| James Dalton | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1834 Duntryleague, Limerick, Ireland |
| Died | 17 March 1919 Duntryleague House, Orange, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Irish Australian |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Mary Collins |
| Relations | Thomas Dalton (Brother), Margaret Dalton (Sister) |
| Children | 12 Children (listed below) |
| Residence | Limerick, Ireland, Fredericks Valley (Between Orange and Bathurst), Orange, New South Wales |
| Occupation | Catholic Lay Leader, Flour Miller, General Merchant, Grazier, Shop Keeper |
| Religion | Irish Catholic |
James Dalton (Born in 1834 in Limerick, Ireland) was a wealthy merchant and pastoralist that lived during the 19th and 20th centuries in Orange, New South Wales, Australia.[1] He was the patriarch of the wealthy Irish Australian Dalton Family.
James was the youngest of three children, the eldest, his brother, was Thomas Dalton and then his sister, Margaret Dalton, who both eventually moved to Australia.[2]
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James Dalton was born in 1834 in Duntryleague, Limerick, Ireland as the second son of James Dalton and his first wife Eleanor Dalton (née Ryan). He lived in Duntryleague, Limerick, for the first 13 years of his life while his father had been shipped to the Colony of New South Wales for kidnapping a widower, Catherine Sheehan, and imprisoning her for a week in Northern Ireland with several other men, one being his brother-in-law, Daniel Ryan, in November 1833. James Dalton's father was tried on the 14 March 1835, and was at first sentenced to death on the 8 April of that year, which was shortly after changed to transportation.[2] He was transported to New South Wales on the convict ship the Hive on its second voyage to Australia, in 1835, while James Dalton Junior was less than a year old. When James' father got to Australia, the Hive was wrecked near Jervis Bay with one fatality as it was coming along the coast. His father arrived in Sydney on Christmas Eve of the year of 1835 after the New South Wales Government sent a ship to help salvage the prisoners, soldiers and money the ship was carrying. [3] [4]
His mother died some time while his father was in New South Wales, and he was left alone while his older brother, Thomas, and sister, Margaret, were in North America. In 1842-43, his father had been let out of Bathurst Jail in New South Wales with a ticket of freedom to do as he pleased, including to move back to Ireland, but he chose to stay in Australia, so he did, and moved to Fredericks Valley, a small mining settlement near Lucknow. In 1847 James' father petitioned for his family to be shipped to New South Wales, so James being the only one in Ireland, he was shipped aboard the Panama,[5] alone, to the colony.
When James arrived in Australia in 1847, his father was in a small mining settlement known as Fredericks Valley just out of the settlement of Orange (then known as Blackmans Swamp) near Lucknow, between Blackmans Swamp and Bathurst running a small shop for the miners. Together, father and son, they ran the small wood and bark clad shop in Fredericks Valley.
In 1851, James's father remarries a woman known as Joanna Hogan in Saint Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, whom he goes on to have another three children with. After he is remarried, he moved into Orange (Blackmans Swamp Creek) and opened another store with his new wife and James.
James's father then became a publican for the Daniel O'connell Inn. Then in 1858, Thomas Dalton, James's older brother, returned from Canada, and arrived in Sydney and came out to Orange and ran the store in Orange with James which was now known as the Dalton Bro's Store.
In the same year, James Married Margaret Mary Collins, the eldest child of John, who was the proprietor of the Springside Inn, and Jane Collins, who moved to New South Wales in 1841 as Bounty immigrants. James and Margaret eventually go on to have 12 children. (Listed below)
Then in 1860, Margaret Dalton, James and Thomas's sister, married an Irishman in America, Michael Casey. Then in 1861, Thomas Dalton Married Elizabeth Fahy and had seven children. Then in 1865 Margaret (James and Thomas's sister) and Michael move to Australia, but unfortunately, James, their father, died on January 1 in 1860. So unfortunately the father never got to see all three of his children together. James Dalton Senior's widow goes on and remarries.
In 1869, James became the Mayor of Orange and an active member of the community.[6] He was also the first captain of the Orange Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1870 and an officer of Orange District Hospital in 1866. [4]
In that year his brother Thomas joined him and the firm became known as Dalton Bros. James helped displaced miners and in 1857 promised to build a mill if they grew wheat; his flour-mill was built in 1861, which later became one of the largest and most expensive in the colony. The firm's business expanded until it became the largest wholesale distributor west of the Blue Mountains. They had great success producing roasted and ground coffee and wheat on a large scale.[7] The Dalton Bro's Flower Mill also shipped flour to Britain and was very expensive and highly regarded in prestigious shows in England.
