Dalton procured the best casket that money could buy in the neighborhood and had it lined with metal, preparatory to having the body shipped to Utah for interment. He had completed all necessary preparations to this end, when he received instructions from home to have the remains of Elder Hubbard buried in the Indian Territory, which consequently was done. He was buried on an elevated spot near Wichita. Elder Hubbard was an honest, humble, and unassuming young man with a profound love for the principles of the everlasting gospel. At the time of his death he was a member of the 59th quorum of Seventy.

In 1883, the Indian Territory Mission was re-established with Matthew W. Dalton as president.

The Period of God's Work on this Planet By Matthew W. Dalton of Willard, Box Elder County, Utah.

Box Elder County, Utah, in 1906.

As a preface to this little book I desire to present a short sketch of myself, a brief outline of my life, of my life's labors and of my life's thoughts as to this material world and Him who was and is the great Creator of this beautiful earth as well as of all other great planets by which this Mother Earth is surrounded.

I am descended from the line of Sir Walter Dalton, who married the daughter of Louis VII, King of France, and who passed over into Ireland with Henry the Second on the invasion of Ireland, where he acquired large possessions some 60 miles from Dublin, in Westmeath County, settling on Mont Dalton, which is in the barony of Mont Conrath. From this noble sire sprang all the Daltons of Ireland. This Sir Walter Dalton whom I have named was of Norman extraction.

I was born in the town of Madrid, St. Lawrence Co., State of New York, in the year of our Lord 1830. I was born of goodly parents whose pursuits in life were farming and stock raising

My father's religious profession was that of a Catholic, and of necessity I was compelled to follow the discipline and training of my parents. I was therefore baptized or christened without my consent or choice, but as I became a man I, out of choice, became a student of the Latter- day Saints and the Gospel truths they advanced.

In the year 1850, I was baptized in the waters of the Weber river near the point where the present great railroad station in Ogden City is now located. I had the honor to build one of the two first houses that were erected on the lots first surveyed on that at present historic spot.

From my youth I was of a philosophic strain of thought. I followed the same pursuits as those of my father, but my mind was always given to a mechanical trend of thought, and when about seventeen years of age my father put me to learn the carpenter trade in which 1 became quite proficient. During all my early life I was given to the study of the sacred history of the Bible and its 66 books written by prophets who were authorized to reveal the great secrets of God which had been made known to them by our blessed Redeemer. 1 love to contemplate the history of this lovely old mother earth, and as my mind is as full of life's and of youth's vigor as a man of thirty years, and my bodily strength as that of a man of fifty years, I feel to write not as a man whose experience is only thirty years, but as a man of seventy-five year's experience.

Since I came to Utah I followed the pursuits of the carpenter trade, but found that too confining, so I concluded to follow the same pursuits as those of my dear old father Adam, and I have, as 1 believe, acquired a practical knowledge of the agricultural and horticultural sciences as the world calls them.

THE LOCATION OF THE LOST TRIBES AS TOLD BY PHILO DIBBLE; FROM THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH

The Narrow Neck Proposition, A Sub Theory--Associated with the Unknown Planet Theory, but somewhat removed from its basic premise that the Lost Ten Tribes are now supposedly on a "portion of the earth" that has been "separated, detached or taken away from our globe," and placed on some other "planet, orb, sphere, and or near another star somewhere in the universe," is the "Narrow Neck Proposition." This "proposition" (perhaps better referred to as a kind of "sub-theory" of the main Unknown Planet Theory) states that "attached" to the earth by "a narrow neck of land" are two spheres (invisible or otherwise) which vary in size--one which is connected to the earth "north of the north pole" and the other which is connected to our globe "south of the south pole."