Then Thomas moved to Sydney, and opened the importing/exporting part of Dalton Bro's. He built Dalton House in 1878 on Pitt Street and built stores in Lower Fort Street. Dalton Bro's became such a large and influential company, they occupy a dock at Millers Point in Sydney Harbour. Thomas then got remarried to Mary-Anne Ahern after his first wife died in 1877 at the age of 24 years.
At that time, with James running the bulk of the Dalton Bro's Company, it was worth approximately 125,000 pounds.[2] (today, with inflation and GDP changes comes to around $134,000,000.00).[8]
Despite exceptional enterprise and business ability James was kindly, unassuming and ever ready to help an Irishman in distress. He was a friend of Cardinal Patrick Moran and Bishop John Dunne and a benefactor of St Mary's Cathedral. He then received a papal knighthood in 1877. He died aged 85 on 17 March 1919 at Duntryleague, Orange. He is buried in the Dalton Crypt at the Orange Cemetery. He was predeceased by his wife, he was survived by six sons and six daughters.[9]
Thomas, a papal knight, became mayor of Orange in 1877, represented Orange in the assembly in 1882-91 and was a member of the Legislative Council in 1892-1901. He died in Sydney on 26 June 1901. His daughter Blanche married Sir Mark Sheldon.
James and Joanna Dalton had 12 children, 6 boys and 6 girls(Note information cannot be found on the last son of James Dalton)
Only 8 of the 12 Children could have children, but of the 8, 23 were born.[2]
James Dalton was a major influence on the running of Orange and the surrounding areas. James Dalton was the mayor of Orange in 1869, he was a major influence on the train line going through to Orange, he built outstanding homes throughout the Orange area with commanding views over the whole region. James was also a key person in the construction of the famous Cook Park in Central Orange taking up an entire city block. He was also one of the major firms and families to fund the building of the band stand and the James Dalton Fountain[10] Since he was Irish Catholic and very wealthy he was one of the most powerful Catholic men in the colony, he funded the construction of Orange's St Joseph's Catholic Church.[10]
He also built many of Oranges famous buildings such as:
By the time of James’ death in 1919, the family’s Orange district landholdings encompassed more than 30,000 ha extending from the town boundary to Mullion Creek, 20 km to the north. In addition, the Dalton's owned the 11,000ha “Gobabla” at Nevertire and “Belowra” (20,000ha) near Nymagee, as well as interests in several stations around Condobolin. The Orange properties alone ran 40,000 sheep, which were shorn – along with sheep from other surrounding properties– at a 32-stand wool shed near the Mullion Creek railway siding. The properties were run as an integrated unit as Dalton Estates, with weaners (Romney/Merino cross) sent from “Kangaroobie” to “Gobabla” to grow out, the wether portion then transferred as wool cutters to “Belowra” and the ewes back to “Kangaroobie”. Shorthorn cattle were also run on “Kangaroobie” and other Dalton properties, and bullocks were sent to the western stations for finishing in good seasons.[10]
James Dalton was very influential throughout the colony and owned land and buildings across New South Wales. When James and his brother became partners, they built stores in lower Fort Street and had one of the largest owned wharfs and bond and free warehouses at Millers Point on Port Jackson. They also built Dalton House at 25 Pitt Street (which is no longer standing) to manage the company East of the Blue Mountains and to manage the importing/exporting branch of Dalton Bros.[4]
James Dalton provided funds and leadership for the Irish nationalist movement in New South Wales.[4] In 1882 his presiding over an Irish Land League meeting was questioned in the Legislative Assembly. He was closely associated with the visit of the Irish nationalists, John and William Redmond, to the colony in 1883. As president of the local branch of the Irish National League, Dalton with two other magistrates signed an address of welcome to Redmond, which praised their 'resolute resistance to the oppressive proceedings of a foreign senate.[11]
James had a lot to do John and William Redmond, and while the Redmonds were in Orange, they wanted to lecture in some of the halls in the district, but the council denied them access and they didn't want to lecture in James's Shop. On this note, James built the Redmonds their own hall the lecture in, it is now known as the Australian Cinema in Lords Place which was a premier cinema in Orange until late 2010, it is now in line to be converted into an evangelical church until the church raises funds to build a new facility.
On 4 September 1884 John Redmond married Dalton's half-sister Johanna, and then James's eldest daughter, Elanor, On 24 February 1886 in London, married Willie Redmond, which cemented the families bonds and they became renowned partners. Willie Redmond was Promoted to major in World War I, he was killed in action on 7 June 1917 on Wytschaete Ridge, Belgium, and was buried in the garden of the hospice at Locre. Elanor returned to Orange and died in Sydney on 31 January 1947, predeceased by their only son.[11]