This proposition is based on a drawing which the Prophet Joseph Smith supposedly drew about the year 1842, and which was later secured and preserved by Philo Dibble, of Springville, Utah. Dibble later made a copy of the drawing in 1884 which he then gave to Matthew W. Dalton, a resident of Willard, Utah, who eventually published it in 1906. Dalton states that Dibble informed him the Prophet said that in the drawing (see Figure A) the sphere marked "A" represented the earth, and that the Ten Tribes were on the sphere marked "B". He did not state the purpose for sphere "C", but others have thought it to be the location of the City of Enoch. The following is the history and meaning of the drawing as given by Matthew Dalton.

Now, how was the diagram obtained? The Prophet Joseph Smith drew the original drawing a short time before his death, or in 1842, in the presence of several witnesses. Philo Dibble, of Springville, Utah, was one of these witnesses, and secured the drawing. In the month of May, of the year 1884, he made a copy thereof for me, the diagram herein shown being the result, with the possible exception that the spheres marked B and C were perhaps somewhat smaller than shown herein. At the time the original drawing was made the brethren were discussing the disappearance of the Ten Tribes and wondering where they were, upon which the Prophet made the drawing and stated that the Ten Tribes were located on the sphere marked B.

Some may, and even do, doubt the truth of the diagram of the spheres A and B and C, and even the statement as to how the diagram was obtained. Yet it is nevertheless true. It was drawn in the presence of William and Sarah Beecher and myself in the year 1884 by Philo Dibble, above shown as a resident of Springville, Utah County, Utah. His son, Sidney Dibble, who is now alive and a resident of Springville, went before a notary public and on oath testified that this diagram of A, B and C, was a true facsimile of a drawing made by his father.

In 1883, the Indian Territory Mission was reestablished with Matthew W. Dalton as president. In 1898 it was renamed the Southwestern States Mission, signifying it was not only teaching the Native Americans but everyone else in its jurisdiction who would listen.

Peter Boyle wasn't the first furniture maker in Ogden. Mathew William Dalton began making furniture in a shop at 24th Street and Grant Avenue in 1851.

Matthew William Dalton claimed to have built the first house within the surveyed Ogden townsite. In 1851 he built a log house on the southeast corner of Grant Avenue and 24th Street. Dalton arrived in Ogden on 5 September 1850, a few days after Brigham Young had visited and laid out the city. Dalton described the area:

"Now on my arrival at Brownsville now called, Ogden, but then part of the wilderness, I saw a few scattered families, of people, who for protection lived in a fort on the outskirts, of what is now the platted part of the City. The afternoon I came in, the surveyors were running the first lines of the City, and began staking off some of the lots. It was a barren looking wilderness, in places, covered with "sage Brush" and "bunch grass." Upon inquiry, I found the prices of provisions very high. Flour was One Dollar per pound. One hundred pounds of flour would purchase a fine horse! I began at once to look for work, and fortunately made the acquaintance of a man named David Moore; who being in need of a man, engaged me to work for him at a wage of Two Dollars per day and board. I got busy at once, and did my first work, the afternoon I came in. This consisted in cutting and hauling a load of Box Elder trees, from the Weber River bottoms.

Dalton's house was a two-room log house, and he fenced the three city lots he acquired and plowed and planted a garden in what would become the heart of the city. He also farmed twenty acres of land north of the Weber River, where he harvested 33 bushels of wheat to the acre.

Frederick William Dalton:

Frederick William Dalton, son of Mathew William Dalton and Alice Ophelia Miller was a rancher and breeder of registered hogs and dairy cattle, who until recently resided in Twin Falls county, now makes his home on the Boise bench. He was born at Willard, Box Elder county, Utah, April 7, 1870.

His father, Matthew William Dalton, is mentioned at length in connection with the sketch of John A. Dalton, a half-brother of Frederick W. of this review. The mother of the latter bore the maiden name of Alice Ophelia Miller. She was born in Southampton, England, July 19, 1845, and died in Utah, January 17, 1900.

She was a daughter of John Hawkins and Anne (Shepherd) Miller, who became converts to the Mormon church in England and as such came to the United States, arriving in Utah in 1866, after crossing the plains with a mule team.

They lived first in Salt Lake City and afterward removed to Eden, Utah, while still later they became residents of Willard, where they remained for many years. In 1905 they came to Idaho, settling in Bingham county, where the father passed away December 16, 1905, at the age of eighty-five, and the mother on the 27th of March, 1911, she, too, having reached the age of almost eighty-five years.

Frederick W. Dalton was reared at Willard and pursued his education in the schools of that town and of Plain City. He was graduated at the latter place and afterward spent one year as a student in the University of Utah. He became a school teacher in early manhood and followed the profession for eleven years in all, teaching for five years in Utah and for several years in Idaho. He was the teacher of the Poplar school near Plain City, Utah, in the winter of 1894-5 and among his pupils was Annie Benson, who is now his wife. They were married June 5, 1895, Mrs. Dalton being at that time a young lady of about twenty-one years, her birth having occurred in Denmark, February 6, 1874.

She is a daughter of Andrew P. and Matilda (Aaberg) Benson, the former a Dane by birth and the latter a native of Sweden. Mrs. Dalton came to the United States with her parents when ten years of age, the Benson family settling at Plain City, Utah, whence in 1896 they removed to Bingham county, Idaho, becoming pioneers of that section. There Mr. Benson passed away March 1, 1919, at the age of seventy-four years, his birth having occurred in Denmark, October, 13, 1844.

His wife survives and is yet living in Bingham county, at the age of seventy-five, her birth having occurred in Sweden, September 20, 1844. Both were converted to the teachings of the Mormon church in Denmark and at the time of his demise Mr. Benson was a patriarch in the church.

Mr. and Mrs. Dalton removed from Utah to Idaho in the fall of 1897 and first lived  n old Bingham county, residing in that section that is now Bonneville county. For sixteen years they lived upon a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, which Mr. Dalton developed with the aid of his wife.

In 1914 he sold that property and for and a half years resided on a ranch of four hundred and eighty acres which he purchased in Camas county, on the Camas prairie. In 1916 he traded this for an eighty acre ranch near Filer, Twin Falls county, thus exchanging cheap land for some of the best land in Idaho. Upon the latter place they resided for three years and prospered beyond their expectations, Mr. Dalton being very successful both as a breeder of registered Duroc hogs and as a farmer. In fact he is today one of the best known and leading breeders of Duroc Jersey hogs in Idaho. He has been in the business for more than twenty years and has been a prominent exhibitor at the fairs held in southern Idaho for many years and also at the Idaho state fair of 1919, where he exhibited a sow that won first prize in her class and which is a daughter of the grand champion Duroc sow of the whole northwest.

In the fall of 1919 Mr. Dalton was offered an excellent price for his farm near Filer and sold the property for three hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. He then purchased a small but valuable ranch on the Boise bench and took up his abode thereon, having located near Boise in order to educate his children in the schools of the capital city. He is still breeding registered Durocs and is also engaged in the breeding of registered Holstein cattle, both branches of his business proving sources of substantial profit.

Mr. and Mrs. Dalton have become the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters. Frederick William, who was born March 5, 1896, is a veteran of the World war, having served for two years as a volunteer, one year of that time being spent in France, after which he mustered out as sergeant major. The other children are: John Andrew, born November 4, 189"; Alice Matilda, September 7, 1899; Audubon Mathias, whose birth occurred July 18, 1901; Bertha Annabelle, whose natal day was December 19, 1904; Lygia Teresa, born December 12, 1906; Nellie lone, born December 16, 1908; Irene Dorothea, born February 18, 1911; Ursus Benson, born June 19, 1913; Albert Matthew, born October 26, 1915; and James Cecil, who was born on the 6th of January, 1919.

Mr. Dalton maintains an independent course in politics. He has served in various local offices of importance, acting as ditch director, as justice of the peace and in other public connections, where he has proven his loyalty to the best interests of the community. He is a man of genuine personal worth as well as of excellent business ability and Ada county numbers him among her substantial citizens.

Map of Utah showing Ogden and Willard on right